Feature

Living out the trailer dream

One in six Westerners now lives in a trailer, but this traditionally affordable housing can become an expensive trap, as tougher zoning pushes trailers into crowded parks with ever-increasing rents and regulations.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends

Summer visitors; mountain climber Winifred "Freddy" Hubbard at Standford in the 1940s.

News

Crash kills a conservation deal

A conservation easement planned to preserve the Bob Sharp ranch in Arizona's San Rafael Valley from development falls through when the ranch family decides to put their land up for sale.

Big mines leave a big mess

South Dakota tells Brohm Mining that the company cannot walk away from its gold mine in the Black Hills without cleaning up the mess it's made.

Salmon plan can't stand alone

Gov. John Kitzhaber's "Oregon Plan" isn't enough to save the dwindling coho salmon, but some hope the spirit of the planned recovery effort will remain strong enough to keep the timber industry cooperative.

Who will be the president?

Navajo Nation Pres. Thomas Atcitty, who replaced Albert Hale, is dismissed after only five months in office, and his replacement, Speaker Kelsey Begaye, is replaced 24 hours later by Vice President Milton Bluehouse, as appointed by the tribal council.

The Wayward West

Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Mgmt. Project may die in four months; Supreme Court overrules 13 cases decided by 9th Circuit Court; Summo USA drops mining claims in N.M.; Mont.'s McDonald gold mine is in paperwork limbo; Atlas uranium tailings remain.

Grab your place in paradise

In Montana, the Church Universal and Triumphant decides to sell 3,000 acres of the Paradise Valley.

Prairie dogs get a cease-fire

Local business owners and prairie dog shooters object to the Forest Service's decision to close South Dakota's Buffalo Gap National Grasslands to prairie dog shooting.

Not so hog wild in Colorado

A citizens' ballot initiative would crack down on pollution and other problems caused by industrial hog farms in Colorado.

Mining the crown jewels

The 1872 Mining Law may allow the Rainbow Talc Mine to resume operations, despite the mine's location in a wilderness area of California's Death Valley National Park.

Tribe wins a third of a lake

A federal court rules that Idaho's Coeur d'Alene tribe owns the southern third of Lake Coeur d'Alene, as well as 20 miles of the St. Joe River.

Book Reviews

Grand planning at the canyon

Some object to the Forest Service's plan to build a new town for tourists right outside of Grand Canyon National Park.

Birds bridge borders

The group Partners in Flight tries to stem the decline in the migrating bird populations of North and South America.

Pat Schroeder: Tougher than Teflon

Recently retired Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., has written a memoir titled "24 Years of House Work... And the Place is Still a Mess: My Life in Politics."

You can eat the scenery

The Wilderness Society issues a report, "The New Challenge: People, Commerce and the Environment in the Yellowstone to Yukon Region."

More than pretty parks

"Beyond the National Parks," edited by Mary Tisdale and Bibi Booth, is a guide to BLM public lands in the West.

Litigating Regulatory Takings Claims

A conference, "Litigating Regulatory Takings Claims," will discuss the right of the government to regulate private property, among other topics.

Wild Rockies Rendezvous

Conservationists will meet at a wildlife refuge in Corvallis, Mont., for "Wild Rockies Rendezvous," Sept. 18-20.

Water at the Confluence of Science, Law and Public Policy

The Tucson Chapter of the Arizona Hydrological Society is holding a symposium, "Water at the Confluence of Science, Law and Policy," Sept. 23-26.

Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts

Land conservationists will meet Sept. 24-26 in Palisade, Colo., for the "Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts."

Lynx as "endangered'

The Predator Project wants comments on a proposed listing of the lynx as "endangered."

Battle Mountain Gold Mine

Opponents of the proposed Battle Mountain Gold Mine in Okanogan Highlands in Washington state plan to send Congress a message in a bottle.

Essays

An American dream gets evicted

When 39 families are evicted from their Edwards, Colo., trailer park to make way for a luxury condo development, it's a sign that property is more important than community.

Forest Service pulls anchor ban out of thin air

A rock climber argues that the Forest Service's recent ban on "permanent, fixed anchors" in wilderness areas is unreasonable, unnecessary and unsafe.

In wilderness, don't phone home

Hikers who bring their cell phones into the wilderness, either for ease of rescue or instant access to the rest of the world, are missing the point of wilderness.

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

Ruth Thomas bicycles across U.S.; dead doe delivers living fawn; toddler lost overnight on Mt. Graham; combines vandalized in Lind, Wash.; indecent exposure in Moscow, Idaho; woman invades men's room; mountain lions stalk kids; Yellowstone grizzly fever.

Letters

Bicycling and wilderness: It's not a simple matter

Global economics swing the West

Wyoming likes what it's got

Wyoming reporter was biased

It still rhymes with scourge

Related Stories

The trailer evolves

A timeline tracks the evolution of the not-always-mobile mobile home.

The high end of home economics: Aspen's trophy home phenomenon

The cost of a lot in Aspen, Colo., especially with a trophy home sitting on it, has become astronomical in a resort rated the richest city in the country.