High Country News May 13, 2002
Feature
Beyond ecology: Restoring a cultural landscape
Inhabiting a parcel of land in Montana's Bitterroot Valley demands a specific responsibility, according to the writer, who attempts ecological restoration on his piece of ground, to help bring back the West's rich biological diversity.
Dear Friends
Dear Friends
Restoring the West is not simple; summer interns; correction on location of Sand Creek Massacre; HCN goes four-color on surveys; visitors.
Writers on the Range
The Old West went that-a-way
Encouraged by an East Coast editor, the writer gives her outspoken opinion of the "Real West," and the editor turns it down.
News
Does desert cross cross the line?
A cross placed on Mojave National Preserve by Veterans of Foreign Wars as a memorial is the center of controversy between the National Park Service and the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims it violates the separation of church and state.
Property rights reined in
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled April 23 that property owners at Lake Tahoe are not entitled to compensation for a moratorium in 1981 on new building that was created to protect Lake Tahoe's blue waters from erosion runoff.
Spilling salt into rivers
The Southern Ute Tribe is upset with Colorado state officials for issuing a permit to allow two coalbed-methane wells to spill polluted water into the Florida River, upstream from the tribe.
Dredging up debate
Port of Portland officials and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers want to dredge the Columbia River, but a series of articles in The Oregonian reveals major flaws in the plan, resulting in a controversial exchange between dredgers and critics.
Bison under the gun - again
Following the killing of 170 bison outside Yellowstone last winter, the Buffalo Field Campaign is suing the Montana Dept. of Livestock and the Forest Service, alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act.
The Latest Bounce
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers puts Columbia River projects on hold after criticism on cost benefits; a 1,465-acre parcel that is part of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site has been turned over to Indian tribes in Oklahoma; Congress refuses
Energy boom's forward guard stalls out in Utah ... for now
Developing energy at any cost appears to be the Bush administration's strategy as they send "thumper trucks" into southern Utah to carry out seismic detection of oil deposits.
Land board says, 'Look before you lease'
The rush to develop methane on Wyoming's public lands hits a speed bump as the Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals agrees with environmental groups that the BLM used inadequate studies when issuing leases for coalbed-methane drilling.
Landmark timber deal stops Seattle sprawl
Overwhelmed by development in this bedroom community near Seattle, the town of Snoqualmie finds an ally in the Evergreen Forest Trust, which has purchased a huge tree farm that will enable logging to continue, and block sprawl.
Bush takes a swing at community forestry
Hit hard by reduced federal timber harvests, Pacific Northwest communities now learn that President Bush wants to eliminate the $12.5 million Forest Service budget that would have assisted them with fire season and watershed restoration.
New hope for abandoned mines
U.S. Reps. Mark Udall (D) and Bob Schaffer (R) of Colorado propose an amendment to the Clean Water Act to offer good Samaritans protection from liability in cleaning up abandoned hardrock mines and their polluted streams.
History's Lesson: Build another Noah's Ark
Paul Larmer interviews Wildlands Project biologist Michael Soule.
New monuments: Planning by numbers
The Interior Department's decision to go ahead and manage the new monuments established by Clinton raises cautious optimism among the environmental fraternity - the caution due to Norton's emphasis on local involvement: miners, grazers and motorheads, for
Book Reviews
The Natural West
Dan Flores' book, "The Natural West: Environmental History in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains," points out that North America's ancient past is littered with destroyed species.
Essays
Where free trade is more than an acronym
Pulling onions alongside a Mexican field worker, the writer describes the hard work and meager pay for a product that will sell for 50 times what workers are paid.
Heard Around the West
Heard around the West
Duct tape saves flight from a Montana airport to Minneapolis; Boulder, Colo., the next People's Republic?; irate Thompson Falls, Mont., businessman shoots his computer due to screwed-up Fish and Game hunting license issuing; aesthetic logging vs. clear-cu
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