Publication archives

President Clinton's Roadless Area Conservation Rule protected 58 million acres nationwide. In Minnesota, some 65,000 acres were declared roadless, mostly in the Superior National Forest.

As projects go, this one was truly ground-breaking. For the last five years, volunteers from across the state collected seeds from native plants growing along local roads.

Greg Sanders once stalked his chief nemesis -- an otter nicknamed Phoky -- for 24 days. When Sanders, a biologist, finally captured the critter at Southern California's Anacapa Island, he shipped Phoky north to Monterey under an ambitious federal program to preserve otters while protecting shellfish divers from natural competition.

What others see as used, decaying wood, Scott Royer sees as a business opportunity. A 20-foot-wide pungent vinegar cask headed for the landfill turned high-end hardwood flooring.

The trend of northern lakes losing ice cover earlier each spring accelerated during the past 30 years as scientists continue to document a warming climate.

A bloc of developing countries plans to make a radical proposal this week at the United Nations summit on climate change in Montreal: pay us, and we will preserve our rainforests.

A new forest and wildland health assessment center has opened for business. The Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center in Prineville is one of two pioneer research hubs charged with detecting, evaluating and predicting natural and manmade risks to forests and rangeland.

Ross Bennett co-founded a timber company, but claims environmentalists like him. He sells planks of ancient Northwest fir and hemlock, but he's never bothered a spotted owl. And he's after sunken treasure, but he's no pirate. Ross Bennett: "See, the side scan is hitting the side of it. That's that dark side there."