National Wildlife articles from August 1998

National Wildlife archives from August 1998

To Create a Safe Place for Bluebirds, Start With the Correct Nest Box's.(Brief Article)
August 1, 1998... For Steve Eno, it about rooting for the underdog. "These birds have had such a rough time," says the soft-spoken Nebraska bluebird activist. Once plentiful, the country's three species of bluebirds--the eastern, mountain and western...

Leader of the Flock.(using ultralight aircraft to start a whooping crane flock )
August 1, 1998... Training endangered cranes to follow a man in an ultralight means risks as well as rewards Ultralight-aircraft enthusiast Kent Clegg and a contingent of young sandhill and whooping cranes were riding a thermal over a Colorado plateau last...

Machiavellians of the Deep?(bottlenose dolphins)
August 1, 1998... New research suggests that among some bottlenose dolphins, violence and aggression play a key role in their social lives Scientists began discovering dead harbor porpoises washing up on Scottish shores eight years ago. In many instances,...

For Many Allergy Sufferers, The Dust Mite Is a Devil Indeed.(Brief Article)
August 1, 1998... Tonight, as you prepare to lay your head on your freshly fluffed feather pillow, consider one fact: It contains tens of thousands of tiny spiderlike creatures. "There are approximately a thousand dust mites in a gram of dust," says Thomas...

In a Company Town, He Raises Tough Questions About Company Practices.(environmental activist Jim Bradley)(Brief Article)
August 1, 1998... Ask Jim Bradley to name his most significant accomplishment in nine years of environmental activism in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and he'll offer a modest but telling reply. "I think the fact that our group is still together is quite an...

Seeing Eye To Eye With Wildlife.(nature photographer Frans Lanting )(Frans Lanting )(Brief Article)
August 1, 1998... Frans Lanting has an uncanny knack for getting close to wild animals and capturing their private lives on film Frans lanting is not against swallowing a little salt water if it means getting close to wildlife. "I'm sure I looked a little...

300 Towns Could Reduce Flood Loss With Voluntary Buyouts, NWF Finds.
August 1, 1998... Until the mid-1980s, Tulsa, Oklahoma, had the dubious distinction of being America's most flooded city. Some homes had been flooded and rebuilt as many as five times in six years. But after a foot of rain fell on Memorial Day 1984, causing the...

"Higher Ground" project director Reintroduction Of Grizzly Receives Wide Support.
August 1, 1998... A majority of people who commented on the government's proposal to return grizzly bears to the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness of Idaho and Montana think reintroduction is a good idea, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Support...

Finally! Michigan Warns Citizens About Health Risks.
August 1, 1998... After 12 years of prodding by NWF, the state of Michigan has at last issued sound advice to warn people about the health risks of eating certain fish from the Great Lakes. The state is distributing 1.5 million copies of a 60-page booklet...

Events Highlight Endangered Species Fate Worldwide.
August 1, 1998... A tiger cub on Capitol Hill, an Earth Day fair at the Toledo Zoo, a parade of two-legged "animals" in Ann Arbor, Michigan--these are just some of the events NWF has helped organize recently to spotlight the world's endangered species. The...

New Disclosures To Identify Users Of Public Lands.
August 1, 1998... Who benefits most from permits to graze livestock on public lands at cut-rate fees: small family ranchers or million-dollar cowboys? That question will be easier to answer thanks to NWF's recent success in convincing the U.S. Forest Service...

New York State Forest Lands Face SmartWood Review.
August 1, 1998... Specialists from NWF's Northeast Natural Resource Center in Montpelier, Vermont, are evaluating forestry-management practices on 700,000 acres of New York state forest lands to determine if they balance timber production with wildlife habitat...

NWF Sues EPA Over Paper-Mill Pollution Rules.
August 1, 1998... NWF is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to require the pulp and paper industry to adopt technology that will reduce dioxin and other toxic pollutants. The Federation is leading several other conservation...

Report Highlights Community Action To Save Great Lake.
August 1, 1998... What can you do to tackle toxic pollution? Start in your own community by encouraging schools and businesses to buy chlorine-free paper, urging local businesses and homeowners to opt for pesticide-free lawn care, and working to eliminate...

NWF Certifies First Community Wildlife Habitat.
August 1, 1998... The town of Alpine, California, in the foothills east of San Diego, has been certified by NWF as the nation's first Community Wildlife Habitat. The rural community of 13,000 has more than 70 backyard wildlife habitats certified by NWF, two...

