Ben Goldfarb
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Independent environmental journalist. Author of CROSSINGS, on #roadecology, and EAGER, on beaver belief.
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Articles by Ben Goldfarb
Abrindo caminho para os tamanduás-bandeira do Brasil
Se Charles Dickens tivesse escrito um romance sobre a fauna brasileira, ele poderia ter inventado uma protagonista como Jane, uma tamanduá-bandeira de três anos cuja curta vida foi repleta de desventuras. Antes de ela nascer, um de seus irmãos provavelmente foi morto por uma assustadora puma, e outro por um carro.
Making Way for the Giant Anteaters of Brazil
Had Charles Dickens ever written a novel about Brazilian wildlife, he might have invented a protagonist like Jane, a three-year-old giant anteater whose short life has been rife with misfortune. Before she was born, one brother was likely killed by a puma, another by a car.
Inside the global movement to build more wildlife overpasses: 'It's like the whole world is open to wildlife now'
Across the globe, roads pose a deadly physical threat to wildlife and fragment the landscapes animals need to move through to survive. For some species, a road is a wall: They won’t even attempt to cross. Decades of research have proved that wildlife crossings (underpasses and overpasses), combined with roadside fences, prevent deadly collisions, protecting both animals and people. Crossings are part of larger efforts to reconnect shattered ecological corridors worldwide.
How wildlife crossings are reconnecting habitats around the world
One of the busiest highways in the western US is I-25, a concrete artery that runs north to south across the state of Colorado, funnelling roughly 100,000 cars per day through the fast-growing exurbs south of the capital, Denver. While I-25 facilitates human journeys, it disastrously truncates the movements of another set of commuters. For decades, mule deer, elk, black bears and other species have wandered onto the highway — with fatal consequences.
The curious comeback of Putah Creek’s salmon
In California, a long-abused river has been reborn. For decades, humans disrupted its course and restricted its flows to the detriment of its ecosystem, only to lately reverse direction and restore it to a facsimile of its natural state. And salmon, the bellwethers of aquatic health, have responded, returning much faster and in greater abundance than anyone anticipated.
The long and winding road to safe highways: Inside the global movement to reconnect habitat
Across the globe, roads pose a deadly physical threat to wildlife and fragment the landscapes animals need to move through to survive. For some species, a road is a wall: They won’t even attempt to cross. Decades of research have proved that wildlife crossings (underpasses and overpasses), combined with roadside fences, prevent deadly collisions, protecting both animals and people. Crossings are part of larger efforts to reconnect shattered ecological corridors worldwide.
In the Early 1900s, a Young Ecologist Shot a Wolf and Watched the Life Leave Its Eyes. That Changed His Position on Conservation
Aldo Leopold’s writing reconsidered the place of humans in the natural world and challenged people to be less a conqueror of the land and more a citizen of it One day in the early20th century, in eastern Arizona, a forester—“full of trigger itch,” as he later wrote—leaned over a rimrock ledge, readied his rifle, and shot a wolf. This was hardly unusual: Wolves and other carnivores were mammalia non grata, persecuted for their perceived crimes against livestock and deer.
Beavers as Ecosystem Engineers: Restoring Nature's Balance
Beavers play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems by enhancing water quality, promoting biodiversity, and mitigating climate change impacts. Their dam-building activities create wetlands that support various species and recharge aquifers, making them invaluable to both wildlife and agriculture. Despite their ecological benefits, beavers often face hostility from humans due to property damage concerns. What challenges do beavers face in today's ecosystems?
Could beavers be the secret to winning the fight against wildfires?
The East Troublesome fire erupted on October 21, 2020, whipped by strong winds and fueled by drought-parched forests. The fire roared through northern Colorado’s spruce and fir woods; it leaped roads and rivers and the Continental Divide, scaling mountain passes above tree line. It incinerated historic buildings in Rocky Mountain National Park and homes in Grand County, killing two people. Ultimately, it torched nearly 200,000 acres, making it the second largest fire in Colorado’s history.
