National Wildlife articles from August 1996

National Wildlife archives from August 1996

Living up to our legacy. (new leadership at the National Wildlife Federation)(Editorial)
August 1, 1996... When Aldo Leopold wrote those words in A Sand County Almanac in 1949, the National Wildlife Federation had already spent 13 years persuading this nation of its responsibility towards wildlife and wild places. When the board of directors and...

Looking for lessons from loons: by studying the behavior of these elusive birds, scientists may also learn about the effects of mercury pollution on wildlife.
August 1, 1996... The drama on Lake Aziscohos in western Maine last July began with an eerie midnight duet. From a small boat, biologist David C. Evers played a recording of the cry of a common loon. From the darkness came an answering wail. One of Evers' helpers...

Bear man of McNeil River: at the biggest gathering of brown bears in the world, sanctuary manager Larry Aumiller teaches peaceful coexistence to people and wildlife.(Alaska Spectacle)(Cover Story)
August 1, 1996... ON A COOL, OVERCAST afternoon, 10 tourists and two guides sit beside coastal mudflats on the upper Alaska Peninsula watching a female brown bear and her yearling cub graze on marsh plants. The mom is Ms. Mouse, so named because of an M-shaped...

Portrait of the artist as a young man: Georgia painter Jay Kemp is fast making his mark in the world of wildlife art.
August 1, 1996... JAY KEMP has some unusual ideas about how to have a good time. Consider the three days he spent inside a blind watching cardinals and other birds visit a feeder. "It was during an intense blizzard three winters ago," says the wildlife artist. "My...

The cave that holds clues to life on Mars. (Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico)
August 1, 1996... TO ENTER Lechuguilla Cave, first you secure a special permit and then hike into a remote desert canyon near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Then you rappel down a 90-foot rock face to a ledge, where you squeeze down a crevice into a small chamber. In the...

A song for every occasion: new technology is revealing that the notes, warbles and chirps of birdsong say more than anyone had guessed.(Avian Arias)
August 1, 1996... AT 4:30 A.M. IN AN UPSTATE New York meadow, a 1980 Pontiac rolls along the grass and comes to a halt in the dark. Overhead, stars are beginning to fade from the night sky. Dawn approaches. The car door pops open and out steps John Bower, a...

Great Lakes activist Mark Van Putten named new NWF president. (National Wildlife Federation)
August 1, 1996... The National Wildlife Federation has chosen one of its own, Eastern Staff Director Mark Van Putten, as its new president and chief executive officer. Van Putten, a 42-year-old old attorney and nationally respected environmental activist and...

Hot passion for a cold ecosystem. (Alaska environmental activist Larry Merculieff)(American Heroes)
August 1, 1996... For more than two decades, Larry Merculieff and his fellow Aleuts have witnessed ominous signs: seabird chicks so weak that they fall from cliffs, adult birds so malnourished that their breast muscles cave in and Steller sea lions so hungry that...

Documenting the dangerous world of dolphins. (television documentary program)
August 1, 1996... The National Wildlife Federation has set sail for the high seas and has taken actor Bridget Fonda with it to meet several species of dolphins and the marine biologists who are shedding light on the enigmatic lives of these aquatic mammals. The...