Wetlands Victory: Court Suspends Nationwide Permit.
August 1, 1998... It sounds harmless enough: filling a fraction of an acre of marsh to build a single-family home. But multiply that many times over and the impact on the nation's dwindling wetlands could be devastating. Luckily, that may not happen. In a...

Endangered List May Graduate Several Species.
August 1, 1998... NWF is applauding the government's proposal to remove more than two- dozen species, including the bald eagle and peregrine falcon, from the federal Endangered Species List. However, the Federation maintains that continued vigilance is needed to...

Smithsonian Honors NWF Web Site, Adds to Archives.
August 1, 1998... It's official: NWF's web site is now part of history. It was one of 442 innovative sites added to the Smithsonian Institution's Permanent Research Collection of Information Technology in 1998. David Allison, curator of the archives, says...

NWF Around the Nation.
August 1, 1998... The Tennessee Conservation League, an NWF affiliate, is working to build support among local governments for reintroducing elk in the state. The league favors a state plan to introduce 60 animals over two years in the 170,000-acre Land Between...

Goatsuckers Get Some Respect.(nighthawks and related bird species)
August 1, 1998... Recent studies paint North America's little-known family of nocturnal birds in new light Mark Brigham is a rara avis in the flock of North American ornithologists. A good clue is the Saskatchewan scientist's business card. Under the usual...

Sick Songbirds: What You Can Do.
August 1, 1998... The good news is that the 14-state outbreak of salmonellosis in songbirds that began last winter apparently has subsided. Starting in January, the bacterial disease killed songbirds throughout the East and Midwest. No one knows how many birds...

When "Off" Means "On".
August 1, 1998... Humorist James Thurber once wrote that his grandmother worried early in this century about electricity leaking out of outlets if the wall switch was on. These days, she might have powerful allies. "Off" no longer means what it did during...

Those Stalks, Those Eyes.
August 1, 1998... When it comes to the mating habits of Malaysian stalk-eyed flies, which have eyes mounted at the ends of their namesake stalks, size matters. Zoologist Gerald Wilkinson and colleagues at the University of Maryland recently found that not only...

Music to His Ears.
August 1, 1998... Throughout the animal kingdom, males almost always take the initiative in courtship. The usual model involves a zealous male courting a choosy female. That is especially true of creatures that advertise their availability with song, such as...

Test Your Environmental Knowledge.
August 1, 1998... When Americans were asked 12 questions about the environment last year as part of a survey conducted by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation in Washington, D.C., the results were not encouraging. Only 32 percent of the...

It Takes a Beaver.
August 1, 1998... Why does a leaf beetle need a beaver? Hold that thought and consider: Biologists like to point out that all living things have roles in their ecosystems, and often the evidence for that notion is obvious. But detailed scientific studies of the...

How Did the Poison Get into the Trout?(poisoned trout in Lake Superior)
August 1, 1998... And other pollution puzzles of the Great Lakes region One thousand feet below the surface of Lake Superior, a lead-weighted steel box settles into the lake bottom, cutting downward until it disappears in soft muck. On board a ship above,...

No Escape.(finding environmental problems while vacationing)(Brief Article)
August 1, 1998... Many of us take vacations to escape, albeit briefly, reality. But for those who love wildlife and wild places, it's hard to escape the reality of a world in peril. I was reminded of this recently when, after the NWF Annual Meeting, I...

Wolf Spirit NWF Priority.(Nez Perce Indians saving gray wolves)
August 1, 1998... The Nez Perce Indians bring a spiritual dimension to efforts to restore endangered gray wolves to former habitat Levi Holt raises a hand-carved flute to his lips and blows long, plaintive notes into the chilly Rocky Mountain air. A hundred...

When It Comes to Taking Care of Yellowstone, Mother Nature Knows Best.(Yellowstone National Park)(Brief Article)
August 1, 1998... Ten summers ago, America's first national park seized global attention as its primeval wonders became engulfed in flames. From Old Faithful geyser to the hills of Hayden Valley and beyond, massive fires engulfed Yellowstone, setting off a storm...

Adventuring in the Field With One of the World's Leading Wildlife Vets.(Dave Jessup)(Brief Article)
August 1, 1998... Dave Jessup has been charged by black bears and tossed through the air by an angry elk. He's stroked the heads of barely sedated elephants. He's netted bighorn sheep while reaching out from the door of a helicopter whizzing just feet above a...