Feature

Howdy, neighbor!: As a last resort, Westerners start talking to each other

Consensus-building groups seek to find common ground in the land.

Idaho learns to share two rivers

The Henry's Fork Watershed Council's struggle created a plan to share and save Idaho's Henry's Fork and Falls rivers.

A Colorado county tries a novel approach: work the system

County commissioners, forest rangers and other Montezuma County residents begin to come together to find a way to manage their public lands.

Bringing back grizzlies splits environmentalists

What seems on the surface to be a successful consensus effort to restore grizzlies to central Idaho and western Montana has provoked a bitter split among Northern Rockies environmentalists many of whom believe the plan will harm bears rather than help.

Everyone helps a California forest - except the Forest Service

The Quincy Library Group of Plumas County, Calif., has won much approval nationally and yet finds itself having to battle the Forest Serivce on its own ground.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends

Spring in Paonia, board meeting in Grand Junction, corrections, cowboy poets and other Western writers, odds and ends.

News

Mt. Graham telescope rides through Congress

President Clinton signs a bill approving the University of Arizona's construction of a third telescope on Mount Graham.

A wet winter misses the Southwest

Although much of the West had an unusually wet winter, fires are already starting to rage across the dry Southwestern states.

Contradictions on the Columbia

Northwestern salmon advocates are shocked by Oregon's decision to extend a permit for Boeing Aviation to divert twice the amount of Columbia River water used yearly by the city of Portland.

Ellensburg wins back its beauty

A group of concerned Ellensburg, Wash., citizens succeeds in getting 12 tall, unsightly power poles removed from downtown.

The Northwest gets theatrical

Recent scandals and bizarre antics by a few Northwestern Republicans may open a loophole for Democratic challengers in the coming election.

A faint ray of hope for Northwest salmon

This year, some Idaho Snake River salmon may get to skip the usual barge journey around dams and be allowed to swim over the dams via spillways.

Farm bill helps the land - sort of

The 1996 farm bill offers farmers the best-funded package of conservation incentives yet - but both farmers and environmentalists have misgivings.

'Boom' potential at Rocky Flats

A dangerous build-up of hydrogen gas at the closed Rocky Flats nuclear facility near Denver, Colo., has activists very worried.

Heard Around the West

Heard Around the West

Tot finds dinosaur egg, N.M. governor finds jokes about hwy. dept. ot funny, lights on Hwy. 666 in N.M. save lives, Washington roads made of old tires burst into flames, Nevada's "extraterrestrial hwy.," and classic hwy. story from Montana.

Opinion

The skeptic: Collaboration has its limits

Sierra Club chairman Michael McCloskey raises doubts about consensus groups - and explores the harm they may cause.

Related Stories

Some not-so-easy steps to successful collaboration

Mediator Gerald Mueller of Missoula, Mont., names ingredients necessary for successful consensus groups.

A progressive commissioner takes the heat

Montezuma County Commissioner and Colorado rancher Tom Colbert proves himself an independent and determined thinker.

A sampling of the West's collaborative efforts

A directory of some Western consensus groups is followed by a bibliography of consensus-building materials.