INTRODUCTION Ownership of the public domain has long been a contentious issue between Western U.S. states and the federal government. The recent armed confrontations at Nevada’s Bundy Ranch and Oregon’s Malheur Wildlife Refuge are simply one manifestation of western frustration. Within the last five years the legislatures of seven Mountain West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,...

Hurricane Rita struck the coast of southwest Louisiana in September 2005. The storm generated an enormous tidal surge of approximately four meters in height that inundated many thousands of acres of the coastal marsh with full strength seawater. The initial surge resulted in the deaths of a number of alligators and severely stressed those who survived. In addition, a prolonged drought (the lowe...

Two programs within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service‟s Habitat Credit Trading Program currently exist to allow for “banking” of habitat credits: traditional Conservation Banking and the recently introduced Recovery Crediting System (RCS). Both of these mechanisms embody the intent of Executive Order 13352 on Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation and the environmental stewardship and stream...

Annual field surveys were conducted from 1999–2004 within the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in northern Michigan to determine if ambient ozone levels at this remote location were great enough to injure refuge vegetation. Ozone injury was observed on sensitive bioindicator plants during each survey year; however, the incidence (percentage) of plants exhibiting symptoms was low and varied among ...

Climate-change adaptation planning for managed wetlands is challenging under uncertain futures when the impact of historic climate variability on wetland response is unquantified. We assessed vulnerability of Modoc National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) through use of the Basin Characterization Model (BCM) landscape hydrology model, and six global climate models, representing projected wetter and drie...

Wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity as a result of climate change inmany ecosystems; however, effects of altered disturbance regimes on wildlife remain poorly quantified. Here, we leverage an unexpected opportunity to investigate how fire affects the occupancy and abundance of a climate-sensitive habitat specialist, the American pika (Ochotona princeps). We determine the effects ...