An Array of Utopian Flowers
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KXL Blocked – How Indigenous People Will End Tar Sands Pipelines
Posted on November 12, 2018 | No Comments -
Mythological Journey to the Aztec Underworld
Posted on October 10, 2018 | 1 Comment -
Confronting Wildfire: Retrofit Communities, Not Forests
Posted on September 17, 2018 | 1 Comment -
San Onofre Nuclear Waste Dangers Compound
Posted on September 4, 2018 | No Comments -
Waste Colonization, Plastic Pollution and the Pacific Gyre
Posted on August 27, 2018 | 1 Comment
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WilderUtopia in 102 Languages
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Endangered Species Archive
Using Regenerative Design to Revitalize Newport Banning Ranch
Posted on September 6, 2016 | No CommentsFacing a major Coastal Commission decision, Newport Banning Ranch developers should adopt staff's recommendation that all environmentally sensitive habitat should be protected and could be integrated in a vision for a small-scale visitor-serving development through Regenerative Design.
Killing Washington’s Protected Wolves for Rancher’s Bottom Line
Posted on August 28, 2016 | No CommentsWashington State's move to extirpate an entire pack of wolves near the Canadian border for the infraction of killing a few alien domestic cattle grazing public lands is reprehensible. That wildlife agencies would kill any wolves to benefit the profit margin of private businesses utilizing public resources is an outrage. George Wuerthner writes how the tragedy of this slaughter of wild predators repeats itself over and over throughout the West.
Wild Yellowstone Bison Conflict with Cattle Ranchers, Lose
Posted on December 11, 2015 | No CommentsWild bison will be allowed to migrate out of Yellowstone National Park and stay in parts of Montana year-round under a move by Gov. Steve Bullock. The decision won't end the slaughter of some bison that roam outside of the park, yet pushes against the collusion between cattle ranching interests and wildlife managers using the threat of brucellosis to justify private property and development rights over the spirit of the wild.
Wild Cuba: Accidental Eden, Endangered
Posted on November 30, 2015 | No CommentsCuba may have been restricted politically and economically for the past 50 years, but its borders have remained open to wildlife for which Cuba’s undeveloped islands are an irresistible draw.
Protecting the Sage-Grouse in a Sea of Natural Gas
Posted on September 15, 2015 | No CommentsWhile stopping short of full endangered species protections for the Greater Sage-Grouse, the Obama-era Fish and Wildlife Service implemented land use plans to restrict energy development and grazing in the expanse of northwestern U.S. desert called the Sagebrush Sea, depicted in a 2015 documentary. The Trump Interior Department attempted to amend that plan to open up more commercial activities. We feature here an essay on Wyoming's core plan attempts to salvage the state's last populations in a landscape dominated by energy development.
Costa Rica: Conservationists Face Corruption and Drug Trafficking
Posted on July 15, 2013 | 3 CommentsThe murder of 26-year-old sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora in late May exposed cracks in Costa Rica's international environmental image, and proved that protecting nature sometimes has a terrible cost. Official corruption, lax regulations, and drug trafficking threaten the environmental bounty of Central America's most visited country.
Wolves Forsaken By Wildlife Agencies, Hunters and Ranchers
Posted on June 11, 2013 | 3 CommentsPresident Obama's Department of the Interior announced the national delisting of all wolves except the Mexican wolf. Prominent conservationists argue this is wrong-headed because (1) the wolf isn’t really recovered, and (2) Existing state management is so bad that the “recovered” population will soon decline to nothing but a tiny token population.
Wolf Wars: Anti-Science Haters Propose Ending All US Protections
Posted on March 27, 2013 | 1 CommentWestern environmental groups oppose the anti-scientific "political" Endangered Species delisting of gray wolves across the U.S. by Fish and Wildlife Service. Reduced wolf numbers will reduce positive ecological effects of these top predators and permit barbaric hunting methods.
California Condor: Overcoming Extinction, A Symbol of Renewal
Posted on March 6, 2013 | 2 CommentsThe California Condor Recovery Program has defied the odds to rescue from oblivion the last of the prehistorics and icon of Native Californian cosmology. Threats such as lead ammunition, microtrash, and sprawling land development threaten these impressive gains of an endangered species. The film "The Condor's Shadow" documents this struggle.
George Wuerthner: Habitat Conservation, Not Hunting, Saves Grizzly Bears
Posted on January 4, 2013 | 1 CommentWildlife Agencies advocate hunting helps grizzly recovery. The best available science, however, suggests predators including bears, wolves, mountain lion and coyotes have intricate social interactions that are disrupted or damaged by indiscriminate killing from hunters and trappers. Habitat protection is the main way to protect the fledgling population of grizzly bears as well as avoid human-bear conflicts.
Elephants in Borneo: Need Lowland Forest Range
Posted on March 9, 2012 | 2 CommentsForest fragmentation and destruction is imperiling the Bornean elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis), according to a new paper published in PLoS ONE. Using satellite collars to track the pachyderms for the first time in the Malaysian state of Sabah, scientists found elephants sensitive to habitat fragmentation from palm oil plantations and logging.
Idaho: Wolves and Wilderness Persist in the Bitterroot Mountains
Posted on February 15, 2012 | 3 CommentsSince the time of the Louisiana Purchase, the people of the United States have worked to tame the Bitteroot Mountains of Idaho and Montana, but the rushing rivers and wandering wolves still retain the air of the wild.
Yellowstone Druids: The Last Valley of the Wolves?
Posted on July 19, 2011 | 2 CommentsAfter centuries of fear and superstition, research has given the wolf a new image as a social creature with an indispensible role in ecosystems. Unfortunately, wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains have been removed from the endangered species list. The Druid Pack of Yellowstone National Park symbolizes the rise and fall of this much maligned predator.
Shark Fin Soup’s On in the California Assembly
Posted on June 26, 2011 | No CommentsAssemblywoman D. Harkey (73rd District-California), accomplished equestrian and beach lover, informed her constituents she could not support Assembly Bill 376 banning shark fin soup from CA restaurants, a "delicacy" that requires amputation of the fin from a live shark at sea, leaving it helpless to drown.
Marines Doom Steelhead Recovery Program
Posted on February 1, 2011 | No CommentsAfter nearly a decade of work and nearly $369,000 in state spending, a steelhead restoration effort in San Diego County has been canceled, raising questions about whether larger and more complex initiatives will succeed.
Wolf Howls Yellowstone Back to Health – By Chip Ward
Posted on September 29, 2010 | 3 CommentsFifteen years have passed since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and the results are in. The controversial experiment has been a stellar success. Essay by Chip Ward.
Montana and Idaho Plan Wolf Attacks – By Jack Eidt
Posted on September 2, 2010 | 7 CommentsMontana and Idaho wildlife officials are seeking to resume "conservation hunt" alternatives on the gray wolves despite the packs being relisted for protections under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