An Abundance Of Concrete
Reliable sources tell me that you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover. Until you actually read the thing, though, it’s the only data you have to go on. So here’s what I first noticed about Abundance, Ezra Klein’s and Derek Thompson’s zeitgeisty manifesto touting a construction-oriented liberalism: the wildlife.
How the Trump administration is impacting wildlife: One highway crossing has been put on hold
Few individual animals have ever been more important to their species than 2323M — a red wolf, dubbed Airplane Ears by advocates for his prominent extremities, who spent his brief but fruitful life on North Carolina’s Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Red wolves, smaller, rust-tinged cousins to gray wolves, are among the world’s rarest mammals, pushed to the brink of extinction by threats such as habitat loss, indiscriminate killing, and road collisions.
The Lizard King of Long Island
The Italian wall lizard—a cigar-size Mediterranean reptile with a green back, mottled copper flanks, and a whiplike tail—is more or less the animal you picture when someone says the word “lizard.” Their ubiquity in places like Pompeii and the Colosseum has earned them the moniker “ruin lizards.” Their known range extends to Slovenia, Croatia, and, since the nineteen-sixties, Long Island, which they may have colonized after making their way out of a Hempstead pet store.
A Brief Tribute to Karsten Heuer
One October morning in 2013, I walked into the Canmore offices of an organization called the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, or Y2Y, to speak with its reluctant leader. I was at the outset of my career in journalism, fresh out of graduate school and loose on the land in the Northern Rockies. With my then-girlfriend (now wife), Elise, I was spending two months traveling the length of Y2Y, perhaps the world’s longest wildlife corridor and certainly its most famous.
Even as A.I. Technology Races Ahead, the Prehistoric Science of Wildlife Tracking Is Making a Comeback
Humans perfected how to identify wild animals over millennia, and now biologists are rediscovering the exceptional worth of the tracks and marks left behind The 28th question of the hardest exam I’d taken since college was a smudged footprint pressed lightly into damp sand. The track possessed four teardrop-shaped toes and a vaguely trapezoidal heel pad; one toe, third from the left, jutted above the others, like a human’s middle finger.
Les clôtures, une menace méconnue pour la faune sauvage
C’est à cause d’une lionne que Christine Wilkinson a eu sa « révélation clôture ». Cette écologue de l’université de Berkeley, en Californie, est spécialisée dans la conservation de la vie sauvage. En 2016, elle s’était rendue au Kenya afin d’y étudier les conflits entre humains et grands carnivores. Ses recherches l’avaient amenée dans le parc national du lac Nakuru, un espace naturel entouré par une clôture électrique censée protéger les rhinocéros des braconniers.
Book Review: How One Weird Rodent Ecologist Tried to Change the Fate of Humanity
NONFICTION Dr. Calhoun's Mousery: The Strange Tale of a Celebrated Scientist, a Rodent Dystopia, and the Future of Humanity by Lee Alan Dugatkin University of Chicago Press, 2024 ($27.50) In the 1960s and 1970s American society suffered a yearslong collective panic about the perceived threat of overpopulation. Biologist Paul Ehrlich appeared on The Tonight Show to tout The Population Bomb, his 1968 polemic about human numbers run amok.
Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet
Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they're practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb travels throughout the United States and around the world to investigate how roads have transformed our planet.
After half a century, the Apache trout swims off the threatened species list
When 19th-century miners first scouted eastern Arizona, they found that the region’s alpine streams contained more golden wealth than merely ore. The White Mountains are home to the Apache trout, one of only two native salmonids within Arizona’s borders. They’re lovely fish, endowed with mustard flanks, pink and purple undertones, and constellations of black spots. Miners called them “yellow trout” or “yellowbellies.” Colonization wasn’t kind to the Apache trout.
