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 […]
Wildlife
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
Bears flocked to Aspen
ASPEN, Colo. – Celebrity sightings are old news in the place known as “Glitter Gulch.” New this summer and fall were black bear sightings. “The number of nuisance bear calls was the highest it’s been since I moved here 20 years ago,” says Randy Cote, Colorado Department of Wildlife’s Aspen-area district manager, who received more […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
A road could go there
Forest Service officials in central Montana are finding themselves in a tight spot over a proposed land exchange. The agency has been trying for five years to acquire about 4,000 privately owned acres surrounded by the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Acquiring these islands of private land “will enable us to manage in a more […]
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 […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Squawking gets squawfish renamed
The squawfish is about to be rechristened. The Names of Fishes Committee of the American Fisheries Society has recommended that all squawfish be renamed pikeminnows. Although the committee is reluctant to change common names for fear of causing confusion, it made an exception this time because “names should not violate the tenets of good taste.” […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Using tools of destruction to restore redwoods
ARCATA, Calif. – In a dense forest of second-growth redwoods next to a logging road, Bill Weaver bounces on a culvert pipe so rusted it’s ready to collapse. A stagnant pool of water is the only sign of the torrent that will gush through the pipe when autumn rains start. “If this culvert hasn’t already […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Power poles make deadly perches
To most people, utility poles and power lines are just another part of the Western landscape. Not to Montana falconer Kirk Hohenberger; he sees power lines as death traps for hawks, eagles and falcons. “I’ve seen four of my own falcons electrocuted,” says Hohenberger. “I reported the poles to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Bounty on wolf killers
Government agents and environmental groups are offering $25,000 to anyone who turns in those responsible for killing Mexican gray wolves. The reward followed an announcement by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigators that a wolf found dead near the Arizona-New Mexico border in early November had died of a gunshot wound. It was the fourth […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Lake trout linger in Yellowstone
The Park Service pulled 7,000 trout from Yellowstone Lake this year. The fish are lake trout – an exotic first found here four years ago – that scientists blame for ravaging native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Some of these exotic fish are more than 20 years old, and Park Service biologist Dan Mahoney says the fish […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Wildlife crossings cut down on roadkill
MISSOULA, Mont. – A radio-collared Canada lynx cautiously approaches the Trans-Canada Highway in Alberta’s Bow River Valley. A large recreation vehicle rumbles into view. The cat hesitates, then nervously skitters back into the brush. About 50 yards from the roadside, it lies down for about a half hour before rising to make another attempt to […]