The only reason that cattle and sheep producers can really use to justify their position –– that the only good wolf is a dead one –– is that the wolf and other large predators endanger a traditional way of life in the West (HCN, 11/10/08). The actual contribution of the Rocky Mountain area to national […]
Wildlife
Posted inDecember 8, 2008: Out in the cold
Wolves, ranchers and public lands
The recovery of the gray wolf is clearly a political issue, not a biological issue. Given this fact, how can Daniel Glick write nearly 4,000 words on the relationship of Westerners with Canis lupus without mentioning the words “public lands” (HCN, 11/10/08)? The cattle ranchers, sheep ranchers and outfitters highlighted in this article all make […]
Posted inGoat
Howling Wolf on the West coast
The feature story in the November 10th edition of HCN – Still Howling Wolf – asked: Will Westerners finally learn to live with Canis lupus? The article looks for the answer in the attitudes of a variety of Northern Rockies residents in light of a lawsuit that returned the gray wolf to federal Endangered Species […]
Posted inWotr
The names of things and why they matter
If there is one thing Westerners like, it is naming things. Open up a topographical atlas and take a look: Every creek, butte, ridge, wash and reservoir has a name. We are fond of naming creeks Spring, buttes Pumpkin, ridges Red, washes Dry, reservoirs Cow, lakes Lost. We even re-name places that had already been […]
Posted inGoat
Mrs. T. Boone Pickens to the (horse) rescue
We’ve chronicled the sad story of the horse glut in the United States, brought on partly because of the slaughterhouse ban enacted two years ago, partly because of the rising cost of fuel and hay, and partly because of the failing economy. It all comes down to the unpleasant fact that there more horses than […]
Posted inGoat
A grizzly situation
Bad news for grizzly bears, in Montana and Yellowstone. During the past decade, wildlife managers killed 58 of the federally-protected bruins in northwestern Montana. That makes biologists the biggest source of human-caused grizzly deaths in the region, ahead of train or car strikes (46), illegal shooting (34), and self-defense (20). The “management removals” happen when […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2008: Still Howling Wolf
Still Howling Wolf
Will Westerners finally learn how to live with Canis lupus?
Posted inNovember 10, 2008: Still Howling Wolf
Burning issues
Name Tom BonnicksenAge 67Occupation Retired forestry scientistSpent childhood Outdoors sliding down the Indiana Dunes, canoeing the upper Wisconsin River, living at 8,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains.On how he gathers data “I walk through the woods. I know every inch of these places I study. I’m on the ground all the time. And if I’m […]
Posted inGoat
No dam(n) difference?
Dams are bad for salmon. That’s been the conclusion of thousands of biologists, environmentalists and fishermen after years of watching rapidly declining salmon runs on the Northwest’s dammed rivers. We’ve written many stories about the topic (here are a few: Salmon Justice, Another chance emerges for salmon, Fishermen blamed for salmon troubles, Dams will stand […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2008: Prophets and politics
Living with trees
Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to TreesNalini M. Nadkarni336 pages, hardcover: $24.95.University of California, 2008. Between Earth and Sky sets out to describe the many ways in which trees sustain us. When author Nalini Nadkarni was a girl in suburban Maryland, after school she would climb one of the eight maples in her […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2008: Prophets and politics
Tales from the heartwood
Working the Woods, Working the Sea: An Anthology of Northwest WritingEdited by Finn Wilcox and Jerry Gorsline400 pages, softcover, $22.Empty Bowl, 2008. The second edition of Working the Woods, Working the Sea — the first was published in 1986 — contains a lot of new material, but its core is still fiction, nonfiction and poetry […]
Posted inWotr
Another chance emerges for salmon
This fall, the most endangered salmon on earth is giving us another chance to save it from extinction. Snake River sockeye salmon are small as salmon go, with a blue sheen when they leave the Pacific Ocean. That sheen has burnt bright red 850 miles and two months later by the time they reach their […]
Posted inGoat
The wolf-go-round
Seven months ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Oregon off the endangered species list, marking the end of 34 years of protection. In July U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued an injunction against killing wolves in the region after conservationists filed suit, saying it was too […]
Posted inWotr
Animal pharm is coming our way
On Sept. 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released its “guidance” for allowing the sale of genetically modified animals as food. Guidance is agency-speak for “the law will look something like this.” With the announcement, a 60-day period for public comment opened. Right now, the only genetically modified animal licensed for sale is the […]
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
Bear necessities
We wound our way up a rocky cliff-side trail toward Gunsight Pass, which straddles a ragged, 7,000-foot-high ridgeline in the heart of Glacier National Park. Forty mph winds buffeted us, and a severe case of “bearanoia” held us in its grip. The rangers had suggested Gunsight Pass because it offered stunning views and a relatively […]
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
Wildlife wars
They’ve loped to the southern edge of Wyoming’s Wind River Range, and straggled into northwestern Colorado. They’ve filled Montana forests near Missoula, Helena and Bozeman. They’ve crossed the Idaho Panhandle, padding into north-central Washington and eastern Oregon. And despite disease outbreaks and being shot by the feds for devouring the occasional cow, every year since […]
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
Biodiversity? Not so much
Your article “McCain: T.R. or W?” contains this statement: “The San Pedro hosts the second-most biologically diverse array of mammals in the world, second only to the Costa Rican cloud forests” (HCN, 9/1/08). As far as I know, no scientists have ever claimed that the San Pedro River had biodiversity second only to Costa Rica. […]
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
Unnatural selection
In his letter, Neil Snyder asserts that “it’s time stop intervening on behalf of the spotted owl and let nature take its course, whatever that will be” (HCN, 9/15 & 29/08). If we had allowed nature to take its course, old-growth forests would still blanket the Pacific Northwest. Spotted owls would occupy their traditional niche, […]
Posted inArticles
Video: Still howling wolf
The passionate and complicated feelings people have about living with wolves in the Northern Rockies
Posted inWotr
Trapped by fire on a mountain lookout
Updated September 29, 2008 The fire season of 2008 will long be remembered as the most destructive ever recorded in New Mexico’s Manzano Mountains. The human-caused Trigo Fire destroyed 59 homes after erratic winds pushed it from the west to the east side of the mountain range some 70 miles southeast of Albuquerque. Lightning ignited […]