crosscut.com : Animals / Wildlife

Paying for our growing pains

Crosscut — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:01 PDT

The Growth Management Act serves as a tug-of-war between environmentalists and property-rights advocates, who disagree over rules governing wetland buffers and vegetation removal, and so far, the environmentalists are losing the contest. But it's more complicated than that. Opponents of strict provisions on rural areas say they shouldn't have to pay for the environmental sins of the cities.

Bigfoot hunters must change tactics

Crosscut — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:00:01 PDT

I'm sure you were stunned by the headline: "Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber gorilla suit." Hard to believe, I know. If you are looking for answers, however, don't despair. Instead of wondering aloud, "how can this be," turn to your home Mossback library. I'm sure tucked in there somewhere is a copy of the book that has all the Sasquatch answers.

Amazing Bigfoot discovery!

Crosscut — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:01:01 PDT

From what I can tell from news reports, yesterday's press conference by Bigfoot hunters claiming to have found a Sasquatch corpse in Georgia had some startling revelations. One is DNA results that answer the question: Just what is Bigfoot?

Puget Sound triage

Crosscut — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Cleaning up the Sound for real requires political will, not feel-good projects that play well in the media but have little ecological impact. It means focusing on rural, not urban, areas. But that's not where most taxpayers live. It will also take a monumental infusion of cash, which could come from a variety of sources, including a mitigation 'bank' for private polluters.

Why shopping 'green' won't save the planet

Crosscut — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:08:01 PDT

Seattle's obsession with largely symbolic green measures (banning bottled water at City Hall and taxing plastic bags) and the current trend of marketing everything from hybrids to condos as "green" might actually do more harm than good.

Holy chiroptera! Meet the local bats

Crosscut — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:21:01 PDT

Like the neighbors I rarely see until July, bats are making their appearances during the drawn-out summer evenings here in the Northwest. Flitting in the dusk, these nocturnal and flying mammals that use ultrasonic calls outside of our hearing range inhabit a world quite separate from mine. But Bats Northwest, an education and conservation group of bat aficionados, is here to bridge that gap through summertime bat walks at Green Lake, and there's one this Monday, July 28, at 8 p.m.

A new owl plan with the same old goal: more logging

Crosscut — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:01 PDT

The new Northern Spotted Owl recovery plan could be worse, but the Bush administration hasn't given up on cutting a billion board feet a year in Northwest forests.

Sausage Links, cats, bats, and politicians edition

Crosscut — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:07:01 PDT

Remember when everyone thought Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner wasn't going to get extra money from the party to beat U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn? Well, think again. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has "reserved $949,000 of air time to boost Burner's campaign." Here's the reaction from the right-wingers at Sound Politics. ...

A building worthy of greenery

Crosscut — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Vancouver's in-city oasis, VanDusen Botanical Garden, hopes to go green big-time with a $23 million visitor center that could be the region's first structure to meet the most rigid sustainability standards.

Praising, and then panning, Alaskan salmon

Crosscut — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:01 PDT

A columnist writing in The New York Times boycotts wild Alaskan salmon, a 180-degree turn from an earlier position in favor of the fishery. Is his reversal motivated by the need to publicize a new book?

My day with the ranchers

Crosscut — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:01 PDT

An urbanite spends two days with ranchers in Montana and comes to see that she has much in common with them: ground.

More fun than Deliverance!

Crosscut — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Spend your summer vacation in Eastern Washington, an exotic locale where lakes are slippery, the Scablands surprising, and wheat farmers are smashing stuff for fun.

Fishing for a family's food

Crosscut — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

An Alaskan whose family holds a subsistence fishing permit chronicles their annual trip to the Kasilof River, where they fish for sockeye salmon using set-nets.

Sausage Links, cougar-hunting edition

Crosscut — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:28:01 PDT

Praise the Lord and release the hounds — because our good state Legislature has enacted a law which makes it legal once again to use dogs to hunt cougars. Now, I didn't even know cougar hunting was legal in Washington — minus Cougars wearing crimson — but apparently, it is. While the bill was actually passed by the Legislature in February, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting on Friday to discuss whether the pilot program should continue for another three years.

Meanwhile, Micheal Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has compiled a list of some other curious laws enacted by the Washington Legislature this year. My personal favorite: Violators may face up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail for selling raw or unprocessed huckleberries without a permit.

Sausage Links, gas cards for bad guys edition

Crosscut — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:20:01 PDT

Alright everybody. Let's head to Tacoma. If we hurry, we can help Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers catch sexual predators, gangsters, domestic violence abusers, and violent criminals. Why? Because they're giving away $250 gas cards and up to $1,000 in exchange for information that would lead to arrests. Here's the list of criminals. Start hunting. After all, what better incentive is there to dodge outrageous gas prices than to catch perverts? Don't answer that.

Salmon on the Columbia: See you in court

Crosscut — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:00:01 PDT

The federal agencies are back for a fifth round in federal court, still cooking up very strained arguments for minimal efforts to save the fish. Two things might change the impasse: a new case for saving dams due to climate change, and the bestirring of Congress. Here's a survey of the high-stakes issues.

Conservation groups buy pieces of Montana — a lot of pieces

Crosscut — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land are buying 500 square miles of western Montana from Plum Creek, the timber real estate investment trust, for $510 million. It involves a federal financing mechanism, to the consternation of conservatives, and compromise, to the displeasure of some environmentalists. But it is preventing development of forest habitat.

The 100-year gamble to save our quality of life

Crosscut — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

A close look at the ambitious "Cascade Agenda," which hopes to preserve the central Puget Sound region's natural systems from a Pugetopolis that sprawls all the way to the Cascades. The mechanisms are known, but it's not clear they can work well enough or soon enough.

When animals attack, and also when they don't

Crosscut — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:00:01 PDT

It's the time of year when animal-human encounters are on the rise. Bears are picnicking on hikers, moose are invading trailer parks, and muskrats are blamed for destroying entire towns. You could be next.

UW's new College of the Environment could bring in the green

Crosscut — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:00:01 PDT

The vision is to make the University of Washington and the region a major player in the post-carbon economy. Big stuff. Whether President Mark Emmert can make it happen is an open question, however.