High Country News February 28, 2000
Feature
Acre by acre
The land trust movement is bigger than the earliest groups imagined, but the challenge the 250 Western groups face is even bigger, as development swallows the last open space.
Dear Friends
Dear Friends
Dam-breaching correction; HCN's Robert Hayutin and Three Rivers Land Trust; HCN is 30; Peggy Rawlins.
Uncommon Westerners
Montana loses an environmental leader
Montana State Rep. Ben Cohen, environmentalist, garbageman, actor and outdoorsman, is mourned in Whitefish, Mont.
News
A prof takes on the sacred cow
At the University of Wyoming, Prof. Debra Donahue's book, "The Western Range Revisited," with its criticism of grazing, has provoked fury among ranchers and raised questions about academic freedom.
The Wayward West
Babbitt plans "national landscape monuments"; Phoenix air pollution; Animas-La Plata rises again; Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's ideas on storing nuclear waste; lawsuit over Makah Indians' right to hunt gray whales.
To breach or not to breach
Both sides are surprised when dam-breaching supporters outnumber opponents at public meetings over breaching four Snake River dams to save salmon.
Tribe calls dam a trout trap
In Montana, the Blackfeet Tribe wants to remove a dam on the reservation that is killing endangered St. Mary's River bull trout.
A town defends a peacemaker
Ashland, Ore., rallies to defend consensus-building Forest Service District Ranger Linda Duffy, when she is unexpectedly demoted and reassigned.
A test case on access
Jack and Stephanie McFarland sue when Glacier National Park officials deny them a special permit to snowmobile into their park inholding.
Roadkill keeps the peace
In Washington's Methow Valley, hunters deliver roadkilled deer to six tribes in an agreement in which the tribe agrees to stop hunting in the valley.
What to do about "Frankenfoods'?
Two natural-foods chains - Wild Oats Market and Whole Foods Market - are banning genetically engineered foods from their stores.
BLM signs snatched
San Juan County, Utah, officials are removing "road closed" signs from BLM land in the Grand Gulch area, claiming ownership of the roads.
Dog doesn't get its day
The Fish and Wildlife Service agrees that the black-tailed prairie dog needs protection but decides not to list it as endangered yet.
Tern terror
The Army Corps of Engineers is trying to figure out how to relocate the 10,000 pairs of Caspian terns nesting on Rice Island at the mouth of the Columbia - and eating millions of young salmon.
HCN at 30: The saga begins
High Country News celebrates its 30 years by looking back at the paper's early days in Lander, Wyo.
Tom Bell quotes
Quotes from High Country News' founding father, Tom Bell, show his passion about preserving the West.
Book Reviews
Drain it now, says organization
The Glen Canyon Action Network plans a Restoration Celebration and Rendezvous at Utah's Glen Canyon Dam.
Bovine boondoggle
A special investigative report by the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News says public-lands grazing consumes dollars as well as grass.
Goose eggs in Congress
The League of Conservation Voters gives most Western congress people a poor grade on environmental issues.
Fed-bashing investigated
The Forest Service investigates Gloria Flora's charges of "anti-federal fervor" and employee harassment in Nevada.
Saving the environment saves money
"Green Scissors 2000," a report by a coalition of environmental and taxpayer groups, cites 77 wasteful government programs.
Porta-potties to Posters: Planning Community Events
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Training Academy offers courses for interpreters involved with tourism.
The Murie Center
Grand Teton National Park hosts a gathering to celebrate the legacy of the Muries, July 20-30.
Impressions of Nature, an Internet photography exhibit and auction
American Land Conservancy presents an Internet art show on-line, March 3-31.
High Altitude Revegetation Workshop
Colorado State University presents a High Altitude Revegetation Workshop, March 8-10.
Northwest Wilderness Conference
The Northwest Wilderness Conference, March 31-April 2, will feature David Brower and Polly Dyer as speakers.
10th Annual Spring Conference
The Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts is sponsoring a spring conference in Golden, Colo., April 6-8.
Book says cows don't belong on most BLM lands
Prof. Debra Donahue's book, "The Western Range Revisited: Removing Livestock from Public Lands to Conserve Native Biodiversity," has infuriated Wyoming ranchers.
Heard Around the West
Heard around the West
USFS mulls changing vehicle color; Ariz. couch potatoes slim; Idaho's potato supremacy threatened; San Francisco battles rodeos; Tom Forsythe told to quit photographing Barbie dolls; Aspen fights monster homes; faux fish trophies; what animal?
Letters
One rancher's narrow viewpoint
'Old West' Idaho was better
We're making a new claim on nature
A red herring issue
WTO protesters deserve better
McNeal should be sheepish
Related Stories
A land-trust toolbox
A glossary defines some of the real estate-style concepts behind land trust deals.
'We didn't even know what a land trust was'
Rondal Snodgrass of Sanctuary Forest describes how his land trust group has saved old growth in Northern California.
'We need a whole paradigm shift'
Carla of the McDowell-Sonora Land Trust describes how her group tries to save land near Scottsdale, Ariz.
'Our first focus is the landowner'
Lynne Sherrod of the Colo. Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust talks about how ranchers save open space. Rancher Jay Fetcher came up with the idea of a cattleman's land trust when his family began to look for ways to preserve their Yampa Valley lands.
'We have a stake in the place'
Wendy Ninteman of the Five Valleys Land Trust in Missoula, Mont., talks about the experience of her land trust.
'The growth wasn't organic'
Wendy Fisher of Utah Open Lands talks about how her land trust group began in booming Park City.
Burgers bolster Colorado open space
The Yampa Valley Beef Corp. seeks to protect land near Steamboat Springs, Colo., by selling locally raised beef in the area.
'We still have a ways to go'
Colette Kostelec of the Jefferson Land Trust talks about trying to save land on the Olympic Peninsula near Port Townsend, Wash.
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