National Wildlife articles from December 1998

National Wildlife archives from December 1998

Helping a Great Bear Hang On.(efforts to protect the grizzly bear in the U.S. )
December 1, 1998... On the 25th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, the grizzly continues to inspire both awe and controversy in the American West One quarter of a century ago, I was working as a field biologist in the Swan Mountains of western Montana...

How to Enter the 1999 National Wildlife Photography Competition.
December 1, 1998... The editors of National Wildlife invite you to enter their twenty-ninth annual photography competition. WHO: The competition is open to all amateur and aspiring professional photographers except employees of the National Wildlife...

Do Commercial Butterfly Releases Pose A Threat to Wild Populations?(Brief Article)
December 1, 1998... At weddings all across the country, it is an increasingly common scene: As they leave the ceremony, the smiling newlyweds are suddenly surrounded by a fluttering cloud of butterflies released by guests. Although it may appear a touching and...

SAYING GOODBYE.(mourning the loss of extinct species )
December 1, 1998... Mourning the loss of a species begin with remembering it One fall evening in 1996, Barry Stieglitz and his 5-year-old son Nikolai were walking along an abandoned road in Florida's National Key Deer Refuge when they spotted a tiny fawn. The...

SUPERFLIGHT.(winter migration of finches )
December 1, 1998... That's what scientists call the periodic movement of millions of finches from the North during the cold months On a sunny april day in Upstate New York, a TV news van whipped into a shopping center parking lot. At the tables of a sidewalk...

Yellowstone Buffalo Crucial To Fate of Other Wildlife, NWF Says.
December 1, 1998... The National Wildlife Federation believes that current attacks on North America's largest wild, free-roaming bison herd, in and around Yellowstone National Park, set a dangerous precedent with grim implications for management of other wildlife...

Busch, Dairy Queen Promote NWF 'Wild Alive' Campaign.
December 1, 1998... Busch Gardens and SeaWorld parks are joining NWF in its "Save Endangered Species: Keep the Wild Alive" campaign to focus public attention on the plight of imperiled wildlife. SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are official sponsors of an NWF poster...

Part of Settlement Grants Anglers Lake Access.
December 1, 1998... Lake Michigan anglers are beneficiaries of the last major project in a $172 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by NWF and one of its affiliates, Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC). The project, recently approved by the Federal...

Environmental Excellence Goal Of Missouri Group.
December 1, 1998... The Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM), one of NWF's affiliates, has joined with that state's chambers of commerce, the state government and a local environmental organization to encourage citizens to take individual action to save...

NWF Helps Defend Recovery Program For Mexican Wolf.
December 1, 1998... NWF has joined 12 other conservation organizations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in federal court to defend the Mexican gray wolf recovery program against a lawsuit brought by nine New Mexico and Arizona ranching organizations. ...

Endangered Species Campaign Focuses on 25 Rare Species.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1998... Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, NWF has launched a campaign called "Save Endangered Species: Keep the Wild Alive." The primary focus will be on 25 specific species and the conservation issues they represent....

Around The Nation.(Review)
December 1, 1998... The Georgia Wildlife Federation, one of NWF's affiliates, is selling plants native to the Southeast via the Internet. An on-line catalog features photos and descriptions of more than 100 shrubs, vines and perennials, along with information...

Optical Illusion.
December 1, 1998... With small fins and relatively little muscle, the foot-long cookie-cutter shark has the classic traits of a sit-and-wait predator: It simply doesn't have the power to chase down prey. How, then, does it manage to carve its trademark,...

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not.
December 1, 1998... When a pollen grain touches a flower's female part, called a stigma, it can stick instantly--and very well. You can even soak the flower in detergent and centrifuge it without dislodging the pollen. But if the pollen is from another species, it...

Tale of Two Tundras.
December 1, 1998... Not all Arctic tundras are created equal. That's a recent finding of a study in Alaska's Far North conducted by researchers from seven universities. Along the north-facing foothills of the Brooks Range, about 50 miles from the Beaufort Sea, is...

Feeling the Distance.
December 1, 1998... The ability of seals to orient themselves and find food in murky water has long intrigued scientists--especially in cases where thriving wild seals have been known to be blind. Now researchers at Germany's University of Bonn, working with a...

Sweet Revenge.
December 1, 1998... Why have engineers injected molasses into an aquifer under a Superfund site in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, that is contaminated with chromium and other toxics? Because when naturally occurring microbes feast on the syrup, they rob oxygen from...

The Greenery That Could.
December 1, 1998... Plants are being tested and used to pull certain pollutants from the ground--including metals, explosives, pesticides and solvents. For example, ryegrass in Oregon is degrading creosote and PCP (both used as wood preservatives) in soil, and...

Hair Today, Oil Cleaner Tomorrow.
December 1, 1998... Hair conditioners are not all that will stick to the rough surface of human hair. Tests by NASA recently confirmed that Alabama hairdresser Phillip McCrory has devised a way to clean oil spilled into water using clippings from salons. He first...

PHOTO CONTEST.
December 1, 1998... The fifth time was the charm for Walter Brown. A camera enthusiast for more than three decades, he had entered National Wildlife's photo contest four years in a row without winning. Yet the Seattle resident refused to give up. His perseverance...

When It Comes to Building New Wetlands, Scientists Still Can't Fool Mother Nature.
December 1, 1998... William Mitsch's task wasn't easy. He had to convince Ohio State University officials of the wisdom of building a swamp on campus, practically in the middle of Columbus, Ohio. But the ecology professor ultimately prevailed, arguing that the...

How Many Species Exist?
December 1, 1998... The question takes on increasing significance as plants and animals vanish before scientists can even identify them An extraterrestrial being, landing for the first time on Planet Earth, would no doubt have questions about the new world it...

Peregrine Falcon Recovery Dramatic But Not Secure.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1998... Although the peregrine falcon has recovered sufficiently in the eastern United States to justify downlisting it from endangered to threatened, its recovery is not secure enough to warrant completely removing it from the protected list, as the...

Community Service Focus of NWF's Summer Summits.(National Wildlife Federation)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1998... Conservation was a hands-on experience for those attending NWF's Conservation Summits last summer, as participants of all ages volunteered for a variety of community-service projects in local communities. More than 200 individuals at the...

On an Obscure U.S. Island, Scientists Discover a Biological Treasure Trove.(Navassa)
December 1, 1998... It is sometimes called America's "lost island," though truth be told, tiny Navassa was never so much missing as overlooked. For 500 years, most sea captains have tended to steer clear of the two-square-mile blob of rock, which has only one...

Keep the Wild Alive.(25th anniversary of Endangered Species Act)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1998... Swift eagles. Beautiful prairie fringed orchids. Majestic wolves. Graceful sea turtles. Creatures awesome as a humpback whale, elusive as a Florida panther, or delicate as a Karner's blue butterfly. All and more remain part of our world today...

Think Winter Means You Don't Have to Worry About the Sun? Think Again.
December 1, 1998... Wintertime: The days are short and the sun seems weak--so why does American Academy of Dermatology president Lynn Drake want you to slather on sunscreen? "The fact is," she says, "that people engaged in outdoor activities need to wear sunscreen...

Vermont College Uses SmartWood Certified Timber.(Middlebury College)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1998... NWF's SmartWood certification of Vermont Family Forests for ecologically sound forestry practices has already paid off for the group of 31 small landowners. Vermont's Middlebury College has announced that it will use certified wood...

After the Slide.(ecological effects of avalanches)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1998... Finding further proof that natural disasters can also be natural opportunities, biologists have been developing a healthy appreciation for avalanches and their tracks. Recent studies in the United States and Canada, reports the journal Science,...