Ray Ring
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Ranchers sour on Canadian gas plant
Alberta, Canada, ranchers are frustrated by the government's lack of oversight of the proliferating sour-gas plants that some say harm health and livestock.
by Ray Ring, Oct 08, 2001 -
Saving the Platte
Environmentalists, farmers and state and federal agencies try to find some kind of consensus even as each reaches for a share of the overused Platte River as it flows from Colorado, through Wyoming and across Nebraska.
by Ray Ring, Feb 01, 1999 -
Can tailings piles be historic artifacts?
Some say the often-picturesque ruins of mining create a historical landscape that has value whether there is pollution or not.
by Ray Ring, Jan 19, 1998 -
Summitville: an expensive lesson
The story of Colorado's Summitville Mine is a story of spectacular failures.
by Ray Ring, Jan 19, 1998 -
A few plants love mine waste
Plant physiologist Ray Brown works to help mining-damaged ecosystems recover - with the help of a few hardy plant species.
by Ray Ring, Jan 19, 1998 -
This heavy-metal collection includes a shovel that dug the Panama Canal
Lloyd Harkins, who spent his early years working in Montana mines, now devotes himself to salvaging and collecting the industrial paraphernalia of hardrock mining, from ore cars to a 78-ft. tall head frame.
by Ray Ring, Jan 19, 1998 -
All the king's horses and all the king'smen...
The reclamation of Montana's hardrock mines will cost billions, and is complicated by the fact that no one really knows how to do it, or who should foot the bill.
by Ray Ring, Jan 19, 1998 -
A radical approach to mine reclamation
The Sunnyside Mine near Silverton, Colo., is an unusual example of a community working together with miners and environmentalists to find a strategy to heal the damage.
by Ray Ring, Jan 19, 1998 -
Turning the Old West into the New West
The old mining town of Anaconda, Mont., has turned a mine dump into a designer golf course.
by Ray Ring, Jan 19, 1998 -
Jell-O and suicides
A look at odd statistics in the West includes a few surprises.
by Ray Ring, Aug 18, 1997 -
If a town is more dead than alive, it's the Old West
Musing on the gravestones in Anaconda, Mont., a writer theorizes that one can tell whether a town is Old West or New West by the ratio of the buried to the currently alive inhabitants.
by Ray Ring, Aug 18, 1997 -
Chet Huntley's legacy includes suppression of a free press
The preferential treatment Big Sky gives the pro-resort Lone Peak Lookout over the independent Big Sky Bugle is an ironic legacy for a hard-hitting journalist like Chet Huntley to leave.
by Ray Ring, Mar 31, 1997 -
Armies of skiers are coming to Yellowstone
Seven ski resorts ring Yellowstone National Park and add to the pressure on a fragile ecosystem.
by Ray Ring, Mar 31, 1997 -
Touring the future on Insta-Teller Road
A computerized key-pad locked road in Big Sky epitomizes a ski resort where the "haves" are carefully kept from the trespassing "have nots."
by Ray Ring, Mar 31, 1997 -
How Huntley sold Big Sky to Montana
Big Sky founding father and famous TV newsman Chet Huntley started the resort but did not live to see what he created.
by Ray Ring, Mar 31, 1997 -
Big Sky above, private land below
Former Big Sky ski patrolman J.C. Knaub in his own words describes the difficulties faced in trying to bring neighborhood parks and trails to Big Sky.
by Ray Ring, Mar 31, 1997 -
Big Sky, big mess in Montana
A Montana ski resort originally created by newsman Chet Huntley and intended to be a model of free-market, unconstrained development, is today a morass of lawsuits, environmental degradation and inefficiency.
by Ray Ring, Mar 31, 1997 -
The bigger the mine, the better the deal
Land swaps, like the one planned to save land near Yellowstone National Park from mining, are a bad habit with a bad history in Montana's national forests.
by Ray Ring, Sep 30, 1996 -
He stuffs what they kill
Taxidermist John Stevenson discovers the art and craft of taxidermy.
by Ray Ring, Dec 11, 1995 -
Unarmed but dangerous critics close in on hunting
Hunting in the West faces public relations problems as well as questions about ethical and biological issues.
by Ray Ring, Dec 11, 1995
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