National Wildlife articles from October 2001

National Wildlife archives from October 2001

Wildlife Successes And Heroic Efforts.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Growing up in the 1950s in a small South Dakota farming community, Gary Turbak spent much of his youth watching the wildlife that inhabited the area's prairie potholes and grasslands. "In those days, local farmers encouraged wildlife to visit...

Prairie Dog Crusade Prompts Change for Nation's Grasslands.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... THREE YEARS AFTER the National Wildlife Federation petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to list the black-tailed prairie dog as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, there is clear evidence that the process has...

NWF Targets Habitat-Destroying Sprawl.(National Wildlfe)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... THROUGH A SERIES of conferences around the country, NWF and several of its state affiliates are rallying citizens to take action against--and promote alternatives to--the sprawl that threatens wildlife habitat and quality of life for people....

Americans Want Smart Growth.(opinion on limited development)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... AMERICANS overwhelmingly want an end to sprawl, according to a poll by Smart Growth America, a coalition of citizens groups of which NWF is a leading member. Among those responding, the results show: * 83 percent support establishing green...

NWF Assails Decision To Shelve Grizzly Recovery.(National Wildlife Federation)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... In her first major wildlife decision since assuming office, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced she is abandoning efforts to reintroduce grizzly bears to the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness area of Idaho and Montana. The planned...

Grass-roots Effort Ends in Victory For Texas Water.(rules on quality of water to remain the same)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Responding to a ground swell of public opinion, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has overturned a decision by Texas regulators that would have lowered water-quality standards for the state's largest reservoir. The change in...

Alaska First State To Regulate Cruise Ship Pollution.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Alaska has enacted the first state law in the country to regulate cruise ship pollution--a move strongly advocated by NWF. The law, which supplements federal regulations, requires cruise ships to register with the state, maintain pollution...

New England States Get Poor Grades On Mercury Pollution.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Overall, the six New England states rate only a C- for their efforts to carry out a 1998 pledge to virtually eliminate the release of mercury into the environment, according to a report from the New England Zero Mercury Campaign. NWF and...

Activist Sparks Community Habitat Project.(town in Washington to be certified as wildlife friendly)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, a town of 15,000 located about ten minutes from downtown Seattle, is known mainly for its shopping malls and its location at the crossroads of two major interstate highways. But thanks to a determined newcomer, it is about...

Maine Ads Urge Forest Certification.(National Wildlife Federation affiliate in Maine sponsors an ad campaign for sustainable forestry practices)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... FRUSTRATED that Maine's timber industry has defeated one forest protection measure after another, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, an NWF affiliate, has launched an ad campaign to pressure companies to adopt sustainable forestry...

Adopt-a-Lek Project Aids Sage Grouse.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... IT'S TOUGH WORK, arising before dawn in the early spring to travel to remote areas in search of leks, or communal breeding grounds, where male sage grouse strut their stuff to attract females. But it's a labor of love for some 40 volunteers who...

Oregonians Restore Rare Butterfly Habitat.(Fender's blue butterfly)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... WITH A GRANT FROM NWF's Keep the Wild AliveTM Species Recovery Fund, a Eugene, Oregon, group is working to restore native plants on which the endangered Fender's blue butterfly depends. Working with local students, ecologists and staff from...

Staten Island School Adopts Nearby Pond.(environmental education project)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... AS PART OF ITS NWF-CERTIFIED Schoolyard HabitatsR project, P.S. 56 in Staten Island, New York, has made an adjacent pond a focal point for environmental education, both for students and the community at large. Led by fourth grade teacher...

GROWING PAINS - As their numbers multiply in some states, black bears are creating unusual problems in some unlikely places.
October 1, 2001... Patrick Carr, black bear project leader with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, seemed a bit frazzled. It was only mid-February and already his phone was lighting up with bear complaints, including calls from startled exurban...

Watching Birds--in the Field and on the Web.(National Audubon Society: Christmas Bird Count, and other birdwatching events)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... On a sunny Saturday last May, a group of bicyclists pulled off a gravel trail into a clearing on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal near Washington, D.C. Abandoning the bikes, they made a mad dash toward the woods, then came to an abrupt stop. In...

Steering Birds Clear of Windows.(helping birds avoid collisions with windows)
October 1, 2001... For the more than 200 bird species that make a migratory pit stop or permanently reside at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, the 12,750 acres of forest, meadow and wetland is a welcome oasis in...

