Can Cities Be Saved from Wildfires?

Can Cities Be Saved from Wildfires?

On June 20, 2010, someone (authorities never found the culprit) left a campfire unattended in the forested mountains just north of Flagstaff, Arizona. The day was sunny and warm, with a stiff afternoon wind blowing in from the southwest—perfect conditions for a...
Bad Bills Abound

Bad Bills Abound

The first months of the Trump administration brought plenty of setbacks for conservationists. There was Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s proposal to scale back national monument designations. A budget plan calling for double-digit cuts to land-management agencies. A...
Unleashing the SuperTanker?

Unleashing the SuperTanker?

Global SuperTanker Services, LLC, a subsidiary of a Connecticut equities firm, says it has what it takes to put out wildfires. The company owns the largest firefighting aircraft on the planet, a retrofitted Boeing 747 that can dump huge quantities of fire retardant,...
Fighting for Survival

Fighting for Survival

In the waning days of 1973, Richard Nixon signed into law the Endangered Species Act. It was anything but a controversial step for the embattled president, who a few months later would resign his office. Earlier that year, the ESA had passed the Senate unanimously;...