Feature

Chaos comes to Costilla County

Costilla County, Colorado's attempts to rein in logging and gain access to the Taylor Ranch their Hispanic forebears used as a commons are frustrated by a wave of mostly Anglo newcomers who want no part of any planning regulations.

The Cowboy State gets shook up by 100,000 hogs

Local activists in Wheatland, Wyo., band together to fight an industrial hog farm that would produce 100,000 pigs a year - and a lot of unpleasant products.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends

Please send correct addresses; thank you, Erwin and Peggy Bauer, for donating photos; Anne and George Norris and deer in the dinette in Somerset; in other news, and visitors.

News

The system cuts a new chief down to size

New Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck and his plans for agency reform face slow going on a rough road filled with obstacles.

Dear Michael Dombeck

Biologists and botanists from 30 different forests have written a letter to new Chief Michael Dombeck, saying the agency's ability to achieve its conservation goals is seriously hampered by budget cuts.

Sierra Club Foundation vs. Ray Graham III: the case that won't die

Ray Graham's lawsuit against the Sierra Club Foundation, over money he donated that was never used to buy grazing land in New Mexico for Hispanic shepherds, faces a third fight in San Francisco.

Rumble in the watershed

A watershed council, formed to manage Idaho's South Fork of the Snake River, is in trouble because it refused to allow environmentalists to be represented in the group.

Tell it to the judge

Ninety-five species of Southwestern wildlife, proposed over a year ago for listing as endangered, still have not been evaluated.

Forester retreats on grazing rules

Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Bill LeVere, under pressure from Idaho's congressional delegation, withdraws his controversial grazing rules.

The roads less funded

A bill before Congress would end funding for new logging roads in national forests.

Condors soar once more over the Southwest

Fifteen California condors have been released in Arizona's Vermillion Cliffs, 70 years after the last one had been seen in the region.

Will the bison killing resume next winter?

After half of Yellowstone's bison were slaughtered in Montana last winter over fears of brucellosis disease, the debate remains unresolved and the killing could easily continue next year.

The slaughter of bison reopens old wounds

Rosalie Little Thunder was arrested for physically confronting the bison slaughter outside Yellowstone, while other Native Americans, equally concerned, propose to re-establish bison herds on reservation land, using otherwise doomed animals.

Book Reviews

Who'll run Hanford Reach?

Washington Sen. Patty Murray wants to keep the free-flowing, undammed Hanford Reach - the last stretch of the Columbia - free-flowing under federal management.

The road to no sprawl

Colorado Commons and its new quarterly of the same name seek to be a voice for sane, environmentally sound planning in the state.

Threatened Rivers

Five of the 10 most endangered rivers are in the West, according to American Rivers' annual report.

Solstice Institute

The nonprofit Solstice Institute holds a first-day-of-summer celebration June 21 in Boulder, Colo.

Summer Wilderness Conference

A double celebration, Wilderness Watch's Summer Wilderness Conference and the annual gathering of the Association of Literature and the Environment converge on Missoula, Mont., July 17-20.

Rising From Tradition

The work of nine Native American artists from Idaho, Oregon and Washington will be on display at the High Desert Museum, titled "Rising From Tradition: Contemporary Native Art from the Plateau."

How the West was destroyed

"The Lochsa Story: Land Ethics in the Bitterroot Mountains" by Bud Moore is reviewed.

Essays

Lessons from a rampaging river

The flood and fire that hit Grand Forks, N.D., when the Red River rose, raise a hard question: Why must communities face catastrophe before people come together as a "we"?

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

True story of balloon-powered lawn chair; owning Redstone Castle not cheap; illegal pool-building in Aspen; anti-hunting T-shirts; prairie dog hunting B&B; cyberspace riddles; Frosty the freezer dog; Wash.'s road or religious sign; Chenoweth's baloney.

Letters

Two tales of a single county

Paul Larmer responds

This land is our land

Wanted: More road on the rim

Related Stories

'I saved Jack Taylor's life'

In his own words, San Luis mayor and saloon-owner Joe Espinoza talks about the community's problems with the Taylor Ranch owners.

The last undiscovered place in Colorado

Developer Evan Melby in his own words talks about his plans for building a subdivision in Costilla County.

The West's lax rules draw hog factories

Factory hog farms that met resistance in the East and Midwest are moving West, drawn by lax regulations.

Hogs and a small town co-exist

A smaller hog farm in Albin, Wyo., is more or less welcome in the community, because the owner is local.