Category: Environment

.
Rubber tappers at the Cachoeira Extractive Reserve load up mules with sacks full of Brazil nuts, which they have collected from the forest floor. Photo by Ricardo Azory

Hard Rows: The Amazon after Chico Mendes

SERINGAL CACHOEIRA, BRAZIL–It doesn’t look much like a battlefield. A huddle of wooden huts raised on stilts crowns a grassy knoll. Tidy dirt paths stitch the way between the houses. Lush orange trees dot the hill, throwing deep shadows, and at the crest, a pair

A wheat field near Coahuilla in Mexico’s Colorado River delta growing region shows the effects of too much salt in an irrigated field. Photo By Russell Clemings

Mirage

LOST HILLS, Calif.–On a recent May afternoon when the temperature was toying with triple digits, Dr. Joseph Skorupa, a federal wildlife biologist looking for bird eggs, walked a low earthen levee between two vast pools of shallow water. With light-colored clothing and a broad-brimmed hat,

Sapporo’s Living Museum of the Salmon is likely the only facility in the world devoted entirely to salmon. Uno awaits instruction after fertilizing salmon eggs.

The Promise of The Future

Salmon culture is a phrase buzzing through the seafood industry, terrifying fishermen, titillating restaurateurs and seducing investors. Raising salmon specifically for harvest may change the way we think about these incredible creatures. The potential is there to produce low-cost, high-protein food. The potential is there

Over 2,225 adult salmon died last fall in Seattle’s Duwamish River. The carcasses remained untouched by birds for 20 hours, the first clue toxic chemicals were involved.

The Struggle to Survive

SEATTLE–It was a disaster. The banks of Seattle’s Duwamish River were covered with carcasses of adult salmon returning to spawn. Jaws open, eyes intact, thousands of dead fish had been in the mud for twenty hours undisturbed by the myriad of birds which, under normal

Personality strengths and weaknesses greatly influence decision making in the American pulp and paper/forest products industry. Two key decision-makers are Charles W. Schmidt (L.), senior vice president, Raytheon Corp; and Taggart Edwards (R.), executive vice president, Champion International Corp.

Calling the Shots

Balancing potential human health hazards versus herbicide spraying, bartering long-term forest improvement for needed short-term profits, gambling on untested energy systems–all are complex decisions that reflect the philosophies and styles of the forest industry executives who make them. In 1979, St. Regis Paper Company banned