High Country News December 23, 2002
Feature
In search of the Glory Days
Twenty years after its longtime mainstay, the Climax Molybdenum Mine, closed, Leadville, Colo., is still groping for a secure economy and a new identity.
News
Forest planning gets a facelift
The Forest Service has announced a major overhaul of the forest planning process that some fear may cut out both environmental oversight and public involvement, and lead to even more legal gridlock.
The Latest Bounce
New Mexico and the Navajo Nation tackle cattle rustling; details of Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Plan won’t be released; "anaerobic digester" in the works to clean up hog-farm waste; Imperial Valley farmers refuse to sell water to San Diego, Calif.
Northwest braces itself for wolves
Unconfirmed wolf sightings in Oregon are on the rise, and wolf advocates are arguing with ranchers over how to handle the return of the predator packs.
Wayward wolf nabbed in Utah
"Wolf No. 253," from the Druid Peak Pack in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, is caught far from home when he steps into a leghold coyote trap, 30 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Budget cuts bury paleontologists
The new superintendent of Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, Utah, plans to cut nine positions in the paleontology department and hand over future scientific work to private contractors, much to the outrage of the scientific community.
Logging for water creates a buzz
In Colorado, a long-dead notion to clear-cut forests to increase water runoff is resurrected in a time of drought.
Wild tiles
To celebrate its purchase and renovation of the historic Roxy Theater in Missoula, Mont., the International Wildlife Film Festival is displaying 300 hand-painted ceramic tiles by artist Melanie Jeffs, each representing a donation.
Ranching conference secrets revealed!
The landmark conference "Ranching West of the 100th Meridian" is now available on four videotapes.
How to go with the flow
Montana Audubon has written an eight-page guide to flood preparation, called Go With the Flow: Streams and Bank Stabilization.
Book Reviews
A gilded wrinkle in time
In Cities of Gold, his first historical novel, William K. Hartmann interweaves the conquistadors of the 16th with a contemporary murder mystery in Tucson.
Building off the grid
Rex and LaVonne Ewing wrote Logs, Wind and Sun to share what they learned in the process of building their dream house, creating a book that is both informative and enjoyable.
Essays
Catch 22
A plan to restore native pikeminnow and sucker to the San Juan River in New Mexico may end up destroying a world-class trout fishery.
Holding open the door to the good life up north
A day spent helping Mexican immigrants apply for matricula personal identification cards leads the writer to believe that the influx of workers from the south is not a threat to the West’s environment.
The canyon between us
A visit to the strange landscape of Utah’s Goosenecks of the San Juan reveals the chasm growing between two people.
Heard Around the West
Heard Around the West
Bush vs. enviros; logging sequoias; election by the cards; duct tape for wart removal & wallets; 130-year-old hot sauce in Virginia City, Nev.; Japanese outdoor gear hits Boulder; wounded grizzly continues to care for her cubs; and Bigfoot fraud revealed.
Letters
Oregon has been mis-zoned
Oregon has been mis-zoned
Oregon: Love it or leave it
Oregon: Love it or leave it
Cheap shots at Cheney
Cheap shots at Cheney
An ode to the Marstons
An ode to the Marstons
Seattle Times is not independent
Seattle Times is not independent
Mormons don't recognize history
Mormons don't recognize history
Ego-pumping capitalism at its best
Ego-pumping capitalism at its best
HCN's agenda – envy and socialism
HCN's agenda – envy and socialism
Related Stories
“They want the workers to be invisible”
Former Leadville miner Bob Elder decries the exploitation of service workers who have to commute from Leadville to jobs in the resort counties. Jim Zoller, a former miner who now works as Leadville’s police chief, thinks that a lot of his town’s problems
Open space initiative offers hope
The Lake County Open Space Initiative has preserved land around Leadville and created trails for cross-country skiing and other recreation, but some local politicians say it’s snatching up too much private land and water.
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