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High Country News September 14, 1998
Feature
We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
In the leading article of this essay issue, a writer says that nature writing is about much more than nature - it is about community, morality, character and hope as well.
News
Between an oil lease and a hard place
The BLM is in the middle of a mess it created when it sold oil and gas rights in New Mexico's Bisti/De-Na-Zin wilderness before it became a wilderness.
A county in Nevada assaults a river
Elko County, Nev., commissioners take on the Forest Service over repairing and re-opening a road by the Jarbidge River, which the agency closed to protect the Jarbidge bull trout.
Headwaters deal gets tougher
Working on the bill that would protect the old-growth redwood Headwaters grove, the California Legislature adds tougher environmental standards for the land surrounding the trees, also owned by Pacific Lumber.
The Wayward West
Peregrine falcon goes off Endangered Species list; other listed species now extinct; Audubon Society appeals judge's decision to remove wolves in Idaho; Calif. pays $9 million for poisoning Lake Davis; Kelsey Begaye runs for Navajo Nation's president.
In the flatter parts of Montana, some ranchers fence out subdivisions
Rancher Jerry Townsend, concerned about growth elsewhere in Montana, puts almost all of his 2,500-acre ranch into a conservation easement, with the help of the Montana Land Reliance.
Citizens tackle a mining company
Basin Resources, a coal-mining company, is ordered to pay $160,000 to a couple who claim the mine damaged their second home.
A community seeks to feed its own
Tribal elder Laverne Brown donates seven acres to Wind River Indian Reservation to be used for a community garden.
Proposed land trade riles Crested Butte
Environmentalists say that a land exchange that would give 500 acres of Forest Service land to Crested Butte Mountain Resort in exchange for inholdings and other land is skewed in favor of the ski resort.
Salvo over salmon
Environmentalists and nearby Indian tribes blame McNary Dam's complicated salmon collection and barging procedure for the recent death of 145,000 young salmon.
On The Trail: Election 1998
Democrat John Vinich will run against Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer; Utah hunters create an initiative, Proposition Five, to prevent future anti-hunting laws; in Oregon, Measure 64 would ban clear-cutting on both public and private land.
Dreams of new industry go up in smoke
Dakota Catalyst Products shuts its Williston, N.D., metals recycling plant, leaving behind an environmental mess that is just now becoming public.
Southwest cows have friends in high places
Alaska Republican Don Young puts pressure on Southwest Regional Forester Eleanor Towns to reveal which of her staffers may have ties to environmental groups.
Back from the brink
The pallid sturgeon, a prehistoric fish, is teetering on the brink of extinction, with only 250 still living in the Upper Missouri River.
Book Reviews
Gateways to good growth
The book, "Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities," by Jim Howe, Ed McMahon and Luther Propst is reviewed.
Researching the big picture
The National Park Service is sponsoring the 10th anniversary resource stewardship symposium on Oct. 1-3 at New Mexico's El Malpais National Monument.
Snowmobilers see red
Lolo National Forest wants to ban snowmobiles on 140,000 roadless acres of the Bitterroot Crest on the Idaho-Montana border.
Wilderness Horizons: An Interdisciplinary Wilderness Conference
The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute celebrates its namesake's 100th birthday with "Wilderness Horizons: An Interdisciplinary Conference," Sept. 24-26.
The Oregon Natural Desert Association
The annual meeting of the Oregon Natural Desert Association takes place Sept. 26-27 near Fossil, Ore.
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Great Old Broads' ninth Wilderness Conference will take place Oct. 10-11 in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.
Research and Resource Management of Parks and Public Lands
The George Wright Society is calling for papers for its 10th confereence next spring, with topics related to research, resource management and education in protected areas.
Conference on Environmental Protection and Growth Management in the West
The first annual Conference on Environmental Protection and Growth Management in the West will include speaker Ian L. McHarg, author of "Design With Nature," Oct. 23-24 at the University of Denver.
Society for Ecological Restoration
The Northwest chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration's conference will focus on broad-based salmon recovery efforts, Oft. 28-30, in Tacoma, Wash.
Most Endangered Places List
Colorado Preservation, Inc., has published its Most Endangered Places List, with Colorado's gaming towns in number one position.
Community Efforts on the World Wide Web
In rural Boulder, Colo., a group known as PUMA protects the rural qualities of the Magnolia area by publicizing its efforts on the World Wide Web.
The Sonoran Institute
The Sonoran Institute has launched a Web site to allow diverse communities from across the U.S. to share their experiences in managing growth.
Learning from Innovations in Environmental Protection: A Call for Ideas and Potential Researchers
Congress has commissioned a two-year investigation to find out how the Environmental Protection Agency can be more effective.
Forget the theories, and instead look at people's faces
An excerpt from Charles Bowden's book, "Juarez: The Laboratory of Our Future," argues that the terrible poverty, crime and injustice in the border city of Juarez is a vision we cannot ignore.
Essays
Worn shoes, cattle and a spring
A Forest Service ranger struggles to balance his responsibilities to the land, the wildlife, and the ranchers whose cattle graze on public land.
A polygamist of place: The tradition of the Eastern Westerner
A writer is torn between his love and loyalty for two very different landscapes - the East Coast's Cape Cod and the mountains of Colorado.
Longtime foes practice ritual combat in an Idaho forest
The writer goes to central Idaho to visit the heart of the longest-standing Earth First! demonstration, protesting the Cove-Mallard timber sale.
Heard Around the West
Heard around the West
Bart the Buffalo runs wild in Tucson; too many prisons; bicyclist bumped by bruin in Glacier; condors visit Colorado; "toad patrol" rescues toads on highways.
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