What Denali’s road closure means for its wildlife
The grizzly ambleddown the road toward us, a quarter-mile distant, getting closer with every footfall. We watched warily, still shoveling the snowdrift that engulfed the sole interior road within Alaska’s Denali National Park and Preserve. He drew nearer, unhurried, head high. “If he gets to that blind curve, we’ll pack it in,” said Robina Moyer, program manager at Camp Denali, a private lodge on an inholding within the park.
Suburban Utah Is Ground Zero for Deer Conservation
This article was originally published by High Country News. Every spring, about 2,000 mule deer traipse through Utah’s Cedar Valley, a broad, sage-dotted flatland some 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. The herd winters in the Lake Mountains, nibbling sagebrush and other forage, and summers around the Oquirrhs, whose green shoulders jut from the valley floor to the north. The animals commute between the ranges via two general routes, following washes and ridgelines and their own ancestors’ trails.
How do you protect wildlife from sprawl?
Every spring, around 2,000mule deer traipse through Utah’s Cedar Valley, a broad, sage-dotted flatland some 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. The herd winters in the Lake Mountains, nibbling sagebrush and other forage, and summers around the Oquirrhs, whose green shoulders jut from the valley floor to the north. The animals commute between the ranges via two general routes, following washes and ridgelines and their own ancestors’ trails.
How roads hurt animals
As an urban planner, I seek to make my city more livable for people. This includes work to mitigate some of the adverse effects of cars by making streets safer for walking and cycling, reducing the amount of land consumed by parking spaces, and decreasing the carbon emissions of the transportation sector. I have to admit, though, that I’ve spent almost no time in my job thinking about the impacts of cars on animals.
A Flattened, Bloody Raccoon on a Highway Isn’t Just a Bummer. It’s a Dire Warning.
Science Last March, a female Asiatic cheetah, dubbed Majrad by scientists, was killed by a car in Iran’s Semnan province. This wasn’t unusual in itself: One 2017 study noted that cars pose “the most serious threat” to the subspecies of endangered cats, fewer than 50 of whom survive in the wild. Yet Majrad’s death was especially devastating, conservationist Raza Kazmi reported: When researchers performed a necropsy, they found she’d been pregnant with triplets.
A Flattened, Bloody Raccoon on a Highway Isn’t Just a Bummer. It’s a Dire Warning.
Last March, a female Asiatic cheetah, dubbed Majrad by scientists, was killed by a car in Iran’s Semnan province. This wasn’t unusual in itself: One 2017 study noted that cars pose “the most serious threat” to the subspecies of endangered cats, fewer than 50 of whom survive in the wild. Yet Majrad’s death was especially devastating, conservationist Raza Kazmi reported: When researchers performed a necropsy, they found she’d been pregnant with triplets.
These tribes are building crossings to save wildlife from becoming roadkill
This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The North Cascades elk herd is a cluster of some 1,600 animals whose domain, like so many habitats, is riven by a highway. From 2012 to 2019, Washington state records show, at least 229 elk were killed by cars along a stretch of State Route 20 in the Skagit Valley. The situation imperils humans, too: In 2023, a motorist died after swerving around an elk into a telephone pole.
A federal program could fix Washington's salmon-killing culverts
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A federal program could fix Washington's salmon-killing culverts
In the early 1900s, Hardy Creek was throttled by BNSF Railway, the United States’ largest freight railroad network. When the company built its Columbia River line, engineers routed Hardy Creek under the tracks via a culvert — a 2.5-meter-wide arch atop a concrete pad. The culvert, far narrower than Hardy Creek’s natural channel, concentrated the stream like a fire hose and blasted away approaching salmon.
The Illogical Relationship Americans Have With Animals
American society has a confused, contradictory relationship with animals. Many dog owners have no compunction about eating feedlot-raised pigs, animals whose intelligence, sociality, and sentience compare favorably with their shih tzus and beagles. Some cat lovers let their outdoor felines contribute to mass bird murder. A pescatarian might claim that a cod is less capable of suffering than a chicken.
