Wildlife Habitat

  • Revisiting Fire History Studies One of the cornerstones of current forest policy is the assumption that western forests are outside of their “normal” density and appearance or what is termed “historic variability” due a hundred years of mismanagement that included logging of old growth, fire suppression, and livestock grazing. This idea has been used to…

  • Black Forest Colorado fire destroys almost 400 homes- – – – – – – Update: On June 20 the Black Forest fire was contained after 500 houses had burned. RM – – – – – – The first day of summer is just about here, and wildfires are breaking out across much of the Western…

  • Rural Economic Vitalization Act reintroduced- The Rural Economic Vitalization Act (REVA) would allow private parties to pay willing ranchers to relinquish their grazing permits on public lands, and then the grazing allotment would then be permanently closed to livestock grazing.  U.S. Representative Adam Smith of Washington State has just reintroduced this legislation. Conservationists and economists…

  • I’ve been studying fire ecology for decades, an interest which led to the publication in 2006 of my book WIldfire: A Century of Failed Forest Policy. My interest in wildfire did not end with the book and I have continued to read and digest the fire-related literature, attend conferences, and most importantly visit and observe…

  • Lawsuit aims to take back majority of marsh land used to create the Refuge- A lawsuit by landowners who helped create the Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge in 1965, now threatens is dismemberment. One of the best known features of the obscure country between the eastern edge of the Snake River Plain and the Wyoming…

  • Ten photos of jaguar near at site of 6,990-acre Rosemont mine project area- Arizona is pockmarked with abandoned copper pit after pit and associated toxic tailings.  There are also some active pits and old ones starting back up. Finally there are plans for another new giant pit on the north end of the Santa Rita Mountains…

  • Reliable spring time snow appears to be vital for wolverine kits to survive- Wolverines are legendary for traveling huge distances and eating just about anything.  However, a study in the recent Journal of Mammology shows that this is hardly true when it comes to baby wolverine and their mothers. Wolverine females den in the snow…

  • Emma Marris, the author of Rambunctious Garden (RG), loves the nature hiding in back street alleys and along the highway median strip. Marris believes it’s time to abandon (or de-emphasize) what she sees as outdated and naïve conservation strategies such as creation of national parks and wilderness reserves.  She feels the biggest obstacles to a…

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