The Rise and Fall of the East Sand Empire

On the Columbia River, Conservation Biologists Find that Whatever Can Go Wrong, Will

photo Eric Wagner East Sand Island sits near the mouth of the Columbia River. Although the mound of sand and dredge spoils is only a mile or so long and a few hundred yards at its widest, it hosts one of the largest seabird colonies in the United States. Stand on the north beach: To your right, on the western tip, are tens of thousands of cormorants; to your left, on the…
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by: Eric Wagner – Autumn 2012

Flight Plan

A successful crane conservation program in China’s Guizhou province holds lessons for people’s participation in restoration projects

On a cold and dark December morning, several members of the International Crane Foundation (ICF) and I pick our way through fields a few miles outside the town of Weining, in southwestern China. The ground is rutted and sticky with mud; we would have an easier walk if we could wait until the sun is up. But the cranes start their days early. Ahead, we can make out two species: Eurasian cranes,…
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by: Eric Wagner – Summer 2012

The Last Stand

Twenty years ago, an extraordinary effort by environmentalists saved the northern spotted owl – or did it?

What does the owl’s plight say about the uneasy relationship between environmentalism and conservation? Marsh Trib is a small forest about 12 miles north of Roseburg, in southern Oregon. Owned by the Bureau of Land Management, it is hardly pristine – the edges of the plot are dense with second-growth Douglas fir – but a few hundred yards past the last logging road the woods are more mature, with large cedars and…
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by: Eric Wagner – Summer 2011

The Call of the Kiwi

New Zealanders Are Working to Save Their National Symbol

istockphoto.com The Pouakai Trail It takes some effort to hike around a mountain and never see it, but somehow I managed to do just that while visiting Mt. Taranaki on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. A shame, really, because I’d heard that Taranaki was quite a sight, a nearly perfect cone rising out of thick forests that give way to the lowland farms fed by its rich, volcanic soils.…
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by: Eric Wagner – Summer 2008