Audubon articles from March 1999

Audubon archives from March 1999

Audubon's Agenda for Action.
March 1, 1999... TOO OFTEN OVER the past few years the National Audubon Society and other groups have been reduced to playing defense, reacting against an antienvironmental Congress. This year, however, an impeachment trial and multiple leadership changes have...

Corrections.
March 1, 1999... In "Death by Breath" (Field Notes, January-February), we reported that 220,000 people in the United States die each year as a result of pesticide exposure. In fact, the figure is a worldwide estimate. "Road Block" (The Audubon View,...

Voting Down a Poison.
March 1, 1999... Montana's state motto is Gold and Silver. But in November, voters took a significant step to slow the pace of one destructive mining method. Through a statewide ballot initiative, they banned open-pit heap-leach and vat-leach gold mines using...

I'll Take Yosemite.
March 1, 1999... Ordinary citizens can now hold a monopoly on some of the nation's greatest lands, thanks to National Parks Monopoly--a new twist on a favorite game. There aren't any major changes in the game: Players still pass "Go" and can still end up in...

Hurricane Havoc.
March 1, 1999... HURRICANES GEORGES AND MITCH devastated parts of the Caribbean and several Central American countries last year, causing horrific mudslides, flooding, and thousands of deaths. It's still too early to tally the environmental damage caused by...

Straight and Narrow Path.
March 1, 1999... For 30 years Bob Brown, a hiker and naturalist, lobbied Tennessee officials to create a 220-mile Cumberland Trail. The state has finally granted his wish by establishing its first linear park. The northern trailhead will be at the Cumberland...

Food-Chain Reaction.
March 1, 1999... Overfishing in the Bering Sea has triggered a cascade of disaster. Fewer fish means less food for sea lions and seals, whose populations have plummeted. That means that hungry killer whales, which usually dine on the pinnipeds, are switching to...

Landing a Giant Conservation Deal.
March 1, 1999... ENVIRONMENTALISTS in the Northeast are trumpeting "a new dynamic." The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit group, has arranged to buy 296,000 acres of woodlands in New England and New York and turn them into biological reserves and a sustainable...

Good News.
March 1, 1999... High Water-Marks In 1995, despite a larger population, the nation used 2 percent less water than in 1990 and 10 percent less than in 1980, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which released the figures last fall. Conservation by citizens...

Bad News.
March 1, 1999... Hotter Than Ever Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report that from 1949 to 1995 there was an increasing frequency of extremely hot and humid days throughout the United States. The number increased by about two...

This Is Your Brain on Conservation.
March 1, 1999... Red eyes, impaired coordination, and misbehavior in school are the clearest signs that a child may have a drug problem. But there may be less obvious clues, according to "How Parents Can Help Children Live Marijuana Free," a pamphlet sponsored...

A Frog-Eat-Frog World.
March 1, 1999... For many years, pollution, wetland loss, and fungal disease have devastated the world's frog populations. Now a rabble of nonnative bullfrogs, crayfish, bass, and other fish may wipe out four of Arizona's remaining six native frogs, according...

The Environmental Artist.
March 1, 1999... THE 12 HIGH-TECH windmills outside Salt Lake City's convention center appear oddly positioned for a source of energy, lined up as they are between the center and the adjacent street. Inside the building, however, the windmills' real purpose...

Southern Discomfort.
March 1, 1999... IN MUCH OF THE SOUTH, chemical herbicides such as SePro and 2-4D are as readily available as bug spray. "Every Tom, Dick, and Harry can buy them," says Ray Scott, founder of the 600,000-member Bass Anglers Sportsmen Society, the world's biggest...

Attack of the Swamp Creatures.
March 1, 1999... A NEW AND DANGEROUS predator, the Asian swamp eel, is lurking in canals and drainage ditches around Tampa and Miami. Biologists suspect that the snakelike intruders, which hail from eastern Asia, were unleashed from a tropical-fish farm or...

A Whale of a Toxic Problem.
March 1, 1999... Ocean species from salmon to whales are suffering acutely from toxic contamination. One of the worst cases concerns the beluga whales of the St. Lawrence River, in Canada, which have a higher incidence of cancer than any other whale population...

