The Idaho Panhandle national forests want to log 153 million board-feet of timber this summer – doubling the cut of the past two years – to stop a bark beetle explosion in north Idaho and eastern Washington. Chainsaws are set to roar by July, and plans call for 5,000 acres of clear-cuts and 35 miles […]
Wildlife
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
Not such a cold fish
When the Endangered Species Act was signed 25 years ago, one of the first species to gain protection was the humpback chub. The chub, a warm-water fish native to the Colorado River system, has been headed downhill since 1967, when the construction of Glen Canyon Dam near the Arizona-Utah border cooled the downstream section of […]
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
Locals rebel against road closures
Fierce opposition has delayed a Forest Service plan to close 210 miles of old logging roads in southwestern Utah. Local residents wrote letters, circulated petitions and turned out in large numbers for public meetings in Cedar City and Kanab last month, protesting the proposed limits on motorized access to the Dixie National Forest. “We’ve gotten […]
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
A question of photography ethics
It’s been said that a fed bear is a dead bear. So it was ironic when National Wildlife, the glossy, bimonthly publication of the National Wildlife Federation, illustrated portions of an article on efforts to save grizzlies with three photos of grizzly bears that allegedly had been lured into the photographer’s backyard with birdseed. The […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
Wolves colonize Jackson Hole
A lone wolf howl was heard in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for the first time in over 50 years this November. Since then, 11 wolves have been sighted in the area, some of them only five miles from the town of Jackson. Migrating south from Yellowstone, the animals make up three groups that seem to be […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
Plant identification
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Beargrass is sometimes called “Indian basket grass,” but it isn’t a grass at all. Buyers in the Northwest pay 45 cents for a half-pound bunch of the tough, grassy leaves of this lily, which are sometimes dyed bright colors and added to floral displays. […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
The Pacific Yew: Chasing a cancer cure with a chainsaw
Above 4,000 feet it rained every day of the summer of 1993. On the Fourth of July, a long night of rain and wind gave way at dawn to a fine sleet that lay on the ground like snow, and didn’t melt for nearly three days. We were somewhere east of Pierce, Idaho, on the […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Wolves worry outfitters
Gray wolves transplanted to Yellowstone National Park and Idaho wilderness areas three and a half years ago are multiplying fast – but so are the concerns of Idaho hunting guides, who say the wolves are killing too many elk. “If the wolf recovery program goes on unchecked, it will put us out of business,” said […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
To trap or not?
When the red fox expanded its range and moved into coastal California in the 1980s, wildlife managers relied on leghold traps to stop the clever predators from killing endangered marsh birds such as the California clapper rail and California least tern. Without the traps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said, the red fox could […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Damning report on dams
Spawning chinook salmon would be better off if they didn’t have to swim the gantlet of four dams on Idaho’s Snake River, says a panel of independent scientists. By testing that hypothesis with a computer model, the scientists found threatened spring and summer chinook salmon would have a greater than 80 percent chance of restoration […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Ranchers don’t want refugee prairie dogs
SPRINGFIELD, Colo. – Prairie dog relocator Susan Miller climbed the steps of the 70-year-old Baca County courthouse on New Year’s Eve day, thinking she was headed to a private meeting with three county commissioners. Instead, she stepped inside to face dozens of angry cattle ranchers. The ranchers had gotten wind of the meeting and were […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Gila National Forest
Though jobs in fire management, trail maintenance, guiding and research won’t be available on the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico until summer, the application deadline is Jan. 29. For details, call Joan E. Hellen, 505/539-2481, at the Glenwood Ranger Station. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Another dog done gone
BOULDER, Colo. – Maybe it was the buzz about the arsonist fires on the Vail ski hill; for whatever reason, the scene at the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colo., seemed dramatic. More than 250 people gathered for the premiere of Varmints, the latest of Doug Hawes-Davis’ films sponsored by the Missoula, Mont., based Ecology Center. […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Not a creature was stirring…
The endangered Preble’s meadow jumping mouse has Colorado Front Range developers running scared (HCN, 3/16/98), but proposed temporary protections from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may calm their fears. The small, secretive mouse lives near foothill mountain streams, and biologists believe that urban sprawl near Denver is contributing to its decline. The agency’s proposal […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Ice Bump survives congressional ax
For the second year running, the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP, or Ice Bump) has survived an attempt on its life in the U.S. Congress. The plan is the federal government’s most ambitious ecosystem management plan ever, covering 72 million acres of public lands sprawling across seven states. The $40 million environmental impact […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Cougars too close for comfort
Mountain lions will soon be prey in the popular federal Rattlesnake Recreation Area on the edge of Missoula, Mont. In early December, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Forest Service announced the end of a ban on hunting the big cats in the lower Rattlesnake area. The announcement comes after […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Targhee National Forest
Recent road closures on Idaho’s Targhee National Forest, intended to protect grizzly bear habitat, have stirred up massive local resistance. The forest is taking public comments through Feb.1 on a draft environmental impact statement for a plan to guide off-road vehicle use on forest roads and trails. The draft is available on the Web at […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Wolf killers sought in Southwest
ALPINE, Ariz. – Four Mexican gray wolves splashed with fluorescent paint and wearing brightly colored radio collars scurried into the wild here in mid-December. Their controversial release is the latest act in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s bullet-riddled effort to bring the wolf back to the Southwest. Earlier this year, biologists had released 11 […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Fallen forester
Did whistleblowers destroy a fine public servant?
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Loggers told to stop cutting
In an unprecedented action against a major timber company, California suspended Pacific Lumber’s operating license this November. The Humboldt County company, locked in confrontation with environmentalists over the giant coastal redwoods of the Headwaters Forest, was cited for numerous violations, including cutting trees too close to streams and driving heavy equipment in spotted-owl habitat. Paul […]