Articles

Wildlife

The Iguanas of Gasparilla Island

It began with a gift.

On a semi-tropical Florida island, a grandfather gives two baby iguanas to his grandson. The lizards grow up in a cage in the back yard, never breeding. When the family moves away from the island, they let the iguanas loose in a park.

Twenty years later, two have become more than ten thousand.

The iguanas have been the topic of several meetings involving Gasparilla Island residents, animal control officers, biologists, and other interested parties. Most of the reports I've read come from one of the local newspapers, the Boca Beacon, and the overall tone was one of frustration and anger. It seemed that many people wanted the iguanas gone, and were willing to do whatever was necessary to accomplish that goal...

Social Justice

Stealing Nevada

Who owns Nevada? The answer depends on who you ask, and competing interests continue to fight for control of the high desert. For the Western Shoshone people, this is "Newe Segobia", their ancestral homeland, lost not to war, but to legal sophistry and theft by possession.

Mean Streets

The place is known as Indian Park — three trees, a city-owned utility dome, and a park bench adorning a tiny triangular patch of ground at the crossing of three inner city streets. To the north, the steel and glass towers of downtown Denver rise above the liquor stores, bars, and homeless shelters that surround the park.