Saving Migratory Fish, One Culvert at a Time
In 2021, the United States’ culvert-funding shortfall caught the belated attention of politicians. That November, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2-trillion package that included money for everything from high-speed rail to electric vehicle charging stations to basic highway repairs.
Fixing culverts can save migratory fish
This article is republished from Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Every year, hundreds of muscular, sea-bright fish — chum salmon, chinook, coho, steelhead — push into the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean, swim over 200 kilometers upstream, and turn left into Hardy Creek. They wend through rocky shallows shaded by alder and willow, cold water passing over flared gills.
Ben Goldfarb, Author at High Country News
Skip to content Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst When Colorado voted for wolf reintroduction, it also mandated compensation for ranchers. The hard part: figuring out the details. Posted inArticles Five wolves were released in remote western Colorado yesterday, marking the beginning of an ambitious reintroduction program. Posted inOctober 2, 2023: The Dark Side of the Sheepherding Industry As Lake Powell shrinks, smallmouth bass threaten the Grand Canyon’s native fishes.
Light at the End of the Tunnel | Hakai Magazine
Every year, hundreds of muscular, sea-bright fish—chum salmon, chinook, coho, steelhead—push into the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean, swim over 200 kilometers upstream, and turn left into Hardy Creek. They wend through rocky shallows shaded by alder and willow, cold water passing over flared gills. Plump with milt and eggs, they pump their tails furiously, striving for the graveled spawning grounds in southern Washington State where they’ll complete their life’s final, fatal mission.
In the Arctic, Beavers Are Climate Winners. Should We Let Them Take Over?
Skip to main content The voracious builders are reshaping the tundra, and generating controversy about whether their presence is cause for concern—or hope—in a warming world. Words by Ben Goldfarb Contributor, Audubon magazine Time in the Alaskan Arctic moves slowly. Layers of permafrost inter the chilled remains of mammoths and early humans; dwarf birches and lichens grow at almost imperceptible clips; glaciers creep down mountains at annual rates measured in millimeters.
Can Coexistence With Wolves be Bought?
This story first appeared in High Country News on Feb. 1, 2024. When Colorado voted for wolf reintroduction, it also mandated compensation for ranchers. The hard part: figuring out the details. ON DEC. 18, DIGNITARIES watched as five wolves bounded from crates, loped across snow and brittle grass, and vanished into scraggly forest.
Pines in Peril
Spring 2021 By Ben Goldfarb Grand Teton’s lodgepole forests are exquisitely adapted to wildfire — but can they survive a changing climate? In 1988, a fire ecologist named Monica Turner clambered into a helicopter and soared over Yellowstone National Park’s still-smoldering forests. One fire after another had torched the park that infamous summer, ultimately burning some 800,000 acres, and Turner expected devastation.
The Case for Destroying Old Forest Roads
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The Case for Destroying Old Forest Roads
Drive high enough into western Montana’s Lolo National Forest, up a succession of dirt tracks that parallel glittering creeks and twist through stands of fir and spruce, and eventually you’ll come to a clearing. At first glance it’s unremarkable, a grassy, sunlit hillside scattered with bleached tree trunks, as though a windstorm had opened the canopy. It would be a pleasant spot to sit with your back against a lodgepole pine and watch chickadees bounce from branch to branch.
The Case for Destroying Old Forest Roads
The Case for Destroying Old Forest Roads By Ben Goldfarb The Smithsonian Magazine February 13, 2024 Category: Forestry Region: United States, US West …The Montana hillside on which ecologist Adam Switalski and I now stood was a prime example of an unglamorous yet powerful tool for protecting our biodiversity—road removal, commonly known as road decommissioning.
Can coexistence with wolves be bought?
