Feature

The Royal Squeeze

California's Imperial Valley is under pressure to reduce the amount of Colorado River water it uses for irrigation, but some fear changes could inadvertently dry up the Salton Sea, imperiling birds and animals that depend on it.

Dear Friends

Balacing act

California's balancing act; new staffers JoAnn Kalenak, Denise Massart-Isaacson April Reese & Laura Paskus; staffers Robyn Morrison and Gretchen Aston-Puckett change jobs; congratulations - and thanks.

A legend of the land

Geologist J. David Love, who loved and understood the Wyoming landscape, dies at the age of 89.

Writers on the Range

A modest forest proposal for President Bush

Pres. Bush can talk about "common sense" forest management all he wants, but until he --- and the rest of us - use common sense in our forests, wildfires and other problems will keep happening.

News

The BLM stabs at a tired land

Near Farmington, N.M., some local ranchers and environmentalists are fighting a push to greatly increase oil and gas drilling in the area's San Juan Basin.

The Latest Bounce

BLM reconsiders approval of coalbed methane leases in Wyoming; Montana judge says salty groundwater from coalbed methane wells is not pollutant; California's Cadiz water project gets go-ahead; Valles Caldera National Preserve, N.M.,opens grazing.

Drought unearths a water dinosaur

"The Big Straw:", a massive, extravagant scheme to bring water from Colorado's Western Slope to its crowded Front Range, is being seriously reconsidered in a state faced with drought and a growing population.

Toxic fish taint tribal diet

A new study shows Columbia River fish to be contaminated with chemicals that could harm the health of the Native Americans that eat them.

Museum collections hit the roof

Lack of adequate storage for artifacts in museums throughout Colorado and the West is creating a messy backlog that could eventually stall construction projects on public lands.

Traveling dunes

Photographer Andrew Harvey has created the Algodones Photographic Tour to draw attention to California's Algodones Dunes Wilderness Area and protect it from ATV use.

Rough riding

A new report, the ATV Safety Crisis Report, blames off-road vehicles for death and injury and suggests that their use should be regulated.

A cow of a time

"Bovines or Biodiversity: The National Campaign to End Abusive Public Lands Grazing," is this year's RangeNet conference, set in Boise, Idaho, October 9.

With golden cottonwoods

High Plains Films

The big show with braids

Sherman Alexie in his own words

Writer Sherman Alexie talks about Hollywood, tokenism and being an Indian.

Book Reviews

Yes, I'm gonna eat that!

In Coming Home to Eat, Lebanese-American writer Gary Paul Nabham describes how eating "local" food for the first time in the Fertile Crescent convinces him to try to "eat locally" in Tucson, Ariz.

Learn about everything

Forth Annual Sustainable Communites Symposium

Island Hoping

In On Oct. 19, 2002, a group of people working to preserve the diversity of the Sky Islands is holding a one-day conference to promote awareness of the region.

Essays

Working among the West's newcomers

New Western immigrants - illegal or not - often work hard in odd places, following the American dream.

Heard Around the West

Oh, the things you see

Cars pulled from river; Great Salt Lake smells; water cops bust pot plants; duckie race relocated; Mrs. Kan. International leaves kids home; Bush on the ranch with the bovines; armed SUVs; stealing barbecue; Kentucky Fried accident; opera by flashlight.

Letters

Carroll's nonsensical diatribe

Fire story was propaganda

Related Stories

Some see economic upside in loss of farm water

Fallowing land in California's Imperial Valley may temporarily put farmworkers out of work, but in the long run the extra money could help diversify the local economy and produce more skilled and permanent jobs.