Habitats

If you want to give zip-lining a try, your Southern California options are plentiful. Most have physical requirements participants must meet, so be sure to call or check the website before you book. Catalina Zip Line Eco Tour: This two-hour aerial tour of Catalina Island is comprised of five zip lines, and guides provide information about local wildlife and history along the way. Tours leave 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. From Jan. 1 through May 24 and fromSept.

When the upcoming comedy "The Hangover Part III" wrapped production in January, Warner Bros. was left with tons of used plywood, joists, furniture, faux brick and other materials from the film set. But instead of hauling the leftovers to the landfill, the studio donated the items - enough to fill 10 truckloads - to the charitable organization Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, to be sold in Habitat's stores in Gardena and Norwalk....

After an intense public outcry, Las Vegas officials are shying away from plans to kill desert tortoises not adopted or relocated within five days after being found on properties slated for development. Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said Friday he will introduce a resolution at the next Board of Commissioners meeting to scrap the option of euthanizing tortoises. The board is likely to approve the proposal at its Sept. 17 meeting, commissioners said.

An environmental group has warned that a federal agency's plan to designate 98.4 acres as critical habitat for an endangered plant in western Riverside County is inadequate and could result in the extinction of the species. In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this month designated the small area just west of Lake Elsinore as critical habitat for Munz's onion. The wildlife agency also rejected the center's request for it to protect habitat for the endangered San Jacinto Valley crownscale, which inhabits portions of the San Jacinto River flood plain near Hemet.

Not in 18 years has a sport hunter legally shot and killed a California mountain lion--a secretive, nocturnal predator that inhabits terrain as disparate as the eastern desert, the Sierra Nevada's snowy slopes and the coastal oak woodlands of Los Angeles and Orange counties. In 1987, the state Department of Fish and Game tried to reintroduce limited hunting of the animals, whose population statewide was estimated to have grown to about 5,100.

Travelers can go rolling on a river without leaving land at a new theme park that opened this week in Singapore . River Safari, the newest addition to Wildlife Reserves Singapore , showcases eight of the world's best known river habitats, including those of the Mississippi, Nile, Mekong, Yangtze and Amazon rivers. The park is home to 5,000 animals, including one of the world's largest collections of freshwater animals. “We look forward to bringing visitors up close to the fascinating wildlife that live in river habitats, which are disappearing faster than forest and marine environments,” said Claire Chiang, chair of Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

Regarding "All Aflutter," by Emily Green (June 26): You should be aware of two butterfly resources located on the Westside: The UCLA Botanical Gardens has recently featured its butterfly and hummingbird section in its newsletter; and the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area has transformed a canyon into a butterfly-hummingbird habitat. Mike Hillman Culver City

Manatees may rank lower than traditional military menaces like torpedoes or air-to-sea missiles. But a proposal to protect additional habitat for the deceptively gentle, sea-grass-munching creatures could, according to the U.S. Navy, end up reducing habitat for destroyers, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service soon will make a decision on whether to expand what's called critical habitat for the manatee in Florida and southern Georgia, in response to a petition from several environmental groups.

Recent news articles reported a search for natural habitats that could be improved or built to offset the destruction of wetlands by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Among habitats being considered are new artificial reefs off the local coastline, but such reefs do not meet federal and state criteria and do not compete with tide pools in the production of flora and fauna. The best habitat to reconstruct is the beach, tidal and sub-tidal areas in the Abalone Cove-Portuguese Bend landslide areas.

Specifications of a 182,000-acre habitat for the arroyo toad were published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, ensuring protection for the endangered species in parts of eight Central and Southern California counties. Approval had been held up briefly by the Bush administration's review of last-minute federal actions taken during President Bill Clinton's tenure.

Travelers can go rolling on a river without leaving land at a new theme park that opened this week in Singapore . River Safari, the newest addition to Wildlife Reserves Singapore , showcases eight of the world's best known river habitats, including those of the Mississippi, Nile, Mekong, Yangtze and Amazon rivers. The park is home to 5,000 animals, including one of the world's largest collections of freshwater animals. “We look forward to bringing visitors up close to the fascinating wildlife that live in river habitats, which are disappearing faster than forest and marine environments,” said Claire Chiang, chair of Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration Tuesday announced a nationwide plan to help wildlife adapt to threats from climate change. Developed along with state and tribal authorities, the strategy seeks to preserve species as global warming alters their historical habitats and, in many cases, forces them to migrate across state and tribal borders. Over the next five years, the plan establishes priorities for what will probably be a decades-long effort. One key proposal is to create wildlife "corridors" that would let animals and plants move to new habitats.

A state regulatory agency Wednesday said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to obtain a required permit before it removed 43 acres of wildlife habitat in the Sepulveda Basin and filled in a pond used by migrating waterfowl. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board has directed the Army Corps to provide information by Feb. 11 about its decision to eliminate woodlands and potentially foul the Los Angeles River with sediment. Sepulveda Basin is an engineered flood control zone for the river.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has once again revised critical habitat for the southwestern willow flycatcher, an endangered migratory bird that has been the subject of two decades of legal wrangling. The new habitat designation, issued Jan. 2, covers 208,973 acres along 1,227 miles of rivers and streams in six states, including California. A response to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, the new designation is a significant increase over the previous two but less than the 2,090 miles the agency proposed last year.

Two state senators on Thursday called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to explain its decision to plow under 43 acres of lush wildlife habitat at the Sepulveda Basin without prior notice or coordination with community leaders and environmentalists. Sens. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) asked for details about what led to the agency's declaration in August that its "vegetation management plan" for the area did not require an environmental impact report because it would not significantly disturb wildlife and habitat.

An area that just a week ago was lush habitat on the Sepulveda Basin's wild side, home to one of the most diverse bird populations in Southern California, has been reduced to dirt and broken limbs - by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Audubon Society members stumbled upon the barren landscape last weekend during their annual Christmas bird count. Now, they are calling for an investigation into the loss of about 43 acres of cottonwood and willow groves, undergrowth and marshes that had maintained a rich inventory of mammals, reptiles and 250 species of birds.

A contingent of officials, biologists and staff members from two state and federal wildlife agencies visited Ahmanson Ranch on Friday to examine the habitat of a rare flower and an endangered frog on the site of a proposed housing project. The tour of the Ventura County property where a long-debated, 3,050-home development is proposed by Washington Mutual preceded an expected decision by the U.S.

A state Senate committee Thursday delayed for a week its decision on funding for a controversial state program to protect the habitat of the California gnatcatcher. State Sen. Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield) said Thursday that the Wilson Administration's new conservation program is worthwhile and suggested that the Senate fund $1.5 million. The chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, Sen.

State scientists, grappling with an explosion of marijuana growing on the North Coast, recently studied aerial imagery of a small tributary of the Eel River, spawning grounds for endangered coho salmon and other threatened fish. In the remote, 37-square-mile patch of forest, they counted 281 outdoor pot farms and 286 greenhouses, containing an estimated 20,000 plants -- mostly fed by water diverted from creeks or a fork of the Eel. The scientists determined the farms were siphoning roughly 18 million gallons from the watershed every year, largely at the time when the salmon most need it. "That is just one small watershed," said Scott Bauer, the state scientist in charge of the coho recovery on the North Coast for the Department of Fish and Game.

The U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton care most about two things: keeping America safe and saving a thumb-sized mouse from extinction. In rugged terrain used in a training exercise known as the Crucible, for instance, food- and sleep-deprived Marine Corps recruits push themselves through simulated combat stress scenarios - and try to avoid disturbing the Pacific pocket mouse, a critically endangered animal that clings to existence by its tiny, sharp...