ON DEC. 18, DIGNITARIESwatched as five wolves bounded from crates, loped across snow and brittle grass, and vanished into scraggly forest. Tranquilized with darts fired from helicopters in Oregon a day earlier, the quintet had been fitted with tracking collars, flown to Colorado and driven to a remote corner of Grand County, where they became the first wolves released under the state’s voter-led reintroduction program.
Can coexistence with wolves be bought?
ON DEC. 18, DIGNITARIESwatched as five wolves bounded from crates, loped across snow and brittle grass, and vanished into scraggly forest. Tranquilized with darts fired from helicopters in Oregon a day earlier, the quintet had been fitted with tracking collars, flown to Colorado and driven to a remote corner of Grand County, where they became the first wolves released under the state’s voter-led reintroduction program.
The Last Word On Nothing
Years ago, Carol Evans, then a Bureau of Land Management biologist in northeastern Nevada, told me she wanted to write a book called Stream Stories — a series ofvignettesabout the many creeks that webbed her region and defined her career. I have no idea if she’s working on this today (Carol, if you’re reading this, I hope you are!), but it always struck me as a brilliant premise.
Poor Richard’s Books recommends history, road ecology art titles - The Colorado Sun
Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Poor Richard’s Books in Colorado Springs recommends a David Grann historical work, a look at roads’ impact on wildlife and some artistic career guidance. By David Grann Doubleday Books $30 April 2023 Purchase From the publisher: On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil.
Spying on beavers from space
This story was originally published by Wired and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. For the first time in four centuries, it’s good to be a beaver. Long persecuted for their pelts and reviled as pests, the dam-building rodents are today hailed by scientists as ecological saviours. Their ponds and wetlands store water in the face of drought, filter out pollutants, furnish habitat for endangered species and fight wildfires.
National Tropical Botanical Garden
The Outsized Impacts of Roadways on Plants and Animals and What We Can Do to Reconnect Nature By Ben Goldfarb The Kicking Horse Valley, a canyon tucked into Canada’s Yoho National Park, is a challenging place to be an elk. A herd of around two dozen migratory elk spend much of the year in the valley’s confines, grazing meadows and nibbling the shrubs that sprout in rocky avalanche chutes.
Beavers Are Finally the Good Guy, and Scientists Want to Know More
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Beavers are finally the good guy, and scientists want to know more
Ticker for Ad Department Mother Jones Reader Survey Hello Readers and Supporters: As you know, Mother Jones and Reveal merged under the Center for Investigative Reporting umbrella forming a new independent, nonprofit news outlet. This new organization greatly enhances our ability to tell stories across multiple platforms (audio, digital, print, and video). As we grow as a new organization, we’d like to hear from you, so we can better serve your needs.
‘Green roads’ are plowing ahead, buffering drought and floods
This story was originally published by Yale E360 and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Makueni County, a corner of southern Kenya that’s home to nearly a million people, is a land of extremes. Nine months a year, Makueni is a hardened, sun-scorched place where crops struggle and plumes of orange dust billow from dirt roads. Twice yearly, though, the county is battered by weeks of torrential rain, which drown farm fields and transform roads into impassable morasses.
How watching beavers from space can help drought-ridden areas bounce back
For the first time in four centuries, it’s good to be a beaver. Long persecuted for their pelts and reviled as pests, the dam-building rodents are today hailed by scientists as ecological saviors. Their ponds and wetlands store water in the face of drought, filter out pollutants, furnish habitat for endangered species, and fight wildfires. In California, Castor canadensis is so prized that the state recently committed millions to its restoration.
Spying on Beavers From Space Could Help Save California
For the first time in four centuries, it’s good to be a beaver. Long persecuted for their pelts and reviled as pests, the dam-building rodents are today hailed by scientists as ecological saviors. Their ponds and wetlands store water in the face of drought, filter out pollutants, furnish habitat for endangered species, and fight wildfires. In California, Castor canadensis is so prized that the state recently committed millions to its restoration.
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