Feature

Is trapping doomed?

Wildlife trapping - which has a long history in the West - today comes into fierce conflict with environmentalists, animal advocates, and residents upset by the risk traps pose to domestic dogs.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends

Trash patrol; Elizabeth Manning and Westwater Canyon; visitors; corrections.

News

Gold mine capsizes in Westwater Canyon

Rafters and environmentalists rejoice because the federal government orders the removal of Ron Pene's controversial gold mine in Utah's Westwater Canyon.

No go for a gold mine

The controversial Battle Mountain gold mine in Okanogan, Wash., is denied a plan of operations because - ironically - the mine fails to meet the requirements of the 1872 Mining Law.

The Wayward West

No refuge for prairie dogs in Baca County, CO; Zortman and Landusky gold mines reclamation; pipe bomb for Forest Guardians in Santa Fe; legislation fails to derail Mont. anti-cyanide initiative; judge says Yellowstone broke law in bio-prospecting deal.

Charting the course of the San Pedro

An international environmental commission joins the debate on how to protect the San Pedro River in southern Arizona, where rapid growth has increased the pressure on the desert river.

Now, salmon in the backyard

The listing of salmon and steelhead under the Endangered Species Act is forcing communities like Bellevue, Wash., to take action to protect fish habitat.

Montana won't bend for bison

Despite word from the federal government that bison do not threaten cattle with brucellosis, Montana continues to crack down on stray animals and arrest protesters.

Web hosts faux greens

The Idaho Conservation League is furious because a pro-timber industry group has set up a Web site with a very similar name and an opposing message.

The new voice at BLM

Dallas lawyer Thomas A. Fry III is appointed acting director of BLM.

Nuclear waste dump opens

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant outside Carlsbad, N.M., receives its first truckload of nuclear debris as anti-nuclear activists continue to protest.

Strangling the Last Best River

The Yellowstone River is still the longest undammed river in the Lower 48, but miles of riprap on its banks lock the river into a channel that is more a rain gutter than a free-flowing river.

Book Reviews

A history of how a grassroots rebellion won a water war

Peter Carrels' "Uphill Against Water: The Great Dakota Water War" is a shocking story of how bureaucracy destroyed rural economies and indigenous people, all in the name of progress.

Hot Topics in Natural Resources

University of Colorado Law School lecture series on "Hot Topics in Natural Resources" April 16 and May 4 on the Boulder campus.

Preserving Our Rural Landscape

Montana Audubon annual meeting will focus on "Preserving Our Rural Landscape," April 23-25, in Helena.

Dr. Jane Goodall

Primate expert Dr. Jane Goodall speaks on "Chimpanzees: So like us," April 27 in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

A River of Dreams and Realities

Arkansas River Basin Water Forum, "A River of Dreams and Realities," will be held April 23-24 in Canon City, Colo.

Desert Conference

Desert wildlands activists will discuss grazing reform at the 21st annual Desert Conference, April 29-May 2, in southeastern Oregon.

Earle A. Chiles Award

The High Desert Museum calls for nominations for the 1999 Earle A. Chiles Award for thoughtful management of natural and cultural resources of the High Desert.

Wyoming Wildlife Federation

Wyoming Wildlife Federation's 53rd annual meeting will be held May 15-16 in Story, Wyo.

Draining Lake Powell

Colorado College hosts a debate about draining Lake Powell, April 21, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Nothing is everything

"Travelers in an Antique Land" pairs poetry by William Studebaker with photographs by Russell Hepworth.

Essays

Saint Contrary: John Wesley Powell

John Wesley Powell, who was a Civil War hero, scientist and geographer, as well as the explorer who first rafted the length of the Colorado River, could be the West's unofficial patron saint, a flawed and human saint whose ideas still challenge us today.

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

Speed limits return to Mont.; chic camouflage; salmon too pooped to procreate; coyote killed by snowmobile in Idaho; prairie dogs are pets in Japan; Dave Barry and DIA; Utah's Burr Trail; bivy sack controversy in "Mountaineers"; hand cannon at gun show.

Related Stories

Trapping in the United States

A timeline traces the history of animal trapping in the United States from Pre-Columbian days until now.

A Wyoming trapper seeks pelts, and beauty

A profile of Wyoming trapper Tom Lucas offers insight into an old-fashioned but very controversial lifestyle

In the "90s, trapping still has a role

Some say that animal trapping is still necessary for predator control and other specific wildlife problems.