Saved From the Shredder.
March 1, 1999... LAST SUMMER the staff of The Ecologist, a British environmental magazine, sent its September-October issue to the printer. Two weeks later they got word that the printer had destroyed all 15,000 copies of the issue. The reason: 69 of the 75...

Ask AUDUBON.
March 1, 1999... Last October, several magazines published articles about an astronomical phenomenon called a magnetar, which has an intense magnetic field. Around the same time, there were reports of homing pigeons failing to return to their roost. Was there a...

The Newest Place on Earth.(Yellowstone National Park)
March 1, 1999... Scientists have long considered Yellowstone park the most geologically interesting place in the world. Last summer's eruption confirms it. IT IS A MILD SUMMER day under an immaculate sky in the Wyoming backcountry of Yellowstone National...

Reluctant Pioneer.(rattlesnakes of Montana)
March 1, 1999... Treading lightly on the land means coming to terms with its inhabitants--even the rattlesnake. ABOUT THE FOURTH TIME we drove up to the land, it occurred to me that maybe we weren't the best thing ever to happen to this little patch of...

Prophet From Underground.(ecologist Shawn Smallwood)
March 1, 1999... Shawn Smallwood's study of gophers has revealed a new environmental threat: animals that churn up buried toxic waste. SHAWN SMALLWOOD STICKS a chisel into a chunk of dried sludge and splits it open. "Look at these drunken ants," he says,...

SPILLING THE TRUTH.(the Exxon Valdez oil spill)
March 1, 1999... Ten years after the worst oil spill in American history, Alaska is still feeling the effects of the Exxon Valdez disaster and cleanup. IT WAS THE MOST STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL AND HORRIFYINGLY UGLY SIGHT imaginable. I had cajoled my way onto a...

Hidden existence.(coloration of animals)
March 1, 1999... Most wildlife photographs either show animals posed starkly against an undistracting background or ignore the setting altogether with a startling, in-your-face portrait. Yet nature has endowed many animals not only with the ability to...

THE ORGANIC REVOLUTION.(the benefits of organic farming)
March 1, 1999... For the past 50 ears, pesticides have been poisoning our soil and our wildlife--even our children. Will organic farming be able to reverse this toxic trend? IF YOU WALK THROUGH THE PRODUCE SECTION OF MANY supermarkets today you will see,...

BUGGING OUT.(organic farming methods)
March 1, 1999... Integrated pest management uses natural solutions both old and new to help farmers kick the chemical habit. TEN YEARS AGO, WHEN JOHN Callis had a pest problem he'd reach for the chemical can. Today Callis, an orchard manager who oversees...

LESSONS FROM THE LAND INSTITUTE.(alternative methods of farming)
March 1, 1999... Could the prairie, which runs on sunlight and rain, be a model for the perfect farm? Wes Jackson thinks so. IN SALINA, KANSAS, FIRST THING IN THE MORNING on the last day of October, not much is stirring except pickup trucks and rain....

GREENER AND CLEANER.(alternative methods of farming)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1999... Bringing the organic movement home will help you create a better lawn and garden. I WAS A TEENAGER BEFORE I KNEW THERE WAS ANY type of gardening other than organic. Growing up on my grandfather's farm, I never questioned why the grass was...

The 20 All-Time-Greatest Organic-Gardening Tips.
March 1, 1999... In the past 50 years, the organic-gardening movement has contributed thousands of tips and techniques to gardeners everywhere. Here are 20 of the most enduring. 1. Make and use compost. Compost is a wonderful way to recycle kitchen and...

Land of Contradictions.(Quitobaquito)
March 1, 1999... Just west of Tucson is a fairy-tale oasis where ducks waddle in a desert, humans improve the biodiversity, and leafy fig trees coexist with spiny cacti. THE WINTER SUN HANGS LOW over the Arizona hills near the border with Sonora, Mexico....

Arias of Debate and Desire.(avian language )
March 1, 1999... The computer and the audio spectrograph may help scientists solve mysteries of avian language beyond territory and mating. I AM STANDING IN an austere, windowless room in the southeast corner of Cornell University's Laboratory of...

