In California, conservation easements are saving more than astonishing landscapes; they are saving livelihoods. The California Rangeland Trust is preserving working cattle ranches. The fledgling group was founded in 1998 by the California Cattlemen’s Association with the help of a $400,000 grant from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. It was prompted in large partContinue reading “Home On The Range”
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Weedbusters
A disaster for some is an opportunity for others. When noxious weeds invade Montana pastures and hillsides, two enterprising Missoula teenagers reap the benefits. Jonathan and Matthew Rich have spent the summer collecting, sorting, and selling thousands of weevils and flea beetles that feed on knapweed and leafy spurge, some of the state’s most invasiveContinue reading “Weedbusters”
Shark Haven
The world’s largest fish has found a safe haven in the waters surrounding a tiny Caribbean island. Two environmental groups have purchased the 5-acre Little Water Caye Island off the southern coast of Belize and will manage the surrounding waters as a protected area for the reclusive whale shark. Conservation International, based in Washington, DC,Continue reading “Shark Haven”
Pork Politics at its Worst
Orange County RegisterAugust 29, 2003 By J. Bishop Grewell “Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before,” wrote Jonathan Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels,” “would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the wholeContinue reading “Pork Politics at its Worst”
Salted Irrigation
Salt deposits can destroy farm land, but at long last, one scientist has found a crop that will tolerate irrigation by sea water.
Garbage To Oil
A great meal for many Americans is a Butterball turkey. A great deal for ConAgra, the company producing Butterballs, is to turn all its turkey waste into marketable products. Its Carthage, Missouri, turkey plant accumulates 1.3 million gallons a day of turkey grease, guts, fat, and feathers that is stored in lagoons and sent toContinue reading “Garbage To Oil”
Indoor Sunshine
Cabela’s, one of the world’s largest outfitting companies, is shedding new light on its indoor facilities. In Prairie de Chien, Wis., a 400,000-square-foot retail store and 600,000-square-foot distribution center, have been equipped with full spectrum, energy-efficient light fixtures that spread indoor sunshine while reducing utility bills. Full spectrum light is the equivalent of sunlight atContinue reading “Indoor Sunshine”
Environmental Phantasm
The benefits of ethanol are largely a myth, but its political life is nothing short of miraculous.
Protecting The Past
Bruce Selyem doesn’t just photograph old grain elevators, he also saves them.
The Wrong Way To Restore Salmon
The federal government pours cash into the Columbia basin, but what fish really need is water.