Wyoming at a crossroads

Feature

Wyoming’s new governor, Democrat Dave Freudenthal, may have a chance to turn the stagnant state around economically and environmentally, by reducing its dependence on energy and mineral industries.

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News

Spotted owl back under microscope

The timber industry hopes Northwestern forests will be reopened to logging through a court decision ordering a reassessment of the population and habitat of two threatened birds: the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet

Loggers got scant help as industry toppled

A new study shows that logging communities received little of the economic help promised to them when the timber industry collapsed in the Northwest during the 1990s

Timber proposal undercuts Quincy Library plan

Members of California’s Quincy Library Group are fighting Forest Service plans for logging the Plumas and Lassen national forests.

The Latest Bounce

Seventy percent of full-time National Park Service jobs may go to private sector; northern pike still thriving in California’s Lake Davis; traffic accident damaged nuclear waste container on way to WIPP in New Mexico; Washington state fears plans to down

Villagers rebel against sprawl

Some residents of Los Lunas, N.M., say the planned expansion of the wastewater treatment plant is designed to benefit the mayor, who wants to build a subdivision.

Where’d you get that cactus, partner?

Southern Arizona cities are importing cacti from west Texas, and demand is beginning to outstrip the natural supply.

Conservation pays off in a desert town

Residents of Castle Valley, Utah, are working with the state trust lands agency to find a way to preserve open space while also raising more money for schools

Canada lays down the law on endangered species

Canada finally passes an endangered species law, but it only protects "federal species" living in oceans or on the 1 percent of Canadian land that is federal.

Author says we'll 'match the scenery' whether we like it or not

In Soul of Nowhere, writer Craig Childs explores the rugged canyons of the southwest and the ruins left behind by past civilizations that did their best to "match the scenery" yet still perished.

Book Reviews

Short Takes

"Public Lands, Private Gains;" Sacramento Water Education Foundation; Rocky Mountain Land Series

As the dust settles

Michael Brown’s documentary, Dust to Dust, tells the story of Libby, Mont., and the struggle of its people against deadly disease caused by asbestos-laced dust from a vermiculate mine

Born to be winter wild

The Boise-based Winter Wildlands Alliance works to encourage "human-powered" winter recreation on public lands in Idaho, Colorado, California and Nevada

Eco-groovy food for skinny wallets

The Portland-based Food Alliance offers consumers and farmers a label guaranteeing pesticide-free, organically grown products at a much lower price.

Memories of a native river

In Native River, William D. Layman uses words and photographs to explore an earlier era of the Columbia River, before it was tamed and transformed by dams

Living in harm’s way

Marc Reisner’s posthumously published book, A Dangerous Place: California’s Unsettling Fate, looks at California and its earthquakes, and imagines what will happen when "the Big One" finally hits

Living in harm’s way

Marc Reisner’s posthumously published book, A Dangerous Place: California’s Unsettling Fate, looks at California and its earthquakes, and imagines what will happen when "the Big One" finally hits

Essays

It’s time for a new law of the river

The writer says California’s agricultural elite is holding on to Colorado River water that could better serve the region’s growing cities.

On the road with Cactus Ed

Back in the early 1970s, the writer lived with Ed Abbey and wandered around in a battered old Chevy, low on cash but rich in enjoyment

Heard Around the West

Heard Around The West

President Bush and "green, green lima beans;" divorce harms the environment; jackalope designer dies; lassoing chickens in Douglas, Wyo.; cactus thieves in Phoenix; venting spleen in Grand Junction, Colo.; and re-engineering cows in the future

High Country News February 17, 2003

Feature