Hiking the Mad Creek Trail north of Steamboat, Colorado, one day this fall, I glanced back at another hiker, who was accompanied by two yelping dogs. I was taken aback to see the man wore a pistol in a holster on his hip. He fell into step for a while with my daughter, Greta, who’s […]
Wildlife
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Fish and Wildlife and integrity, a rental crisis, California homelessness and more.
Hcn.org news in brief.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Green energy’s dirty secret
Industrial solar and wind endanger wildlife but are getting more support than ever.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Will the Migratory Bird Treaty Act survive in the modern era?
One of the nation’s oldest wildlife laws is fighting for its life in the courts.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Washington welcomes wolves back — across deep political divides
The state’s emphasis on non-lethal control is saving livestock and wolves, but rural residents are still leery.
Posted inArticles
To save Washington’s Yakima Basin fish, just add water
A drought plan in one of the West’s most forward-thinking watersheds reconciles salmon and agriculture.
Posted inArticles
Mexican wolves seem targeted for extinction
This fall, for the second time, the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission rejected a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to release two adult Mexican wolves with pups, and up to 10 captive-born wolf pups, into the Mexican Wolf Recovery Area in southern Arizona and New Mexico. An important part of the release, which […]
Posted inArticles
Legal challenges over Exxon Valdez sputter to an end
Lingering oil remains and ecological monitoring will continue. But Alaskans are moving on.
Posted inArticles
Can studying morality help Yellowstone’s wolves and bison?
Sociologist Justin Farrell plumbs the spiritual depths of environmental struggle.
Posted inArticles
Is Fish & Wildlife under the thumb of political influence?
73 percent of agency scientists say political interference is too high.
Posted inArticles
Sheep wars rage on in southwest Montana
Was this the final grazing season in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest?
Posted inArticles
Hidden camera traps capture wildlife in Wyoming
An ecologist uses a scientific tool for artistic purposes.
Posted inArticles
Shell’s giving up drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Now what?
The (controversial) case for drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Posted inArticles
Cue the greater sage grouse lawsuits
With the bird’s non-listing under the Endangered Species Act, expect more of the legal crawl that got us here in the first place.
Posted inArticles
Sage grouse decision demonstrates clout of the Endangered Species Act
On Sept. 22, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a landmark decision, declaring that the greater sage grouse, that icon of the Western High Plains, does not warrant federal protection. The chicken-sized bird’s numbers have dwindled from a historic high of perhaps 16 million to about 400,000, as its sagebrush range has been transformed […]
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: Is ranching a form of conservation?
Our cattle can help restore wildlife habitat, reduce fire fuels and sequester carbon, when used creatively.
Posted inArticles
Mexican wolf restoration hits (another) snag
The feds want to release captive animals to increase genetic diversity in the wild, but New Mexico isn’t having it.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
How to redefine — and defend — wilderness
A review of a new way to look at what’s wild and what’s not, in Jason Mark’s ‘Satellites in the High Country’ and Fred Pearce’s ‘The New Wild.’
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
Notes from the road to bestsellerdom
An author’s promotional book tour includes incontinent owls and posh but uncomfortable luncheons.
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: Don’t fence me in
Marking our territory with wildlife-friendly fences.