Feature

Change comes slowly to Escalante country

Just as it seemed the local communities were starting to accept the BLM’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the rise of conservative national politics has helped to revive old grudges and stir up opposition

Editor's Note

Reopening the wounds in southern Utah

It’s time for the people of southern Utah to accept that the West has changed, and that Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is here to stay

Dear Friends

Dear Friends

Your chance to weigh in on the redesign; Deb French is new outreach director; and Betsy and Ed Marston are still here

News

Debate rages over ‘de-listing’ wolves

Conservationists say it’s too soon for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to declare that wolves are no longer endangered

The Latest Bounce

The "American Wilderness Protection Act" will end protection of wilderness study areas; reinstatement of "polluter pays" tax loses in Congress; Fence Lake Mine in New Mexico to begin construction; Homeland Security wallows up INS, Border Patrol and other

Grass roots prevail in ANWR and Wyoming

Grassroots activism is credited with once more staving off drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest

Forest thinning slows fires, increases concerns

Forest thinning and prescribed burns helped slow the progress of Colorado’s Hayman Fire, but some environmentalists fear forest thinning will be used to justify increased logging

Westlands farmers sell out

The federal government has decided to buy out California’s Westlands Water District

Fate of the Red Desert up in the air

A new BLM plan could re-open the door to oil and gas drilling in the Jack Morrow Hills, the heart of Wyoming’s Red Desert

Tribes, residents find a solution in the Sandias

Land in New Mexico’s Sandia Mountains that has been fought over by the Sandia Pueblo, the federal government and private landowners will stay part of the national forest under the T’uf Shur Bien Preservation Act

Off-roaders steer agencies with dollars

Critics say Idaho is being swayed by ORVers’ money in its plans for an off-road vehicle trail through the Lost River Valley

The Northwest’s diehard diplomat

Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber talks about resolving political conflict in the West – and in the world

Essays

Republicans wave guns, but where’s the butter?

Back in the 1960s, both guns and butter were part of the agenda in the Interior West and the nation; now, as a talk by Colorado Rep. Scott McInnis reveals, guns seem to be the only thing the Bush administration cares about

Of avalanche forecasting and snow haiku

A day spent on skis with avalanche forecaster Jerry Roberts is filled with stellar crystals, snow haiku and unexpected beauty

Heard Around the West

Heard Around the West

Will Highway 666 get a new name?; Nevada’s "Armpit of America" celebrates; taxing brothels; student sayings from the Web; Santa Fe’s "Path of the Painted Potties;" South Dakota searches world for dairy farmers; and Santa Barbara County tries to decide whe

Letters

Be careful what you ask for

Where do we draw the line?

Bicycles are machines

What about horses?

Bikers are not entitled to unchecked access

Mike Matz is a visionary

Wildlife Services must go

Ranchers are behind predator control

Related Stories

Monument presents a management morass

In Arizona’s Ironwood Forest National Monument, ranchers, recreationists and illegal immigrants are all fighting for space

The BLM’s conservation kingdom

The BLM’s new National Landscape Conservation System manages 15 monuments created by President Clinton, as well as 800 other protected areas