National Wildlife articles from December 2000

National Wildlife archives from December 2000

Arctic weather and tropical typhoons.(THIS ISSUE)(Brief article)
December 1, 2000... MOST OF THE WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHERS whose images appear on these pages are accustomed to working under challenging conditions. But sometimes those conditions are so severe that even the most seasoned professional has to wonder what he has gotten...

Wildlife and climate change.(READERS' VIEWS)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2000... Your recent article on climate change ["Wildlife on the Hot Seat," August/September 2000] raised some excellent points. Here in Minnesota, incredible things are happening with respect to wildlife and climate change. No Minnesota species are...

Fossil fuel dependence.(READERS' VIEWS)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2000... I was delighted to see the National Wildlife Federation put the spotlight on the plight of wildlife species in the face of global warming. In a fossil-fuel-dependent culture where we can't even brush our teeth without using such fuels, we must...

Missing solution.(READERS' VIEWS)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2000... I am always sad to read about an animal's demise, especially when it is as cute as the island fox of the Channel Islands off California ["Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide," August/September 2000]. The article mentioned doing something about the...

Helping herons.(READERS' VIEWS)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2000... The article "Private Lives" [August/September 2000] illustrated the need of great blue herons for isolation from human disturbance when nesting. One way we can all help protect vital nesting habitat for herons and other wetland species is to...

Taken for granted.(READERS' VIEWS)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2000... Until I read your article, I hadn't thought at all about herons' habitat needs, even though I live near an area where the birds nest every year. I guess because great blue herons are so widespread, I just took them for granted. I won't anymore....

Roadside wildflowers.(READERS' VIEWS)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2000... It infuriates me to read that some states still widely spray herbicides to kill vegetation along their highways, or plant alien species when they could be growing native plants beside their roads ["Roadside Attractions," August/September 2000]....

Where credit is due.(READERS' VIEWS)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2000... Your article gave no credit to Lady Bird Johnson for her wonderful efforts to beautify U.S. highways, particularly those in Texas. Cynthia Knuth Fischer West Chester, Pennsylvania

Blackberry or raspberry?(READERS' VIEWS)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2000... I hate to quibble, but the bush on which the goldfinch is sitting on your August/September back cover is not a blackberry, but rather a black raspberry. Barbara Gill Gilbertsville, New York Editor's note: After careful examination...

Celebrating the gift of wildlife.(NWF VIEW)(National Wildlife Federation)
December 1, 2000... The gift of wildlife conservation, to which every National Wildlife Federation supporter contributes and from which each benefits, often finds its purest meaning in private moments. Early this year; Tom France had such a moment in...

Salmon lovers.(NEWS OF THE WILD)(Brief article)
December 1, 2000... If you're a wild animal living in the Pacific Northwest, the chances are good that a pink-fleshed fish plays an important role in your diet. According to a recent report by Washington State's Department of Fish and Wildlife, 137 different...

Biggest fungus found among us.(NEWS OF THE WILD)(Brief article)
December 1, 2000... Creeping largely unseen through the evergreen forests of eastern Oregon is the world's largest living organism, a fungus called Armillaria ostoyae. The fungus is at least 2,400 years old and covers more than 2,200 acres--or nearly 1,700...

The trouble with reptiles.(NEWS OF THE WILD)(Brief article)
December 1, 2000... Deformed salamanders and frogs have made the news in recent years, but now their scaly relatives deserve our attention, scientists say. Snakes, lizards, turtles and other reptiles are in greater jeopardy than amphibians, according to a report...

Fire storm.(FINAL FRAME)
December 1, 2000... FIRE STORM: Seeking refuge from the flames, two cow elk stand in the East Fork of the Bitterroot River during last August's wildfires in Montana. John McColgan, an Alaska Fire Service fire-behavior analyst who was working for the U.S. Bureau of...

Arctic Weather and Tropical Typhoons.(lengths to which photographers will go to get nature photographs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Most of the wildlife photographers whose images appear on these pages are accustomed to working under challenging conditions. But sometimes those conditions are so severe that even the most seasoned professional has to wonder what he has gotten...

Dangerous Levels of Mercury Found in New England Rain.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Data from its Clean the Rain, Clean the Lakes II report showing unsafe levels of mercury in rain falling on New England have prompted the National Wildlife Federation to join with local organizations in taking one of its key campaigns to the...

Realtor Strives To Save North Carolina Woods He Loves.(Joe McDonald's efforts to conserve the environment)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... When foreign service officer Joe McDonald had a chance to take early retirement from the State Department in the late 1980s, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. "I decided that what was going on in my Carolina woods was more important than...

Activists' Crusade Protects Urban Bog As Wildlife Haven.(acreage in Anchorage, Alaska)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... A seven-year battle over the fate of a valuable wetland in the middle of Anchorage, Alaska, has paid off in victory for NWF and the local activists it helped mobilize. Three years ago, NWF's Alaska office staff organized local residents to...

NWF, BP Amoco Join Together In Wildlife Promotion.(National Wildlife Federation)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Through a special promotion by NWF and BP Amoco, consumers can buy children cute toy animals, teach some valuable lessons about endangered wildlife and help support NWF's conservation work at the same time. Between December 1 and January...

NWF, Affiliates Urge Fast Action On Platte River Plan.(National Wildlife Federation; Platte River water management plan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... NWF and its Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming affiliates are urging federal and state governments to finalize a plan for improving water levels in the Platte River. The U.S. Interior Department and the governors of the three states have...

