By Michael Ricciardi •
November 28, 2009
The deaths of these two, collared wolves in particular–by unnatural causes (termed “harvested” wolves)–pose a problem for the park’s five year old Wolf Project, which was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, and meant to be a unique, long-term study of these secretive animals. “Death by hunting” is not yet an official data category for the study. Much of the data collected so far on these wolves may not be usable any more since their unnatural deaths did [...]
By Michael Ricciardi •
January 29, 2009
Harnessing the Earth’s Heat for Food and Power
As the rumbling temblors beneath Yellowstone National Park continue (over 900 hundred such weak quakes in 2008), media attention shifts to two topics: the possibility of a super-volcanic eruption (not likely, according to most geologists), and secondly, the harnessing of geothermal energy.
This latter consideration is all the more fashionable these days as America struggles to embrace an alternative and sustainable energy future.
Geothermal energy offers the promise of a virtually unlimited source of power. Although less energetic in terms of total constant power output compared to the sun, harnessing the geothermal venting from a single, sufficiently high-grade, hot-spring could conceivably provide power for a population of tens of thousands, and it’s not weather dependent. But there are also plenty of “lower grade” springs that can be put to other uses, such as growing hothouse produce (and the spring water is also used for watering the plants) and naturally warming water for fish farming (the Talipia species, a popular dinner fish, is one species farmed this way). Not all animals that are farmed this way are used for food, some, like the farmed alligators in Mosca, CO (see photo), are raised for their skins primarily (though some do eat the meat).
By Jeff Pecaro •
January 14, 2009
Despite the news yesterday that the wolf population in Yellowstone has decreased 27%, the Bush administration said today that they will remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list in the Midwest and in the area surrounding Yellowstone National Park.
The Bush administration has tried to remove the wolves’ federal protections twice before, once in the Great Lakes and once in the northern Rockies, which includes Montana, Colorado and Wyoming. Federal judges revoked both rule changes in February and September of last year.
By Levi Novey •
January 13, 2009
After completing its annual wolf population estimate, Yellowstone National Park has announced that the number of wolves inside the park has declined by 27% since the end of 2007. 124 wolves are now thought to reside in the park, down from 171. Is this a normal fluctuation?
By Levi Novey •
October 22, 2008
The lands that will be opened are in Alaska and 11 western states. It is believed that the geothermal energy in time could provide electricity to 5.5 million homes.
By Levi Novey •
October 16, 2008
President Bush is concentrating more on conservation issues in his last days of office. A few weeks ago he urged for the creation of more protected areas in our oceans. Now he wants to help mountain bikers gain access to national parks.
Perhaps smarting over a judge’s recent decision to scratch the Bush administration’s plan to allow snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, now Bush has said, “Damn it! If I can’t snowmobile in Yellowstone, at least I want to go mountain biking!”
By Levi Novey •
September 16, 2008
A federal judge has banned snowmobiles from Yellowstone National Park. He said that a plan approved by the Bush Administration to allow 500 snowmobiles to travel daily through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in the winter months would cause damaging noise pollution, air pollution, and would also stress wildlife.
By Levi Novey •
September 3, 2008
A new study in the journal BMC Ecology indicates that coastal wolves in British Columbia switch to eating salmon in the fall as a primary food source, rather than deer. Scientists arrived at this conclusion after analyzing wolf poop they collected over a four year span.
Among the thousands of stools that were collected by the researchers in the spring and summer months, 90-95% of them contained some indications that wolves were eating deer as prey. In the fall, however, this number dropped significantly. About 40-70% of the stools in this time of year indicated that wolves were dining on salmon.
So what’s the big deal?
