National Wildlife articles from December 1999

National Wildlife archives from December 1999

How Conservation Grew From a Whisper to a Roar.(history of US conservation movement)
December 1, 1999... AT THE END of the last century, the notion of conservation was a mere whisper in the popular consciousness. Although it was generally known that a few prominent naturalists condemned what Henry David Thoreau had once called the "war with...

This Issue.
December 1, 1999... Events That Helped Shape the Nation Sixty percent of all Americans were living on farms and in small towns. Immigrants were arriving on U.S. shores at an average rate of 100 per hour. The budding automobile industry was about to hold its...

The Action Report.(National Wildlife Federation's "Clean the Rain" campaign; Northern Great Plains National Grasslands Land Use Plan; protection of Wakulla Springs; mangrove restoration in Virgin Islands; other environmental projects)
December 1, 1999... NWF Reports a Hard Rain is Falling In Midwest Cities NWF and 21 local and state organizations have launched a "Clean the Rain" campaign to alert the public to the danger of mercury in precipitation and tell citizens what they can do to...

Adventures Afield: This Scientist Has a Doggone Good Way to Deal With Nuisance Bears.
December 1, 1999... The grizzly seems a bit bewildered. Apprehended earlier for visiting homes around Polebridge, Montana, the bear sits now inside a culvert trap near the scene of its crimes. When the trap's barred door opens, the grizzly steps tentatively into...

FLOWERING FINDS IN OUR OWN BACKYARDS.(researchers continue to find new plant species in US)
December 1, 1999... Despite conventional wisdom that all plants in the United States have been identified, researchers continue to find new species During the month of March 1994, botanical consultant Edward LaRue was conducting a routine biological survey of...

Honoring the People Who Have Made a Difference.(National Wildlife Federation's Conservation Hall of Fame)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Rachel Carson is one of 23 esteemed environmentalists and pioneers in natural-resource protection who have been inducted in recent years into the National Wildlife Federation's Conservation Hall of Fame. "I think it is critical to remember the...

Readers' View.
December 1, 1999... Fur Seal Violence The article "The Art of Bullying" [August/September 1999] about fur seal behavior raised the question for me of whether seal heart attack rates have ever been studied. With the fighting that goes with territorial disputes...

News of the Wild.(impact of humans on ecology; bites by dead snakes; birds and coyotes; bird deaths caused by communication towers; birds and pesticides)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 1999... Putting the Squeeze on Earth Almost half the land on the planet has been transformed by humans-in ways that include the filling of wetlands, the conversion of prairie to farmland or the replacement of forests with cities. That conclusion...

Exotic Species: Trying to Show the Door to a Marsh Munching Immigrant from South America.(nutria)
December 1, 1999... At first glance, nutria seem harmless enough. Like their slightly larger cousins, the beavers, nutria are water-loving mammals with big incisors, prominent whiskers and cloaks of dense, warm fur. But Glenn Carowan has a different view of the...

American Heritage: This Native Orchid Is a Poster Child For Our Disappearing Prairies.(western prairie fringed orchids)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Throughout the fall of 1992, scientist Craig Freeman and his colleagues at the Kansas Biological Survey worked long hours to convince the Federal Highway Administration to move the alignment of an interstate bypass being developed for the...

How Rachel Carson Helped Save The Brown Pelican: One of America's most charismatic coastal birds is thriving again, thanks in part to a biologist-turned-author.
December 1, 1999... Once upon a terrible time, the Pelican State lost its pelicans. It seemed to happen overnight. Thousands of brown pelicans-fish-eating birds with capacious, dip-net bills-nested along Louisiana's southern shore until well into the 1950s....

NWF View: The Key to a Conservation Century.(National Wildlife Federation 's plans for the 21st century)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... By building on the passion and commitment of the past 100 years, says NWF's president, we can meet the challenges of the twenty-first century The new millennium has focused attention on the new conservation questions, challenges and...

Your Health: How the Flu Makes Its Way From Wild Ducks, to Livestock, to You.
December 1, 1999... Most of us are happy to avoid influenza. Virologist Robert Webster has spent most of his career trying to catch it. One of the world's leading experts on the disease, Webster has circled the globe for decades, tracking down new strains of...