The American Great Plains
rival the Serengeti, according to National Geographic, but unlike in apparently more progressive Africa, the USA never protected the plains
on a large scale. Now private interests under the
The American Prairie Foundation are buying up land in Montana
hoping to create a multi-million acre preserve that would be the largest privately funded conservation land venture on the planet, bigger than Yellowstone National Park, that one day may see the return of great migrating herds of bison, pronghorn antelope, deer and elk.
Not all Montana ranchers are happy with the new Serengeti neighbor.
posted by stbalbach
on Aug 21, 2010 -
33 comments
Draft legislation was published today that proposes that fifteen parcels in the National Park System be sold off for "purposes of commercial and residential development." Many of the parcels are in Alaska, but one is Theodore Roosevelt Island park, developed to honor one of our country's most recognizable environmentalists. It seems
the Onion gives us the news from the future once again...Way to go,
DCist for breaking the story!
posted by chinese_fashion
on Sep 23, 2005 -
14 comments
Large-scale marijuana cultivation in National Parks and forests. "[Growers] are killing wildlife, diverting streams, introducing nonnative plants, creating fire and pollution hazards, and bringing the specter of violence. For the moment, we are failing both parts of our mission, and that is tragic."
This is not a new problem. "The reasons are obvious: the land is fertile, remote and free. There's no risk of forfeiture, plantations are difficult to trace, and growers have land agents outmanned, outspent and outgunned."
posted by letitrain
on Jun 14, 2003 -
18 comments
Been to a USGS site today? What about your favorite
national park site? Probably not, since all are part of the
U.S. Department of the Interior, whose external network connections have been severed due to electronic security concerns raised by the court in the case
Cobell v. Norton (formerly Cobell v. Babbitt).
With no external email or access to the Internet could you do your job? How dependent is your workplace on electronic information access?
(Since all their websites are down, I have no direct link to post. A copy of the memo was sent to the members by the admin of a USGS email distribution list.)
posted by carobe
on Dec 7, 2001 -
16 comments