August 7, 2001 - Once, a postage-stamp-sized butterfly known as the Karner Blue was found all across the Great Lakes states, from Minnesota to New York. Today its population has declined by 99 percent. The Karner Blue's last stronghold is in Wisconsin, where an unprecedented state-wide effort is underway to save it. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
July 30, 2001 - When a new politician goes to Washington, people watch to see what friends he or she makes in Congress. Environmentalists were dismayed when Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton allied himself with Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. Craig is powerful voice for logging and mining interests. Now he and Dayton have joined in a lawsuit opposing a rule which bans roadbuilding in roughly one third of the nation's national forests. Compared with Idaho, Minnesota's stake in the issue is miniscule, but Dayton says he's keeping campaign promises he made in Northern Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
July 18, 2001 - Almost everyone has a hobby or two. Occasionally, people's hobbies grow into consuming passions. That's what happened to Mark Mattison after he bought his first elk. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure recently visited him at his elk farm in Wisconsin, and filed this report.
July 12, 2001 - A report to be released today by the Brookings Institution says the Twin Cities are among the fastest-sprawling areas in the country. The report says the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area is developing a vast amount of open land to accommodate relatively small increases in population.
July 4, 2001 - MPR’s Mary Losure reports that after massive storm in BWCA, which many considered a catastrophe, is providing a rare opportunity for scientists to study how a wilderness recovers from a massive natural disturbance. Losure interviews Alan Heine, forestry Professr at University of Wisconsin; and Lee Frelich forest ecologist at University of Minnesota.
June 28, 2001 -
September 27, 2000 - For years scientists have warned the misuse and over-use of antibiotics is causing some bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotics are the first line of defense against sicknesses caused by bacteria. If the number of resistant strains of bacteria continues to grow, illnesses once easily treatable with antibiotics could become incurable. Bacteria can develop resistance in hospitals, and also on farms where animals are treated routinely with antibiotics. Now resistant bacteria are starting to spread outward into the environment, into the nation's streams and rivers. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
August 17, 2000 - The Sierra Club, the Humane Society of the United States, and other groups have filed a lawsuit to try to overturn Minnesota's wolf management plan. The groups say the plan will open the way for widespread killing of wolves across the state. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
August 7, 2000 - For the first time in 40 years, peregrine falcons are nesting and raising young on the cliffs along the upper Mississippi River. They're taking back nesting spots that have sat empty since peregrine falcons were nearly wiped out by the insecticide DDT. It's one of the final stages in the spectacular comeback of the once-endangered birds. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
August 2, 2000 - Top federal officials have stepped in to try to break the impasse over a proposed 148 million dollar bridge over the St. Croix River at Stillwater. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.