Weighing in at little more than a couple of pats of butter, the remarkable grey plover undergoes an epic migration of thousands of miles. A new volume captures the wonder of this tiny shorebird, as well as worries over its rapidly declining numbers and possible extinction. Melody Kemp reviews “Flight Lines” in this month’s BookShelf.
"A federal judge has upheld the U.S. Forest Service’s authority to keep a 250-mile (400-kilometer) motorcycle race out of sage grouse habitat in Nevada’s high desert, rejecting a lawsuit by off-road vehicle enthusiasts who argued the agency illegally short-circuited the environmental review process."
"Tuomas Siilasjoki and Minna Näkkäläjärvi say they were taken by surprise when a mobile drill rig one day appeared in the horizon. Nobody had asked them about exploring for minerals inside their siida, a reindeer foraging area, in northern Finland. The Sámi families here in Tarvantovaara wilderness area fear the world's hunger for metals to ramp up the green economy will destroy their indigenous way of life."
"Just a year ago, Rambo was confined to a shallow, chlorinated pool in an Indonesian hotel on the island of Bali entertaining visitors from around the world by jumping through hoops."
"In a win for conservation interests and tribal nations, a panel of federal judges Wednesday upheld a decision to restore grizzly bear protections in the Yellowstone region."
"For the first time in nearly 50 years, California condors have been spotted at Sequoia National Park, wildlife officials announced."
"The federal government on Tuesday decided to scrap plans to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades ecosystem in Washington state."
"California Rep. Josh Harder needed a way to convince the U.S. House of Representatives to pay attention to his speech about invasive species during a meeting in February. So he brought in a hefty rat carcass and laid it on the table next to him."
When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a press release with favorable industry response to changes in a rule protecting migratory birds — before actually proposing the new rule — a group of former agency officials cried foul. Plus, why encrypted police scanners are a problem and an ag-gag ruling, all in the latest WatchDog opinion column.
"Alaskan beavers are carving out a growing web of channels, dams and ponds in the frozen Arctic tundra of northwestern Alaska, helping to turn it into a soggy sponge that intensifies global warming."
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