Yellowstone Bison Plan Falls Short, According to NWF.(National Wildlife Federation; management of bison in Yellowstone Park)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... In a final proposed plan for managing bison in and around Yellowstone National Park over the next 15 years, several federal agencies have come up with a lopsided approach that places too heavy a burden on the bison, the Federation says. The...

NWF Certifies Indiana Town As Community Habitat.(National Wildlife Federation; Zionsville, Indiana)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Zionsville, Indiana, a small town north of Indianapolis whose residents created doz-ens of wildlife habitat sites over the past three years, has been certified by NWF as the nation's second Community Wildlife Habitat. Concerned about loss...

Ruling Will Improve Wildlife Safeguards Throughout Nation.(effects of court ruling requiring specifics to develop wildlife habitats in Sacramento, California)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... The federal district court in Sacramento has ruled that a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), intended to strike a balance between private development and the needs of imperiled species, must contain more than vague promises of future protection...

Keep the Wild Alive.(Wind River Bear Institute receives grant from National Wildlife Federation)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Grant Helps Train Dogs To Steer Bears Away from Humansith a grant from NWF's Keep the Wild Alive program, the Wind River Bear Institute in Utah is expanding its work in "reconditioning" problem bears as an alternative to killing or relocating...

How a Famed Novelist Became Godfather To a Tiny Endangered Butterfly.
December 1, 2000... When Vladimir Nabokov identified a tiny American butterfly as a distinct subspecies in 1944, he had no reason to think the insect would someday become endangered. One of the twentieth century's great novelists, Nabokov was also a skilled...

Letters.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2000... Wildlife and Climate Change Your recent article on climate change ["Wildlife on the Hot Seat," Au- gust/September 2000] raised some excellent points. Here in Minnesota, incredible things are happening with respect to wildlife and climate...

News of the Wild.(News Briefs)
December 1, 2000... SALMON LOVERS If you're a wild animal living in the Pacific Northwest, the chances are good that a pink-fleshed fish plays an important role in your diet. According to a recent report by Washington State's Department of Fish and...

PHOTO CONTEST.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... THREE DECADES AGO, the editors of National Wildlife challenged readers to document pollution with their cameras. Among the disturbing images that poured into the magazine's offices as a result of that challenge was a photo of a dead cormorant...

Plastic Packaging Is Durable, Lightweight and Inexpensive; So What's the Problem?(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... At first glance, the plastic beer bottle looks remarkably like its glass bottle cousins: an amber base coupled with a long, tapered neck. But in fact, when the Miller Brewing Company introduced the bottle in late 1998, consumers didn't quite...

IN SEARCH OF Guilt-Free Seafood - With many fish populations depleted around the world, what can a concerned consumer eat?
December 1, 2000... Salmon or lobster? Cod or squid? If you ask yourself such questions and want to avoid seafood that is overfished, you are not alone. Consider, for example, the chefs at the high-profile Monterey Bay and New England Aquariums, which together...

Challenge In The Heart Of Winter - High in the mountains of northern Alaska, the author braves bitter cold to observe an annual Dall's sheep ritual.
December 1, 2000... Early winter, Brooks Range, Alaska. North of the Arctic Circle, on the slopes of the mountains where the Dall's sheep live, the sun went down before Thanksgiving and will not rise again until early January. For about four hours each day, the...

Fighting the Winds of Change - On the remote islands of Guam and the Northern Marianas, 180-mile-per-hour typhoons may be the easiest challenge for native birds.
December 1, 2000... Hawaii residents like me often dismiss out of hand Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. We generally view these American outposts about 3,700 miles to the west of Honolulu as the ugly stepsisters of tropical island life: humid, overcrowded,...

Tired of Squirrels Raiding Your Bird Feeders? Here Are Ten Ways to Outwit Them.
December 1, 2000... For many Americans, Public Enemy Number One is a one-pound busybody with industrial strength teeth and a bushy tail: the gray squirrel. While killer bees and marauding bears occasionally capture headlines, the gray squirrel has been quietly...

Finding Splendor in the Tallgrass at One Of Our Newest National Parks.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Don Clark turns to the writings of early-twentieth-century author Willa Cather for words to describe his workplace. Leading visitors into the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in east-central Kansas, the park ranger says he feels like the boy...

Celebrating the Gift of Wildlife.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... The gift of wildlife conservation, to which every National Wildlife Federation supporter contributes and from which each benefits, often finds its purest meaning in private moments. Early this year, Tom France had such a moment in...

TALES OF TWO ORCAS - The more scientists learn about killer whales, the more differences they find between resident pods and transient travelers.
December 1, 2000... ONE OF THE MANY THINGS killer whales do well is turn on a dime in tight quarters. Eva Saulitis, a marine biologist with the nonprofit North Gulf Oceanic Society in Alaska, has often followed the animals as they hunt for harbor seals in the...

Watching Wolves On a Wild Ride - For 25 winners, researcher Rolf Peterson has tracked the turbulent twists and turns in the lives of Isle Royale's top predators and prey.
December 1, 2000... There are always surprises waiting when Rolf Peterson returns to Isle Royale National Park to spend the dead of winter in the company of the world's most famous gray wolves and the moose that are their bread and butter. For 25 years,...