Oregon’s Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber had high hopes that his plan for saving coastal coho salmon from extinction could stave off listing the fish as endangered, and set an example of stewardship for other Western states. The “Oregon Plan” featured collaboration among private landowners, who own 65 percent of the salmon’s habitat, the local timber […]
Wildlife
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Utah finds 3 million more wild acres
Equipped with an old Jeep Cherokee 4×4 and a stack of large-scale topographical maps, Kevin Walker spent two years combing southern Utah. He was looking for wild, unprotected tracts of Bureau of Land Management land that might have been left out of a coalition’s wilderness proposal. His team – Walker helped lead the citizens’ inventory […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
At Tahoe, it’s agreed: old growth gets to stay
The residents of the Lake Tahoe Basin want their old-growth trees, dead or alive. A regulation that took effect last month all but prohibits the harvest of trees over 30 inches in diameter, whether they are on public or private land. Because it applies to both green and standing dead trees, the Tahoe ordinance expands […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Victory for the tortoise
Though notoriously slow to the finish line, the desert tortoise came out ahead this April in the first endangered-species act case to be prosecuted in Idaho in 15 years. Russell G. Jones of Star, Idaho, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a protected species under federal law and was fined $1,000 and ordered to serve […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
The illustrated adventures of bison
What weighs 4 pounds, boasts stunning watercolor illustrations of wildlife, and purports to regulate brucellosis in free-ranging bison? The new 400-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Interagency Bison Management Plan for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park, of course. The statement, a collaboration by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Justice for the cutthroat
When it listed bulltrout as a threatened species recently (HCN, 6/22/98), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also announced that westslope cutthroat trout deserved study for possible protection. The move was pushed by six conservation groups – American Wildlands, Madison Gallatin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Idaho Watersheds Project, Montana Environmental Information Center, Clearwater Biodiversity Project […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Still on the hit list
When the Wilderness Society released a list of the 10 most endangered wild places in the U.S. last year, it hoped media attention would slow down the development threatening these unique areas. But this year’s list has been expanded to 15 sites, and only one area dropped off the list because of increased protection. The […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Begging bears are back in Idaho
REXBURG, Idaho – A cinnamon-colored bear ambles over to the green GMC camper truck, sniffs the tires and stands up on his hind legs. The 400-pound predator paws at the hood and laps at the bug-spattered windshield, behind which sits a giddy young family of four packed on the truck’s bench seat. They’re not in […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
A timber town rallies for roads
CASCADE, Idaho – The open-air protest was hastily organized, but Idaho Republican Rep. Helen Chenoweth found time to travel to this timber town of 900. “You’re the best environmentalists in the world,” she told 500 cheering people who had gathered to close the road through town with logging trucks and send a message to the […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
More internal fire at the Forest Service
NEW MEXICO More internal fire at the Forest Service The list of resignations in the Forest Service’s Southwest region is growing (HCN, 3/30/98). Renee Galeano-Popp, a career agency biologist, stepped down from her position at Lincoln National Forest in late April, saying in a letter to the incoming regional forester that “the Forest Service has […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Trees and children win
How much are 30,000 acres of forest worth? Washington conservation groups and the state’s Department of Natural Resources are about to find out. On April 8, the two sides settled a trio of lawsuits over the Loomis State Forest in north-central Washington by agreeing to let the conservation groups pay to remove a chunk of […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Judge disciplines L-P
Judge disciplines L-P At a criminal trial last month in Denver, a federal judge fined the Louisiana-Pacific Corp. a record $37 million for breaking environmental laws at its Olathe, Colo., waferboard plant and for selling a product whose quality didn’t meet the company’s claims. The fine is the latest chapter in the plant’s stormy history. […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Forest blowdown causes storm
The Forest Service is preparing to log nearly 3,000 acres of an October spruce and fir blowdown in Colorado’s Routt National Forest (HCN, 11/24/97). The risk of wildfire and the potential for a spruce beetle outbreak in the blowdown make the North Fork salvage sale an “emergency situation,” the regional forester says – one that […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Victory for the bull trout
Compelled by continuing litigation from environmentalists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed two populations of bull trout as threatened – one in Oregon’s Klamath River Basin and the other in the huge Columbia River Basin, reaching into Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The legal battle was waged by three nonprofit groups – Alliance for […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
It rhymes with scourge
I was out weeding my native plants garden when a houseguest chided me about the ethnic cleansing that seemed to be happening there. Targets were dandelions, salsifies, thistles, chicories, henbit and donkeytail spurge, which try to crowd out naturalized grasses and bee-balm, penstemon and Jacob’s ladder. I have the satisfaction of knowing that what I […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Biologists get the ax
Seven biologists are on the endangered list after a budget cut at New Mexico’s state wildlife agency. In April, Republican Gov. Gary Johnson vetoed $620,000 in state and federal matching funds for the state’s management of all nongame wildlife. The funds were earmarked for staff positions in environmental education and endangered species protection. “Our intent […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Most favor the grizzly
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued a summary of 24,000 public comments on its plan to bring back grizzly bears to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana. Of the 21,000 responses that were petition signatures, 77 percent favored reintroduction, while 23 percent opposed it. The summary drew criticism from Alliance for the […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Lagged not logged
Climbed Delodo Tree. Had a bad feeling, so dry and hot. Storm last night brought plenty of lightning, little rain. Spotted smoke to south, blowing northeast and picking up … Caught hobbled mare and saddled up. Rode to Little Nelson Lake Tree, saw smoke again. Looks like a big fire … May need extra folks […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Smaller and smaller forests
Humans are cutting Colorado and Wyoming forest into an increasing number of isolated stands that threaten forest health, according to three new videos highlighting a conference devoted to forest fragmentation in the central Rocky Mountains. “Everybody who lives in these states has an opinion about forested public land, but most impressions seem to be based […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Don’t fence me in
Are bison becoming just another cow with a hump?