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 […]
Wildlife
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
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
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 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 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 […]
Posted inApril 14, 1997: Beauty and the Beast
Frogs sport too many legs
Eight-legged frogs give biologists the willies. They say the deformed amphibians – like canaries in a mine – indicate environmental problems that could affect the two-legged as well. So when extra-legged Pacific tree frogs surfaced in three westside Oregon communities last summer, researchers took notice. No one knew what to make of the phenomenon until […]
Posted inApril 14, 1997: Beauty and the Beast
ESA ruling: More sound than fury
Lawyers, get ready: People can use the Endangered Species Act to sue the federal government for protecting species too much, not just too little, ruled the U.S. Supreme Court March 19. Now, ranchers, farmers and developers may be encouraged to do what environmentalists have been doing for two decades – demand their day in court. […]
Posted inApril 14, 1997: Beauty and the Beast
Judge tells feds to list and protect
In a slap at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a federal judge ordered the agency March 14 to list four species as endangered and to set aside the most important habitat for them and two others already listed. District Judge Roger Strand chided the service for having repeatedly missed congressionally imposed deadlines under the […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
‘Road warriors’ spread out over Utah
The pink line drawn on the topo map looks like a small finger poked into the close contour lines of Utah’s Deep Creek Mountains. My job as a “road warrior” for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance was to find this jeep road, if it still existed in the BLM wilderness study area, follow it as […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Dave Foreman sparks wilderness drive
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity. “The Great Basin is a landscape that has always called to my soul,” says Dave Foreman. “Nowhere do we see better classic wilderness than in the Great Basin.” A founder and leader of […]
Posted inMarch 31, 1997: Big Sky, big mess in Montana
Coyotes could get culled
For the last decade, biologist Alan Clark has watched the number of endangered Columbian white-tailed deer decline at a national wildlife refuge dedicated to protecting them. Now, with only 60 deer surviving on a 2,000-acre section of the southwestern Washington refuge – half the number there should be – Clark says the situation is critical. […]
Posted inMarch 31, 1997: Big Sky, big mess in Montana
Loggers sued for fatal landslide
When a 10-year-old clearcut let loose a torrent of mud and debris last November, killing four people and obliterating a house in Douglas County, Ore., some said logging caused the tragedy (HCN, 12/23/96). Now the victims’ families are taking that claim to court with an $11.3 million lawsuit against the two companies that owned and […]
Posted inMarch 31, 1997: Big Sky, big mess in Montana
‘Developer’ wants access to Oregon wilderness
For many, wilderness designation – the promise that no roads and no permanent structures will mar a sensitive area – is an environmental dream come true. But 12 miles within southwestern Oregon’s Kalmiopsis Wilderness, a man with old mining claims wants to improve a road and build a resort. He’s calling it “reasonable access,” a […]