August 2007
-
Preliminary data about predators and large ungulates indicates that fear is learned rather than inherent, although not all scientists agree. Story: Are prey hard-wired to fear predators? By Brodie Farquhar. Casper Star-Tribune
-
Gov to [gas and oil] industry: Back wildlife efforts. By Dustin Bleizeffer. Casper Star-Tribune energy reporter. post 1490
-
Firefighters face race against weather. Castle Rock Fire managers rush to establish lines of defense. By Jason Kauffman. Idaho Mountain Express Staff Writer. They have been setting many backfires in preparation for predicted high winds this weekend. The backfires burned a lot of country themselves as well as produced towering smoke columns. Added later on…
-
Otter: Castle Rock Fire now Forest Service’s top priority. By Matt Christensen. Times-News writer post 1484
-
Saving million-dollar homes. Insurance company sends in private fire crew to protect expensive homes. By Matt Christensen. Times-News writer. The Castle Rock Fire is different from other wildfires in that the homes it threatens are extremely high end. post 1483
-
Gonzaga University biology professors Julie Beckstead and David L. Boose were recently awarded $247,000 in federal grants for a three-year study on pyrenophora semeniperda, a fungus that attacks the seeds of cheatgrass. Something like this could save the rangelands of the West. Story in the New York Times. Associated Press.
-
Castle Rock Fire growing exponentially. From 30 acres Friday, blaze increased to 12,058 acres Tuesday. By Jason Kauffman. Idaho Mountain Express Staff Writer. Updates on other Idaho fires. From the Idaho Statesman. I visited the Mitchell Fire (east of Rockland, Idaho) again Tuesday. Due to recent rains in Eastern Idaho, I’d say all the fires…
-
While cheatgrass arrived in the West as an accident, African Buffelgrass was deliberately planted. It has changed the fire ecology of the Sonorian desert and has even become a severe fire threat inside cities such as Tuscon, AZ. “Buffelgrass is like taking a kiddie pool, filling it with gas, and putting it in your front…