Taking a nap on the rocky banks of the Flathead River in Montana can be dangerous, especially if a snake has the same idea. When hiker Bill Gustafson, 17, of Columbia Falls took a break to snooze in the sun July 5, he fell asleep bare-chested. A non-poisonous garter snake then slithered onto his warm […]
Wildlife
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Plenty of room in Colorado
A report released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says Colorado can support at least 1,128 wolves. The agency studied seven national forests and their surrounding public and private lands, and determined that Colorado’s abundant elk and deer herds would not only sustain wolves but also discourage them from killing livestock. The report estimates […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Flame and blame in the Northwest
Loggers urge fire sales
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Ambitious ecosystem management advances east
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The ground rules are posted in prominent view of everybody in the room: Be courteous. No verbal or personal attacks. It might sound like seventh grade, but this meeting is for grown-ups. The leaders of the nation’s most ambitious experiment in ecosystem management are taking questions from an audience of timber […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Shame and threats impel Eastside plan
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, Ambitious ecosystem management advances east. A range of pressures – political scientific, and legal – shifted inland, over the crest of the Cascade Mountains, during the past year and a half, bringing leviathan ecosystem management with them. The two regions on opposite sides […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Wolf provokes inadvertent howlers
Never before have so many citizens had so much to say about a federal project: bringing wolves back to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho later this fall. By the time comment-taking ended this year on an environmental impact statement about the plan, 160,264 people had put their opinions on paper. Reactions were generally strident, […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Lawsuits may prey on wolf plans
Bringing wolves back to the West could hit a snag as both ranchers and environmentalists say they will sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Wilderness Society, Idaho Conservation League, Sierra Club and four other environmental groups notified Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt Sept. 7 that they will sue the agency within 60 days unless […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Around Glacier Park, it’s every predator for itself
On the edge of Glacier National Park, the North Fork of the Flathead River flows through the wildest ecosystem in the continental United States. It’s the only place in the continental U.S. where mountain lions, gray wolves and grizzly bears share habitat – along with black bears, coyotes, lynx, wolverines, whitetail and mule deer, elk, […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Eco-vandalism: Alien trout play havoc in Yellowstone
The ecological balance of the continent’s largest high-elevation lake – the pristine jewel of Yellowstone National Park – is threatened by an invasion of alien trout. And it seems to be no accident – the alien trout were likely slipped into Yellowstone Lake by anglers seeking to start a stock of catchable trophy fish. “An […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
First offering of Westside plan is ‘worst’
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, Ambitious ecosystem management advances east. Bucking strong opposition that includes the governor of Oregon, the Clinton administration has picked a controversial old-growth timber sale in the heart of a roadless area as its first major offering under the President’s Northwest Forest Plan. The […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Liquid lures mountain goats
For mountain goats in Glacier National Park, Mont., sweet-tasting antifreeze seems to be the drug of choice. Heading toward 6,000-foot Logan Pass, motorists can see up to 20 goats at a time fighting for the coolant that drips from overheated cars. At the summer parking lot many habituated goats gather where the leaking liquid forms […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Not another icon
On the 50th anniversary of the fire-surviving bear that became a symbol for the Forest Service, an 18-month-old bear cub was found digging through embers near the Tahoe City, Calif., fire. Smokey was younger than this cub when found, and spent the rest of his life at the Washington, D.C., National Zoo. But the 1994 […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Let’s make a deal
Hoping to gain support for the Endangered Species Act, the Interior Department offered a deal Aug. 10. Any person or group agreeing to protect endangered species through a Habitat Conservation Plan will not be expected to make further concessions. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt called the new policy flexible and urged its support. More than 130 […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Salmon spiral down as allies challenge barging
Only an estimated 1,500 wild Snake River spring and summer chinook salmon returned to Idaho to spawn this summer, the lowest count on record. That compares to a 10-year average of 10,000 returning adults. “We’re going rapidly down the track to zip,” says Dexter Pittman of the Idaho Fish and Game Department. Meanwhile, the U.S. […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Surprise!
Bloody encounters between grizzly bears and people at Yellowstone National Park this summer weren’t really attacks or maulings, says park public affairs officer Marsha Karle. They were more like surprises, she says. In June, Glen Lacey, a park maintenance employee, startled a bear which then punctured his shoulder with its teeth. When park concessionaire Randy […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Otters bite swimmers
Move aside, grizzly bears and mountain lions. River otters in Whitehall, east of Butte, Mont., attacked four people swimming in the Jefferson River July 11, and the victims have wounds and a 21-day series of rabies shots to prove it. Mike Hannegan of San Francisco, Calif., said he was attacked by an otter 12 times […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Wild watching in Nevada
WILD WATCHING IN NEVADA Nevada has joined the “watchable wildlife” program that is spreading across the West. A new Nevada Wildlife Viewing Guide, written by Jeanne Clark, describes viewing spots around the state that recently have been posted with the binocular symbol of the “watchable wildlife” program. Guidebooks in this series list viewing areas by […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
A wilderness proposal for Colorado
A WILDERNESS PROPOSAL FOR COLORADO Forty-nine conservation groups ranging from the Sierra Club to the Sheep Mountain Alliance have proposed the creation of 1.3 million acres of additional wilderness in Colorado. Instead of high-elevation rock and ice, these lands are primarily desert and canyon country managed by the Bureau of Land Management. In a recently […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Mothering a good forest fire isn’t easy
MEEKER, COLO. – The helicopter flew us toward the smoke. Even in the air, we wore heavy leather boots, jumpsuits and gloves made of Nomex – nothing that would ignite or melt easily. We had to be prepared in case of a forced landing. The Nomex felt surprisingly lightweight: thin protection. We topped the ridge, […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Agency cuts timber cut
Timber cuts in the heavily logged Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota will plummet 25 percent under a revised forest plan released last month. Forest staff studied eight alternatives and recommended setting the allowable timber harvest at 86.7 million board-feet per year for the next decade, almost 30 mmbf less than the current plan […]