Imagine a proposal to scatter millions of pounds of poisoned meat around the United States, close to human populations. Much of it would be accessible to scavengers including eagles, hawks, coyotes, foxes and badgers, as well as to dogs and cats. An animal feeding on the poisoned meat would probably die. This scenario is likely, […]
Wildlife
Posted inWotr
Wilderness is the place that can make or break you
Beyond the end of most any road in southern Utah rests the crucible for my soul –? the beauty, ecological abundance and sanctuary of our public lands. With the Bunsen-burner intensity of its noontime sun, desert wilderness burns off the ephemera of my life, and there remains only the essence of emotion — awe that […]
Posted inApril 16, 2007: Phoenix Falling?
An endangered Endangered Species Act?
Top management at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tries a regulatory overhaul, outraging environmentalists
Posted inArticles
Ravens to threaten tortoises nevermore
The last person to see a raven feasting on baby tortoises in the California desert may be a federal agent, looking through the scope of a rifle. Ravens have been charged with contributing to the decline of the threatened desert tortoise, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to restore balance by shooting, […]
Posted inWotr
The decline of logging is now killing
If the connection between logging and closing libraries isn’t clear to you, then you don’t live in Oregon. Here, the connection is the stuff of crisis, the subject of daily news stories and of increasingly desperate political maneuvering. It is a crisis that reveals much about changing expectations and attitudes concerning government services, taxes and […]
Posted inWotr
Too much can be asked of a river
What do China’s Yangtze, India’s Ganges and America’s Rio Grande have in common? All share the dubious distinction of making a “Top 10” list compiled by the World Wildlife Fund of rivers in trouble. On the lower Rio Grande, where the river forms the border between the United States and Mexico, the challenges include widespread […]
Posted inApril 2, 2007: Disposable Workers of the Oil and Gas Fields
Lewis’ Web
NAME: Randy Lewis VOCATION: Professor of microbiology MARRIED: To his high school sweetheart CURRENT FUNDERS: National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Air Force BREAKTHROUGHS: Sequenced genes for several Rocky Mountain arachnids, including cat face, garden, wolf, jumping, and brown widow spiders. KNOWN FOR: Wearing gray or tan Wranglers. FAVORITE TIME OF DAY: Lunch. “It’s […]
Posted inWotr
Wolves have a reputation that’s larger than life
Ever since he ate Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma and blew down the houses of two-thirds of the little pigs, the wolf has been Big and Bad. Everyone knows what big teeth he has. But can those gleaming incisors explain the startling decline of elk herds in the Yellowstone area? Some people think so. Hunters […]
Posted inWotr
March madness trims the herd
The yearling cow elk started showing up in the yard the first week of March, and at first nothing seemed wrong. During the day she fed along the back fence; as evening approached, she came in closer to the house, nibbling on the first green sprouts of lawn before bedding down under the ash trees. […]
Posted inArticles
Bunny project breeds success
Cameras were clicking in central Washington March 13, when state Fish and Wildlife officials released 20 endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits. Onlookers, enamored with the creatures’ fuzzy ears and dark eyes, were “just like paparazzi,” says Madonna Luers, department spokeswoman, “bunny paparazzi.” The reintroduction was the culmination of a captive breeding program designed to save […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
The Silence of the Bees
The perilous existence of a migratory beekeeper amid a great bee die-off
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Busy as a Buchmann
NAME: Stephen Buchmann HOMETOWN: Tucson, Arizona AGE: 53 VOCATION: Pollination ecologist FAVORITE INSECT: Bees, especially the genus Centris, which can be seen visiting paloverde blossoms in the Sonoran desert. FAVORITE HONEY: The honey from the lady bee, “Xunan Kab,” a stingless bee kept by the Maya of southern Mexico. MOST STINGS IN A DAY: 200-300 […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
Getting the lead out
A proposed ban on lead ammo in California could save condors
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
A wolf’s life
NAME: B7 WEIGHT AT RELEASE: 74 pounds AT DEATH: 97 pounds ESTIMATED WEIGHT IN HIS PRIME: 120 pounds RELEASED: Indian Creek, Idaho, Jan. 20, 1995 ESTIMATED AGE: 13.75-14.75 years old ORIGINAL PACK: The Oldman River, Alberta KNOWN FOR: Being the last of the 29 wolves introduced into the U.S. from Canada in 1995 EMBARRASSING FACTS: […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
The knowledge of mules
I know more about mules than I want to. I know the scent of their sweat mixed with their steaming breath at 3 in the morning. I know the sight of a fully packed mule string, nine animals long, under the light of a full moon. I know the taut sound of a manila breakaway […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
Wish You Weren’t Here
Quagga mussels — an extraordinarily prolific and costly invasive species — jump from the Midwest to Lake Mead. Dealing with them will be anything but a vacation.
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
Battling over ballast
The zebra mussel’s aptitude as an invader is rivaled only by its skill as a lobbyist. In 1990, while the mussels’ mischief on the Great Lakes reached its height, Congress passed a law aimed at regulating ballast water — the water, hauled by empty ships for stability and balance, that is also the mussels’ most […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
Don’t move a mussel
Whether you raft, kayak, fish or swim in Western waters, you can make sure quagga mussels — and other aquatic invasives — don’t travel with you. Here’s how. Before leaving any body of water: Inspect your boat, trailer, clothing and any other wet gear for plants, fish or animals, and remove them on site. Wash […]
Posted inWotr
Don’t send a check, send yourself
When I first visited “Carnage Canyon” in the 1970s, it was clear to me how it got its name. The place was a mess. It had become a racetrack for racing bikes and motorcycles that zipped up and down the sides of the canyon. A few years later, people dragged in old refrigerators, cars and […]
Posted inArticles
Help is on the way for the nation’s forest workers
Working in the woods: It’s never been easy or steady. Ethical contractors say they can’t compete because the Forest Service awards contracts to the lowest bidder. And as the low bidders race to the bottom with offers below the true cost of the work, they’re leaving behind a trail of injured workers, labor violations, and […]