Mysterious Wetlands Where Wildlife Thrives.(exploring the 'Carolina' bays of the Atlantic coast)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... A summer tanager sings languidly in the rising heat as I prowl through a forest of longleaf pine and turkey oak. Suddenly, the ground below me becomes soggy and the upland trees give way to a savanna filled with pond cypress and pitcher plants....

Mysteries of the Twilight Zone - Once dismissed as a biological wasteland, the deep sea teems with surprising life forms, most of them unknown to science.(two-mile-deep canyon off Monterey, California)
October 1, 2001... A COLORLESS, FACELESS animal that lives rooted to a rock wall and, like a Venus's-fly trap, eats by snapping its "mouth" around passing prey. A fish with a "fishing pole" atop its head, baited by a lure glowing with light produced by bacteria....

Planting the Seeds of Conservation - It makes farmers happy and creates habitat for wild creatures. What's not to like about the Farm Bill?(farmers who set aside areas for wildlife)
October 1, 2001... I GUESS I'M KIND OF A NUT for wildlife," says Kenneth Walters, who raises beans, wheat, corn--and wildlife--on his 650-acre farm in northern Missouri. Thanks to Walters' conservation ethic and some timely government programs, nearly half his...

American Heritage - Tracking North America's Largest Snake.
October 1, 2001... Stephanie is missing. There has been no sign of her for three weeks. Biologist Rebecca Smith, who has been keeping an eye on Stephanie for the past year, says that there's no point in looking for her now. It is cool and overcast on this...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2001... Hidden Birds Regarding your article about wildlife artists ["Searching for the Birds in Art," June/July 2001], I especially liked the painting called The Birdwatchers by Mark Eberhard. But like birding, which is always frustrating for me,...

WAVING A RED FLAG?(colorful fall foliage of trees may be a warning insects)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The flaming fall displays of sugar maples and other deciduous trees may have a function beyond luring tourists. Two British scientists believe that the spectacular red and yellow leaves are actually a warning signal to insect pests that...

CATCH-AND-RELEASE.(golden-colored trout in Arizon's White Mountain)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... A golden-colored trout that lives only in the waters of Arizona's White Mountains is poised to become the first fish to jump off the U.S. Endangered Species List and survive. The Apache trout, Arizona's state fish, was so beleaguered by...

Report Card On Colleges.(survey of environmental practices of colleges and universities)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... America's colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to train future leaders on environmental issues. Are they doing enough, both in their course offerings and in the examples they set for students? The results of the largest...

SHE SINGS SINGULAR SONGS.(female birds excel in singing)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... When it comes to singing, girls rule--at least in the avian world. Young female northern cardinals learn songs in less than one-third the time it takes males to become proficient, a scientist working in California discovered recently. "It's the...

ILLUMINATING FINDINGS.(firefly research)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The flickering lights of fireflies have charmed children for centuries. They have also puzzled researchers, who wondered how the creatures pulse their love lights so precisely. A group of Boston scientists recently solved this mystery. They...

A LITTLE OSPREY-TALITY GOES A LONG WAY - From Florida's Sanibel Island to Oregon's Willamette Valley, people are putting out the welcome mat for ospreys and the birds are flourishing.
October 1, 2001... STANDING IN A SKIFF alongside a towering bald cypress tree in the shallow waters of central Florida's Lake Istokpoga, biologist Mike McMillian grips one end of a climbing rope. High above, clipped onto the other end, is a woman named Lourdes...

MAKING SCENTS OF SMELLS - By studying which smells wild creatures find irresistible or repugnant, scientists hope to help people live harmoniously with them.(National Wildlife Research Center: experimenting with synthetic scents)
October 1, 2001... BRUCE KIMBALL opens the door of a refrigerator in a spotless white lab at the National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. The chemist pulls a round tin labeled "Chemical Attractants--Malodorous" off the shelf, pries open the...

Return of a Native - Displaced over much of its range by hatchery-bred fish, the brook trout is now coming back to some eastern waterways.(saving native brook trout)
October 1, 2001... YELLOW BIRCH LEAF catches my eye, spiraling downward into a quiet stream pool. For a long moment it lays perfectly still, as if stunned by its descent, then a tongue of current tows it into the main flow of water. Twenty feet away,...

NWF View - Conservation Partnerships On Working Landscapes.(National Wildlife Federation)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... A RENEWAL RICH IN WILDLIFE rewards has quietly been nourishing much of our nation's heartland for the past decade and a half in one of the most unheralded but significant conservation success stories of this generation. Streams and rivers have...