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WOODLAND PARK, Colo. -- Hatchet in hand, Jeff Witcosky ascends a steep,
snow-covered hillside in search of an unwelcome visitor to this
picturesque mountain town. He is on the hunt for a predator with a
voracious appetite that has already altered the landscape of 1.5
million acres in Colorado. This invader -- the mountain pine beetle --
is no bigger than the tip of a matchstick, but it has a big bite.
Throughout Colorado, foresters and homeowners are taking aim at the
beetles using a number of weapons, including mastication -- like the
project in Woodland Park -- pheromones and pesticides.
Two mandates for managing old-growth forests
They are
the giants of the forests. Older than and towering above any person
that looks up at them, the trees that make up the Pacific Northwest's
old-growth forests offer a glimpse of nature untouched by humanity's
hand.
Depending on where you find these trees on a map,
however, you will find one of two very different sets of laws and
mandates that guide their management: You might find the U.S. Forest
Service, with its mandate to protect the nation's most ecologically
valuable forest lands, or you could encounter the Bureau of Land
Management's charge to protect forests while making them economically
viable.
Funding shortfall let to record kill of Yellowstone bison
Bison
in Yellowstone National Park are being killed in record numbers this
year despite the existence of a plan that both government wildlife
management officials -- who are doing the killing -- and wildlife
conservation groups -- who vehemently oppose the killings -- agree
could reduce the slaughter. The only thing holding up this plan,
management officials and conservationists agree, is a lack of funding
from Washington, D.C.
Thus far this year, 1,140 bison have
been killed -- roughly a quarter of the Yellowstone population and the
largest kill on record.
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