High Country News January 23, 2006
Feature
Timberlands up for grabs
As the West’s privately owned timberlands go up for sale, small towns like Glenwood, Wash., are working to buy local forests and manage them for the good of the community
Editor's Note
For sale: The West
As privately owned timberlands go up for sale around the West, some communities are trying to find ways to keep their forests from disappearing in a flood of development
Dear Friends
Dear friends
New interns Sarah Gilman and Brett Wilkison; remembering Robert E. "Bob" Wolf; HCN potluck in Tucson
Uncommon Westerners
Gray water, green living
Brian Moore has retrofitted his house in Phoenix, Ariz., to enable him to re-use water and live more sustainably
News
The end of an era on the Colorado Plateau
The closing down of the Mohave Generating Station and the Black Mesa Mine are both a victory for environmentalists and Indian water activists, and an economic catastrophe for the Hopi and Navajo nations
The Latest Bounce
Petroglyph boulders moved for controversial Albuquerque highway; Hilmar Cheese can drill "test well" for its wastewater; Richard Pombo’s plan to fast-track oil shale stymied; wilderness vs. helicopter skiing in Wyoming
Bear killing increases but protection decreases
Illegal killing of grizzlies seems to be increasing in the Northern Rockies even as Interior Secretary Gale Norton announces plans to take Yellowstone’s bears off the endangered species list
Renewable law leaves the gate
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission finally releases rules for implementing Amendment 37, the state’s renewable standards law
Forest Service shuts down 'three old geezers'
Armed law enforcement officers prevented three environmentalists, including 83-year-old Stewart Brandborg, from attending a Forest Service press conference in Hamilton, Mont.
Colorado River gets a recreation plan
The National Park Service’s new management plan for the Grand Canyon river corridor allows continued motorized access
An ecosystem wanting for wolves
With the elk population at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park out of control, wildlife managers are considering bringing in four wolves to restore the balance
Book Reviews
A eulogy for the West that was
In Requiem for the West, Roger Brown laments the loss of soul and solitude in the small mountain towns of the Colorado Rockies
Planting seeds for preservation
In Cities in the Wilderness, former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt makes an eloquent argument for more enlightened federal land-use planning
A watery mystery in New Mexico
Albuquerque private investigator Sonny Baca unravels a series of nefarious plots in Rudolfo Anaya’s riveting mystery Jemez Spring
Deciphering humanity's hardware
Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes is a wonderfully conversational explanation of everything one sees along the highway that isn’t natural
Eight decades of magic and beauty at Ghost Ranch
Lesley Poling-Kempes tells the story of a legendary New Mexico resort and its many lovers in her absorbing new book, Ghost Ranch
Essays
What’s the NRA’s beef with roadless areas?
A hunter and member of the National Rifle Association is angry at the way the group puts gun ownership above roadless areas, wildlife, and hunting
Heard Around the West
Heard around the West
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster; driver hit by deer; Seattle vs. starlings; California criminal bear is killed; Dave Freudenthal didn’t say it; salmon-flavored soda
Letters
Goodbye, ranger; hello, cop
After dollars are spent, destruction remains
No bipartisan support for Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness
Wilderness with horses, not wheelchairs
Seniors want more wilderness access
Seniors reject more wilderness access
Sociology is essential
The Ghosts of 1913
Wind energy not a panacea
Meth is bad news, period
