In the northern reaches of the Great Basin, a herd of more than 6,000 pronghorn antelope roams across a high desert range. Two islands of this vast desert are protected by federal refuges, but thousands of acres that straddle the Oregon-Nevada border separate them. A coalition of environmental groups led by the Oregon Natural Desert […]
Wildlife
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Elk: Pursuing the hunt and preserving the species
For author, hunter, woodsman and “hard-core, out-and-amongst-’em … serious wildlife watcher” David Petersen, elk are more than just a hobby, topic or even a passion; they are a religion. If books had to have subtitles that reflected their deeper messages, Petersen’s newest book, Elkheart: A Personal Tribute to Wapiti and Their World, might be A […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Let’s talk about salmon
Wana Chinook Tymoo means “salmon stories’ in Sahaptin, a language shared by the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes. It is also the name of a free magazine published quarterly since 1991 by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The group brings together members of the four tribes to help fight for the […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Speaking of eating: There is no meat I would rather eat
Speaking of eating: There is no meat I would rather eat, and none I eat more of, than wild meat got with my own bloody hands as an ethical predatory omnivore. To the contrary, I go sick at the thought of swallowing “alternative livestock” flesh butchered from the bones of captive-raised wild animals. Magazines running […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Back from the brink
A prehistoric fish that once thrived throughout the Missouri and Mississippi rivers is teetering on the brink of extinction. Only 250 wild pallid sturgeons remain in the upper Missouri River of Montana and North Dakota, and they are growing old. Each of these fish is between 40 and 50 years old. “Most of those are […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Headwaters deal gets tougher
A deal intended to protect the world’s largest stand of privately owned old-growth redwoods, the Northern California grove known as the Headwaters Forest, got a makeover in the California Legislature. On Aug. 31, the state Senate voted to require stricter environmental standards on Pacific Lumber’s surrounding private land. The Headwaters Forest has been at the […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Proposed land trade riles Crested Butte
When developer Tom Chapman made millions on western Colorado land the Forest Service appraised at just $640,000, agency land exchange specialist Paul Zimmerman admitted, “We may well have missed on this one” (HCN, 1/23/95). Now, residents of Crested Butte, Colo., say the agency didn’t learn much from the experience. “It’s totally bass ackwards,” says Sandy […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Salvo over salmon
McNary Dam on the Columbia River near Pendleton, Ore., is known for its state-of-the-art fish bypass technology, but that system didn’t prevent a recent fish kill of 145,000 young, palm-sized salmon. Most of the fish were Snake River fall chinook, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Most of the salmon died […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Southwest cows have friends in high places
The Forest Service is once again pinned down in a shootout over grazing in the Southwest. If the agency moves one way, it dodges lawsuits from environmental groups that say cows imperil endangered fish and birds. If it steps the other way, it faces fire from the livestock industry and its powerful allies in Congress. […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Longtime foes practice ritual combat in an Idaho forest
Last fall, I traveled to a war in central Idaho. For six years, in the longest-standing Earth First! demonstration in the country, environmentalists have laid pipe, cement, trees and themselves in front of logging trucks at the Cove-Mallard timber sale, 80 miles southeast of Lewiston, Idaho, in the Nez Perce National Forest. And though this […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
A county in Nevada assaults a river
County commissioners of Elko County, Nev., in the sparsely populated northeastern corner of the state, aren’t known for their goodwill toward the federal government. So when they decided to do a little road repair on Forest Service land this summer, they didn’t waste any time on paperwork. They wanted to reopen the flood-damaged South Canyon […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
From croaks to chirps
I used to spend a lot of time chasing frogs. It would be easier to say that I quit doing this at age 12, like the other kids, but the truth is a little harder to explain. I would show up at work – I got paid for this – with a long-handled net and […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Westslope cutthroat trout
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has added 60 days to the comment period on the petition to list the Westslope cutthroat trout as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. See the petition at www.mcn.net/~amwild and send comments by Oct. 13 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Native Fishes Management, 4052 Bridger Canyon Rd., […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Timber mills close in the Northwest
BOISE, Idaho – When an angry mob of Boise Cascade Corp. sawmill workers gathered in front of the Idaho Conservation League office in late July, staffer John McCarthy thought twice about going outside. At a similar rally earlier this year, a timber worker grabbed McCarthy by the neck and said, “If I was younger, I’d […]
Posted inAugust 17, 1998: Living out the trailer dream
Prairie dogs get a cease-fire
Prairie dog shooting means big business for many small towns across the Great Plains states. So when the U.S. Forest Service recently closed the 70,000-acre Conata Basin in South Dakota’s Buffalo Gap National Grasslands to shooters, many prairie dog shooters and businesses across the plains grew wary. Shooters “make up about 70 percent of my […]
Posted inAugust 17, 1998: Living out the trailer dream
Birds bridge borders
Development erects “No Vacancy” signs for migratory birds, forcing olive-sided flycatchers, yellow-billed cuckoos, and loggerhead shrikes to fly farther every year as they seek safe havens to rest and eat. Their familiar breeding spots are also disappearing, says Terry Rich of Partners in Flight, a group created to address declines in populations that breed in […]
Posted inAugust 17, 1998: Living out the trailer dream
Lynx as “endangered’
Who cares about the big bad cats? The Predator Project encourages comment on a proposed listing of the lynx as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. September hearings will be held in Idaho, Oregon, Maine and Wisconsin. Send comments by Sept. 30 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Lynx), 100 North Park, Suite 320, […]
Posted inAugust 17, 1998: Living out the trailer dream
Salmon plan can’t stand alone
Two years ago, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber boasted that his state could do a better job of managing coho salmon than the Endangered Species Act. The Oregon Plan, he said, was an innovative approach to endangered species management on state and private land – a collaborative, mostly voluntary approach that could replace top-down federal regulations. […]
Posted inAugust 17, 1998: Living out the trailer dream
Forest Service pulls anchor ban out of thin air
My skin still tingles when I recall our helplessness as the sound of thunder and flash of lightning struck our senses simultaneously. My rock-climbing partner and I had just reached the summit of a long, remote climb in California’s High Sierras, when a fast-moving thunderstorm broke over us. I yelled to my partner to start […]
Posted inAugust 17, 1998: Living out the trailer dream
In wilderness, don’t phone home
A man recently fell and broke his leg while hiking in the wilderness area above Boulder, Colo. While I wondered aloud how anyone could meet this fate in such a well-worn area, it was his rescue that piqued my attention. The lost hiker carried a cell phone and a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS), a […]