Forever 'Glades.
March 1, 1999... IN LAST NOVEMBER'S election, Floridians voted overwhelmingly for the Everglades, the Kissimmee River, the Keys, the Gulf Coast beaches--and all the wetlands, savannas, and forests in between. By a whopping 72 percent margin, Florida voters...

Bird Spots Named.
March 1, 1999... NEW YORK STATE is home to the largest colony of ring-billed gulls (above) in the world, the largest breeding colony of roseate terns in North America, and one of the highest counts of fall-migrating golden eagles in the eastern United States....

IN BRIEF.
March 1, 1999... The Road Ahead? Stop the steamrollers! A proposed roadway north of Salt Lake City, Utah, is threatening almost 500 acres of wetlands. But the Great Salt Lake Audubon Society, the National Audubon Society, and a host of other organizations...

Dam Buster.
March 1, 1999... THE CRITERIA THAT the Glen Canyon Institute used to select a recipient for its inaugural David R. Brower Award were pretty lofty. The group sought someone whose actions have led to "the protection, education, and/or restoration of the Colorado...

More Than Just the Bear Necessities.
March 1, 1999... IN THE WILDERNESS of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, brown bears' needs are now being considered--thanks to the Anchorage Audubon Society, Alaska Audubon, and other groups. "If brown bears are healthy, you can assume that lynx, wolves, and wolverines...

Farewell to a Stahr.
March 1, 1999... AFTER A LENGTHY battle with cancer, Elvis J. Stahr, a former president of the National Audubon Society, died on November 11. During his tenure, Stahr helped add thousands of acres to Audubon's sanctuary system. He also increased membership from...

Patron of the Plants.(Lorrie Otto)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1999... IN THE VILLAGE of Bayside, Wisconsin, residents trim their hedges squarely, plant their perennials in rows, and mow their lawns into tidy tiles of green. But not Lorrie Otto. Her yard sways with big bluestem grass, tall stands of purple asters,...

Scholarly Birds.
March 1, 1999... MANY STATES REQUIRE students to take environmental courses from kindergarten through grade 12. In Pennsylvania, Auduboners have found the perfect way to use birds as teachers of these classes. A three-year effort by the Audubon Council of...

Cyber-Activism.
March 1, 1999... Want to get active on the web? The National Audubon Society offers ways to get involved or just learn more about what the organization does. >>> Audubon-news distributes information about the environment and about Audubon's conservation...

The Ecology of Eden.(Review)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1999... The Ecology of Eden By Evan Eisenberg. Alfred A. Knopf, 612 pages, $30. This is not your average bad-news environmental tome. Instead, the philosopher-journalist Evan Eisenberg asks that most profound of all ecological questions, "Okay, we...

Every Creeping Thing: True Tales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife.(Review)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1999... Every Creeping Thing: True Tales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife By Richard Conniff. Henry Holt and Company, 256 pages, $25. Conniff, a widely published natural-history journalist, is resolutely cheerful about the odd and sometimes...

The Charged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet.(Review)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1999... The Charged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet By Jim Nollman. Henry Holt and Company, 239 pages, $27.50. Whale lovers will enjoy this book, in which Nollman, a whale expert and a specialist in interspecies communication, takes his...

Wolf Country: Eleven Years Tracking the Algonquin Wolves.(Review)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1999... Wolf Country: Eleven Years Tracking the Algonquin Wolves By John B. Theberge with Mary T. Theberge. McClelland & Stewart, 306 pages, $24.95. Another wolf book? Well, yes. The wolf has come to symbolize our effort to understand the uneasy...

The Unequal Hours: Moments of Being in the Natural World.(Review)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1999... The Unequal Hours: Moments of Being in the Natural World By Linda Underhill. The University of Georgia Press, 145 pages, $24.95. In Linda Underhill we have a fine practitioner of the fully realized personal essay. In The Unequal Hours,...

Eliot Porter's Vanishing Songbirds.
March 1, 1999... AS A TEENAGER, long before he became known as one of America's greatest landscape photographers, Eliot Porter loved to photograph birds. However, his chosen field was research biology; it wasn't until a chance meeting with Ansel Adams that he...