In Colorado, prairie dogs and other small mammals are safe from large-scale massacre in the name of sport. The Colorado Wildlife Commission voted unanimously July 10 to restrict contest shoots of small game, including coyotes and prairie dogs. Environmental and animal rights groups have expressed outrage over contests like the Top Dog World Championship Prairie […]
Wildlife
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Jaguar limps onto the list
Activists sporting jaguar costumes and picket signs outside the Tucson office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received some welcome news in July. After 18 years and two lawsuits from environmentalists, the agency added the jaguar to the endangered species list. “The Fish and Wildlife Service has been dragged screaming and kicking through this […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
What’s his are mines
Some people think controversial developer Tom Chapman may have made a costly mistake. The Colorado native recently acquired two patented mining claims within the Spanish Peaks wilderness study area in southwestern Colorado, but his critics say the price he paid for 30 acres was high and the potential for mining or other development low. “This […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Habitat plans are in full flood
Note: this article is part of a suite of feature articles in this issue about the Endangered Species Act and Habitat Protection Plans. Nowhere is enthusiasm for Habitat Conservation Plans greater than in the Pacific Northwest. For that, thank (or blame) the northern spotted owl. Since 1990, when the owl was listed as a threatened […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Foreman finds hope amid ecological rubble
Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson should thank their stars that Dave Foreman chose to become a conservation preacher rather than a religious preacher. Otherwise, they would be out of jobs. Foreman, who said his family had expected him to become a Bible-thumper, traces his unique ministry back to the doomsday preaching of Cassandra, and he […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Forest plan powers through Congress
Federal legislation to launch the Quincy Library Group’s forest management plan soared through the House, 429-1, a landslide victory which supporters are boasting was bigger and faster than the vote following Pearl Harbor. The lone holdout was Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. Opposition to the controversial bill faded in last-minute negotiations between Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Trouble for grizzly bear recovery plan
After a four-year, $250,000 effort, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released its draft plan for restoring grizzly bears in western Montana and central Idaho. Now, Sens. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, want to cut the project off at the knees. Hailed by many as a groundbreaking compromise between the timber industry, […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Habitat Conservation Plans
Who wins and who loses whenUncle Sam cuts deals with landowners to protect endangered species?
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Critics say ‘no surprises’ means no protection
Note: This article accompanies another one of this issue’s feature stories. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Before Mike O’Connell said a single word, you could tell he was going to be the first troublemaker. It wasn’t just that he wore a tie. O’Connell’s panel was the only one at the Habitat Conservation Plans conference held in Washington, […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
‘The real problem is lack of time’
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Biologist Dennis Murphy, president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University, is a science advisor for several Habitat Conservation Plans in Southern California. The plans were designed to protect the California gnatcatcher and other species while allowing development in the […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
‘I’ve never seen a good HCP’
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Attorney Tara Mueller works with the Environmental Law Fund in Oakland, Calif., where she helps grassroots environmental groups monitor Habitat Conservation Plans. Tara Mueller: “I can’t say that I’ve ever seen an example of a good HCP. There’re so many places that […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
‘We’ve turned down bad HCPs’
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Curt Smitch is an assistant director for Region 1 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which covers Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho and Hawaii. He oversaw the region’s Habitat Conservation Plan program when it took effect in 1994. Curt Smitch: “We […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
The feds won’t enforce the ESA
Note: this article is part of a suite of feature articles in this issue about the Endangered Species Act and Habitat Protection Plans. Backers of Habitat Conservation Plans have a simple answer for critics: If we don’t cut deals with private landowners, we lose the habitat. That’s tough to swallow for some conservationists, since the […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
‘Landowners need more incentives’
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Many consider Michael Bean, a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, the dean of endangered species protection in the United States. Others say he weakened the Endangered Species Act in the name of practicality when he helped craft the 1982 amendments […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Timber’s bad boy comes to the table
Note: this article is part of a suite of feature articles in this issue about the Endangered Species Act and Habitat Protection Plans. ROSLYN, Wash. – Lorin Hicks climbs the steep, muddy slope in long strides, stopping several hundred feet uphill of a goshawk nest. The agitated female screeches annoyance and lifts off the towering […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
‘HCPs need peer-reviewed science’
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Volunteer Michael Schindell works for the National Endangered Species Network in Sacramento, Calif. Michael Schindell: “HCPs have weak science. A good example is a plan for Yellow County, Calif., which is a rapidly growing bedroom community west of Sacramento. That HCP uses […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Wolf pups proliferate
As scores of bison and deer perished last winter in and around Yellowstone, one species was there to take it all in. Literally. Yellowstone’s wolf packs found feast where others fell to famine. Eight of Yellowstone’s nine wolf packs produced 11 litters last spring. This could double the park’s total wolf population of 47. Although […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Coalition says: Stop logging watersheds
In 1996, floods and landslides exacerbated by decades of logging forced over 200,000 Oregon residents to boil their drinking water. Now, the Oregon Natural Resources Council and 20 other conservation organizations want the Forest Service to stop all logging of municipal watersheds in the Northwest. Streams draining Forest Service lands provide drinking water to two-thirds […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
San Luis heats up again
The historic town of San Luis in southern Colorado is shaking again from the rumble of logging trucks. After a halt in timber cutting due to spring mud, 15-20 trucks a day started hauling logs in early June from the mountainous Taylor Ranch, called La Sierra by the predominantly Hispanic residents below. The 77,000-acre ranch […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Cove-Mallard warms up for another summer
No sooner had the courts given the Forest Service a go-ahead to resume logging in Idaho’s Cove-Mallard than activists took to the woods to begin a sixth straight year of protest. Nez Perce National Forest officials responded by arresting two activists perched in 40-foot-high tripods. The June 18 arrests came one week after U.S. Magistrate […]