106 — High Country News

Feature

The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land

The EPA's Toxic Releases Inventory report documents the annual industrial pollution of land, air and water in the U.S., with six of the top 10 polluters located in the West.

An off-the-books polluter

A loophole in the Toxics Release Inventory keeps mining pollution, except for that caused by smelters, off its lists.

Dear Friends

Dear friends

Fall interns Katie Fesus and Patrick Dowd; and fall brings coolness and rain to the dry, hot Western Slope.

News

Opal Creek is blowing in the (political) wind

Retiring Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield introduces a bill to protect the old growth of Opal Creek - but some environmentalists have serious reservations about it.

Bombs go up in smoke in a rural Utah county

After 20 years and many delays and false starts, the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah begins incinerating chemical weapons in August.

What goes around, comes around

Nye County, Nev., county-movement leader Dick Manning loses two lawsuits in court.

Do cows become the Prescott?

A Wilderness Society lawsuit charges that the Forest Service violated the law by allowing grazing in the Prescott National Forest without considering whether the forest could handle it.

Multicultural grazing boards off to a good start

The BLM's Resource Advisory Committees appointed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt help to ease tension and begin consensus among ranchers and environmentalists.

Grazing bill returns for another round

A bill sponsored by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., would reinstate rancher-dominated grazing advisory boards, phase out Resource Advisory Committees, and keep grazing fees low.

It's the grizzlies and the birds, stupid

President Clinton may lack the poetry to articulate the irrational, aesthetic love for nature that truly lies behind environmentalism.

Utahns roar over lion hunt

The Utah Wildlife Board greatly increases the number of mountain lions hunters are allowed to kill.

A summer of smoke and ashes

Marines and Army soldiers help firefighters in the most intense fire season since 1969.

Book Reviews

Tourism summit

A conference, "Seeking Common Ground," is held Sept. 24-26 in Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Two reports set the stage for Sierra Nevada's future

Reviews of "Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project Report" and "Sierra Nevada Wealth Index."

Bear with us

Review of "Bear Aware: Hiking and Camping in Bear Country" by Bill Schneider.

Low cost legal aid

The Project for Participatory Democracy has put out "A Guide to Citizen Law Enforcement: Fighting Environmental Crime at Facilities of the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense."

Recycling gets rapped

The Environmental Defense Fund pamphlet, "Anti-Recycling Myths," responds to a New York Times article denouncing recycling.

Getting Beneath the Surface of Public Lands Issues

The Foundation for American Communications' conference, "Getting Beneath the Surface of Public Lands Issues," held Oct. 4-6 in Englewood, Colo.

Conservation and Conservatism: Reflections on clean water

"Conservation and Conservatism: Reflections on clean water," held Sept. 21, in Three Forks, Mont.

Bear of the Land, Bull of the River: Protecting Ecosystem Indicator Species

Alliance for the Wild Rockies holds its 11th annual rendezvous on Sept. 27-29 in Corvallis, Mont.

Essays

Choose not to go boldly outdoors

The writer suggests that Westerners start a sabbatical for the land - letting it rest entirely sometimes from hiking and other recreation.

Heard Around the West

The Cody, Wyo., "Boobyprise"; Andy Kerr a controversial columnist for Oregon's "Wallowa Chieftain"; Immigration raids disrupt Jackson, Wyo., tourist season; unexpected balloon adventure in Vail, Colo.; grizzly that mauled a man in Glacier Nat'l Park.