High Country News February 20, 2006
Feature
In Riverside County, Calif., the conflict between the
Endangered Species Act’s critical habitat rule and the
West’s booming, sprawling, growth-driven economy comes to a
head
Editor's Note
Despite its problems and failures – many of them
arising from the conflict between the United States’ growing
population and our declining wildlife habitat – the
Endangered Species Act is a necessary law
Dear Friends
Welcome, Lillian Jane Lawrence (Laura Paskus’
daughter); Jonathan Thompson new HCN editor;
HCN intern program; William Kent of Moab dies;
photo caption correction
Uncommon Westerners
Small-animal veterinarian Sharon Senezcko has become a
fierce advocate for South Dakota’s mountain lions
News
The seven states of the Colorado River Basin have come to
a groundbreaking agreement that, among other things, will allow
cities such as Las Vegas to lease water from out-of-state farms
during times of drought
Grazing fees to be cut; Russian drill rigs coming to
Colorado; new power plant on Navajo Nation gets big tax break;
Washington may become sixth Western state with renewable energy
standards
The Hualapai Tribe has ambitious plans for Grand Canyon
West, a tourist destination on its remote reservation bordering the
Grand Canyon
Newport, Ore., decides the environmental and financial
risks are too great to allow Bay Bridge Enterprises, a
ship-recycling firm, to dismantle decommissioned military vessels
at Yaquina Bay
A controversial study says only a fraction of cancer cases
can be attributed to nuclear fallout in the U.S.
The BLM adds 11 new categorical exclusions to the National
Environmental Policy Act that will make it easier for salvage
logging, grazing and energy exploration
The Western Growers Association says its farmers need
another 20,000 workers to harvest this winter’s crop, and
President Bush endorses the idea of a guest-worker program to make
it easier for migrant workers in the U.S.
Book Reviews
Sonoran Desert Plants: An Ecological
Atlas is a revised and expanded edition of a classic
botanical guide
A View from the Inland Empire, a new
collection of essays from Stephen J. Lyons, is an honest account of
coming to — and later leaving — the West, and in the
process learning about home and heart and family
Science writer Yvonne Baskin’s new book, Under
Ground, takes an intriguing look at the planet’s soils and
sediments and their strange inhabitants
Coyote Warrior by Paul VanDevelder
highlights the experience of Raymond Cross, a Mandan/Hidatsa
attorney who fights for his tribe’s rights
Essays
California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo is having a
terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad year
The hurricanes in the Gulf and New Mexico’s endless
drought lead the author to wonder why it is human beings refuse to
take nature seriously
Heard Around the West
Child-friendly in Salida; new ranchers sell out at a high
price; hot real estate in ski country; water fights in L.A.; Bill
Richardson’s photograph; "BioWillie."
Related Stories
A behind-the-scenes look at the struggle over critical
habitat reveals the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be an agency
at war with itself
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