Publication archives

A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction barring Wisconsin from killing gray wolves, siding with animal welfare and environmental groups that argue the killing violates the Endangered Species Act.

A team of nonagency biologists returned this summer to the Tongass National Forest to study proposed timber sales and came out of the woods concerned about wildlife problems such as the loss of deer habitat.

As they paddled through the wilderness, Cheryl Mulhausen and her family stared in awe at the scorched hills surrounding Alpine Lake. "In a way it's shocking to see. But fire is also part of the forest's natural cycle," she said later as her husband, John, hauled the Stillwater family's last pack across the portage linking Alpine to Sea Gull Lake.

Forest fires don't just have an impact on the environment, but on human health, according to a new study from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada,which attempted to put a pricetag on the actual economic losses caused by one such fire.

Unless the Texas biofuels industry can convince state officials its vegetable-based diesel fuel won't foul the state's air, it risks being forced from the huge Texas diesel market. Texas is the nation's largest producer of biodiesel, a mix of regular diesel and vegetable oil. A decision to allow or forbid the fuel is expected before year's end.

Lucille Pope's red oak tree has baffled tree experts, water specialists and nursery professionals. The knotted, towering tree, more than 100 years old, has become the root of scrutiny in her East Side neighborhood. The tree has gurgled water from its trunk for the past three months.

The driver of a tractor-trailer on a gravel logging road, owned by the company he works for, might not be operating on what seems to be his side of the road. In fact, either side of the road is his. To operate on that road, that driver doesn't even need a license. There is no speed limit.

Ivan Booker remembers fields dotted with round, shiny nuts and prickly burrs. He was 8 years old then and the path to school through the Gifford Farm in North Fairfield was full of towering chestnut trees. "My brother and I would fill our pockets with sweet chestnuts and munch on them all day," Booker recalled. It was 1918.