Feature

The old West is going under

An introduction to HCN's special issue says that the old extractive West is on its deathbed.

Forest Service seeks a new (roadless) road to the future

Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck tries to reform and revive a troubled agency with a long history of being driven by the timber industry.

Timber town opts for water over logs

The small timber town of Detroit, Ore., turns its back on its logging history to protect its watershed from clear-cutting.

An era ends: old industries face reality

Rifle, Colo., offers an example of how Western communities formerly dependent on extractive industries must find a way to adapt to changing socio-economics as the old industries decline.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends

Grand Forks Herald wins Pulitzer; Southwest Center edits HCN story; Writers on the Range; visitors; adieu to San Juan Almanac.

News

Jetboat race withdrawn

A planned jetboat race up and down a 50-mile stretch of the Yellowstone River in Montana is cancelled following a flurry of criticism.

Predator control gets out of control

A plan by the Animal Damage Control Agency (recently renamed Wildlife Services) would allow coyotes to be shot from helicopters, even if the animals are not bothering livestock.

The Wayward West

SUWA's new slogan: "Protect Wild Utah"; Ray and Ron Pene may not mine Westwater Canyon; Wayne Hage sues federal gov't.; Louisiana-Pacific's Dana Dulohery gets five months' jail; Wyo.'s South Pass listed by World Monument Fund as endangered.

Nobody gives a damn about this dam

The Army abandons Red Butte Reservoir in Utah, and leaves no one responsible for the dam, its reservoir and the June sucker fish that live in the water.

Foreign forests keep mills alive

Some mills in Oregon stay busy even as fewer trees are cut in the U.S. by milling imported logs.

Hikes discover a road

Because of a mapping error, the Boise National Forest allows logging in the Snowbank Roadless Area near Cascade, Idaho.

Climbing ban upheld at Devils Tower

A judge upholds the right of the National Park Service to ask rock climbers to stay off Wyoming's Devils Tower during June, when Native Americans hold religious ceremonies.

Judge gives grave-robbers a green light

In Utah, a court rules that state law does not protect Anasazi graves, dismissing charges against a Blanding couple who dug up an Indian burial site while pot hunting.

Delay for the "Oregon way'

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, in an attempt to protect salmon while keeping them off the endangered list, runs into problems when the National Marine Fisheries Service seeks stricter standards.

Hollywood tarts up wildlife films

The 21st International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Mont., tries to showcase wildlife films that are based on good science and do not distort or exploit wildlife.

The latest 1,000-pound gorilla

The American Recreation Coalition, which lobbies for motorized recreation, has become a potent force in the nation's capital as outdoor recreation becomes the dominant natural resource industry, especially in the West.

Essays

Born caged: A new "wild' West

The trend toward private ownership of wildlife - especially game ranching of elk - has dire consequences for both wild animals and the soul of the nation that once protected their wild status.

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

Bears move into Mammoth Lakes, Calif.; cows gorge to death in Wash.; beef cows maligned in Idaho; fighting hog farms in Colo.; hogs stink; PETA tries to save Glacier's fish; April fool stuff; Aspen's woes.

Letters

'In perfect cadence with my heartbeat'

Does Suckling know where he is?

Southwest Center is to Disney as...

There's always more traffic

Suers should feel sheepish

A rising population is the real onslaught

The rural West can't have it both ways

Related Stories

Will Dombeck sock it to rebellious supervisors?

Now retired Forest Supervisor Tom Kovalicky, who tried to restrain the logging on his Nez Perce National Forest, says Mike Dombeck has to break the logging cycle in the agency.

Surrounded by dogs, bikers, developers

Rifle, Colo., rancher Jim Snyder has seen statistics become visible on his own land as the area grows and the economy changes.

Breaking an agency of its old ways

Andy Stahl of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics discusses the problems that plague the agency.

The worker ants keep the agency alive

Forest Service staffer Joyce Whitney describes the problems in the agency that have led her to leave for a post with the BLM.

GAO knocks Forest Service again

The General Accounting Office once again takes the Forest Service to task for inefficiency and waste.