Just don’t do it Oregon’s logging codes might aim to protect fish, wildlife and water quality, but they can’t always protect people. A Coos Bay company recently defied a request from the state Forestry Department that loggers voluntarily stop clear-cutting slide-prone slopes above highways and homes. The state’s request came in response to last winter’s […]
Wildlife
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Watch for fish-friendly foods
Salmon-friendly agricultural products are leaping right onto grocery store shelves this month. In the first attempt to market produce made with the Pacific Northwest’s dwindling salmon population in mind, the nonprofit Pacific Rivers Council has introduced a “Salmon-Safe” program. Twenty-four producers, ranging from wineries and vegetable growers to apple orchards and rice farms, have been […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Free-range ferrets
Black-footed ferrets could inhabit northwestern Colorado’s Moffat County and Utah’s Uintah County as soon as this fall, if a federal proposal wins approval. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chose each county because it had public lands populated by plenty of prairie dogs, the preferred prey of ferrets. Ferrets would be released into the Little […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Feds learn that a man’s ranch is his castle
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A few years ago, so the story goes, the Forest Service folks who deal with endangered species were taking aerial photographs to locate prairie dogs, and thereby the black-footed ferrets which prey on them. Which was fine – as long as the planes were flying over public land. When they started flying […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Moving in, as the snow moves on
KELLY, Wyo. – The robins arrive first, though some years it’s mountain bluebirds, with snow still on the ground at the end of March and more to come. Much more. They remind me of how we all announce ourselves as creatures of home. This is true, at least, of the creatures with whom I share […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Rancher shoots for test case
Brucellosis-infected elk are a major threat to Wyoming’s economy, says Meeteetse-area rancher Martin Thomas. Serious enough, he will argue in court, to warrant the assault-rifle attack that left nine elk dead and lots of wildlife-management questions unanswered (HCN, 3/3/97). On March 31, Thomas pleaded not guilty to charges that he illegally gunned down elk near […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Coffee is bad for birds
You pour yourself a cup of coffee and listen for the chirp and twitter of birds outside. But as you sip, you notice the quiet: What’s happened to the songbirds? The answer could be right in your cup. Songbird populations are dropping as foreign coffee plantations “modernize” to keep up with America’s thirst for the […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Judge is bullish on trout protection
Pushed by a federal judge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it has started the process of listing the bull trout under the Endangered Species Act. The announcement was sad news for the governors of Idaho and Montana, who both have crafted state recovery plans for the cold-water-loving species, partly in an attempt to […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Timber mill dreams of museum
It’s a public-relations dream: Save an outdated, inefficient timber mill from the scrap heap by making it a working museum that cuts logs for show. But there’s a catch: Hull-Oakes Lumber Co., owner of the 90-year-old steam-powered mill near Monroe, Ore., wants the federal government to guarantee two-thirds of its timber supply – 12 million […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
No takers for wilderness trip
Last month, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt tried a consensus approach to resolving the state’s rancorous wilderness debate: He suggested a camping trip, but no one wanted to come. Leavitt invited environmental leaders, county commissioners, federal land managers, ranchers and coal miners to eastern Utah. They would visit proposed wilderness areas on Bureau of Land Management […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Wolves have friend in Washington
Wolves may yet howl in Washington state’s Olympic National Park now that Norm Dicks, the Olympic Peninsula’s influential congressman, supports the cause. But the effort hinges on a feasibility study that has yet to be funded. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the lead federal agency on wolf recovery, is already involved in recovery efforts […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Cry Wolf
With The Great American Wolf, wildlife biologist Bruce Hampton has written a book almost as compelling as the fiercely intelligent predator itself. Hampton, who lives in Lander, Wyo., first tells us how white hunters in the West sought to wipe out wolves, which were viewed as competitors in the taking of “helpless’ buffalo, deer and […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Following the salmon
The Northwest salmon crisis has spawned a $150-a-year journal devoted, says its editor, to “the most significant environmental restoration effort ever undertaken in the United States.” Bill Crampton, a fourth-generation Oregonian and former newspaper editor, started the Northwest Salmon Recovery Report in February to provide an independent voice on regional salmon issues. Crampton, who publishes […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
County caught in cottonwood quagmire
A simple idea: Eliminate the trees, stabilize the levees, save a town. But things are seldom what they seem. Ask officials of Benewah County, Idaho. In February, they cut down hundreds of cottonwoods to stabilize levees on the St. Joe River in the town of St. Maries. They wanted to prevent a repeat of last […]
Posted inMay 12, 1997: Planning under the gun: Cleaning up Lake Tahoe proves to be a dirty business
Oregon gets shot at saving salmon
In a move that speaks loudly of the Clinton administration’s approach to resolving endangered species conflicts, the National Marine Fisheries Service will give federal protection to one population of wild coastal salmon but not another. Under a court-imposed deadline, the agency decided April 25 to list the southern population of coho – which spawn in […]
Posted inMarch 3, 1997: Hunters close ranks, and minds
Some hook and bullet magazines hit the mark
The key to understanding outdoor magazines – which I both read and write for – is that they exist to sell advertising. This is neither an indictment nor something unique: Virtually all periodicals except nonprofits depend on ad sales for their survival. The advantage of a large circulation comes not from income, but as bait […]
Posted inApril 28, 1997: Evangelical Christians preach a green gospel
Wolves will be wolves
When the federal government restored wolves to Yellowstone National Park two years ago, it anticipated that the surrounding states would ultimately take over management of the predator. Now, Wyoming has taken the first step in that direction by producing a draft wolf-management plan. The plan’s preferred alternative calls for allowing six wolf packs to move […]
Posted inApril 28, 1997: Evangelical Christians preach a green gospel
Forest supervisor shows Congress some dirty pictures
It was billed as a Washington, D.C.-style “barbecue,” but the roastee – Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Bill Levere – was prepared for the heat. In early April, Idaho Rep. Helen Chenoweth ordered Levere, the manager of the central Idaho forest, to come to the nation’s capitol and defend his tough new penalties for ranchers who […]
Posted inApril 28, 1997: Evangelical Christians preach a green gospel
States get semi-tough on poachers
A dramatic rise in flagrant cases of wildlife poaching has inspired a batch of new legislation that could truly put the hurt on criminal hunters in the West. Anti-poaching bills with stiffer fines and penalties are advancing in the New Mexico, Montana, Nevada and Idaho legislatures. But lawmakers in Wyoming and Colorado recently rejected efforts […]
Posted inApril 14, 1997: Beauty and the Beast
A Utah vendetta
When some members of the Utah Legislature get mad, they try to get even. A rural Utah lawmaker, furious at actor Robert Redford’s support of the state’s new Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, introduced a resolution recently to turn Redford’s Sundance resort into a wilderness. “Mr. Redford has made a tremendous amount of money off what […]