Feature

Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply

The new report, "Water in the West: The Challenge for the Next Century," is a remarkably far-sighted federal study that should serve as both a mission statement and a wake-up call about water management in the arid West.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends

Bill McDonald wins MacArthur grant; lively times in Salt Lake City, and the HCN board meeting there; Richard Ingebretsen; wilderness rally in Grand Junction.

News

Locals stand behind an aging dam

The Savage Rapids Dam on Oregon's Rogue River remains standing despite the threatened coho salmon, because local irrigators are determined to save it.

Tribe seeks its key peak

Arizona's Tohono O'odham Indians are pushing for the repatriation of a sacred mountain - Baboquivari Peak - although climbers who want continued access and some environmentalists who worry about tribal overgrazing are questioning the idea.

The Wayward West

GOP promises to end logging subsidies; Olympic National Park bans jetboats; Forest Service bans climbers' metal bolts in wilderness; some upsets in Colorado's primary politics.

More internal fire at the Forest Service

Career agency biologist Renee Galeano-Popp resigns from Lincoln National Forest, becoming another in a series of disillusioned Forest Service employees.

Rancher stonewalls an agency

Rancher Wright Dickenson's overgrazed Pine Mountain allotment in southern Wyoming is at the center of a dispute between the BLM and the National Wildlife Federation.

Trees and children win

Washington conservation groups are seeking to come up with the money to buy Loomis State Forest and thus save it from logging.

Judge disciplines L-P

Louisiana-Pacific is fined $37 million for breaking environmental laws at its Olathe, Colo., waferboard plant, and also for selling a product that did not meet the company's claim.

Forest blowdown causes storm

The Forest Service wants to log about 3,000 acres of a spruce and fir blowdown in Colorado's Routt National Forest, but some environmental groups are opposing the regional forester's decision.

Book Reviews

Restoring the Roaring Fork

The nonprofit Roaring Fork Conservancy seeks to protect the Roaring Fork River Valley in western Colorado.

Lonely Art

An unusual, anonymous art exhibit decorates the old White Buffalo Bar in the decaying town of Cisco, Utah.

Fees please visitors

Land-management agencies say that the new user fees on public land are an "unqualified success" supported by the visitors who are paying them.

But trouble the Mountaineers

The Washington conservation group, the Mountaineers, criticizes the new user fees in Mount Rainier National Park as too steep and confusing.

Motorizing Montana's trails

A report by the Predator Project on the Montana State Trails Program says that agencies give motorized trails the go-ahead without scrutiny.

Utah Wilderness Coalition

Open houses explaining potential wilderness are being held by 155 conservation groups during the summer.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

Open houses and meetings are set to involve the public in upcoming environmental impact statements for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

Wisdom of the West: Designing our Future Together

The Planning Association of Washington is sponsoring a conference on Western planning July 29-31.

Aspen Center for Environmental Studies

A summer of naturalist-guided programs for kids is sponsored by the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies.

Alaska Wildlife Alliance

An Anchorage-based nonprofit promotes public awareness on issues of wildlife protection.

Community Strategic Training Initiative

The 8th annual Community Strategic Training Initiative will be held July 30-Aug. 2 in Portland, Ore., with more than 50 workshops.

Victory for the bull trout

Two populations of bull trout have been listed as threatened in a large area of the Pacific Northwest.

Leeches and cod liver oil

An exhibit at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore., showcases early medicine in the old West.

A lively memoir out of the National Park Service

Bill Everhart's "Take Down Flag & Feed Horses" offers a refreshing view of life with the National Park Service, especially in Yellowstone National Park.

In search of Mount Rainier's power

"The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier" by Bruce Barcott is reviewed.

Essays

In the Sonoran Desert, a lesson already learned

As the aquifer that lies under Scottsdale is steadily emptied to provide water for booming development, Arizonans ought to consider the fate of the pre-Columbian desert Indians, who once also thrived in the area - until their water ran out.

It rhymes with scourge

A Boulder gardener recommends planting native plants because the non-native plants - especially the dreaded donkeytail spurge - can take care of planting themselves.

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

"Green glow" fades in Northwest; Las Vegas street names and theme parks; containing cows in Mont. and Ore.; "Ranger Rick's" cartoon animals dislike mining; reckless speedboats on Lake Mead; homeless man wants backpack returned; heron shot in Tucson.

Letters

Mike Dombeck - as seen from the ground

Entrenched agency culture is hard to change

Wolves deserve protection

Pat Tucker and Bruce Waide respond

Holy hyperbole!

How tamarisk tripped a senator

The same beast stalks the West

It is cruel to fool a fish

Related Stories

This report could destroy irrigated agriculture

In his own words, rancher Patrick O'Toole explains why he dissented from the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission's report.

We wanted to democratize Western water

In her own words, Denise Fort, chair of the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission, defends the water report.