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The great wilderness compromise

Both sides of the contentious debate over a proposed Idaho wilderness bill invoke Howard Zahniser, father of the Wilderness Act -- and both sides have a point.

by Jon Christensen, Jan 22, 2007
How to be #1 in the world and still be a loser

Giles Slade’s new book, Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America, is a fascinating intellectual history of how marketers demolished the American tradition of thrift.

by Matt Jenkins, Jan 22, 2007
A family of criminals and killers

In All God’s Children: Inside the Dark and Violent World of Street Families, Rene Denfeld tells the disturbing story of Portland’s teen runaways, charting the path that took one of them, Danielle Marie Cox, from honor student to convicted murderer.

by Stephen J. Lyons, Jan 22, 2007
Why operation of wildlife refuges shouldn't be privatized

The debacle on the National Bison Range is a prime example of why the management of wildlife refuges should not be privatized.

by Grady Hocutt, Jan 22, 2007
How the Indians were set up to fail at bison management

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, not the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, is to blame for alleged management problems at the National Bison Range in Montana.

by Paul Bishop, Jan 22, 2007
History of a decline

An illustrated timeline charts the appearance of dams on the lower Snake River and the resulting decline of salmon, along with the so-far-inadequate response of the federal government.

by Ken Olsen, Jan 22, 2007
Fill 'er up with moonshine

Chris Myles plans to fuel his vehicles with homebrewed ethanol, made in a still he built at his home in Silverton, Colo.

by Fletcher Jacobs, Jan 22, 2007
Two weeks in the West

Snow and drought plagues West; governors tackle global warming; Big Coal gets bigger; Navajos protest power plant; stadium in former shipyard; Colorado easements cost taxes; wildlife crosswalk; zebra mussels arrive; skiing and snowboarding

by Staff, Jan 22, 2007
Schooling, fish

Judge Jim Redden is right to push the Bush administration on salmon restoration, but fish may end up faring as poorly in courtrooms as San Francisco’s schoolchildren did after well-intentioned decisions on busing.

by John Mecklin, Jan 22, 2007
Salmon Justice

Judge Jim Redden has given the Bush administration an ultimatum: Submit a viable plan for salmon restoration, or face the possible removal of four dams on the lower Snake River.

by Ken Olsen, Jan 22, 2007
Heard around the West

Is it a grolarbear or a pizzly?; garage doors vs. homeland security; hermaphrodite deer; Park Service fees; the drilling rig next door; school buses become billboards in Colorado

by Betsy Marston, Dec 25, 2006
I fell into a burning ring of fire

There’s nothing like a campfire to soothe and lift the soul

by Laura Paskus, Dec 25, 2006
A corps of visitors, not discoverers

In Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes, the late historian Alvin Josephy Jr. has assembled essays by nine Indian writers who examine the Corps of Discovery from the other side of the cultural looking glass

by Ed Marston, Dec 25, 2006
Chickens are roosting on private property in Oregon

Buyer’s remorse is strong in Oregon, where Measure 37 has sparked a developer’s feeding frenzy that has Oregonians’ heads spinning

by Russell Sadler, Dec 25, 2006
Of salvage logging and salvation

If we truly want to "salvage" our forests – and the rest of our environment – we need to think beyond salvage logging, and acknowledge that the value of dead trees cannot be measured in board-feet alone

by Pepper Trail, Dec 25, 2006
Shear Pleasure

A photo essay follows Matt Smith and the other New Zealanders who make up the company Shear Pleasure as they travel Montana, visiting sheep ranches, shearing sheep, and drinking hard at the end of the day

by Jeremy Lurgio, Dec 25, 2006
Tequila-fueled tunes

The music Roger Clyne writes and performs with his band, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, is inspired by the Arizona desert

by Fletcher Jacobs, Dec 25, 2006
Excremental gains?

Kern County, Calif., is trying to prevent Los Angeles sludge from entering the county, where it is used to fertilize farmland, and the resulting stink is raising all kinds of questions about how we handle human waste

by Matt Jenkins, Dec 25, 2006
Two weeks in the West

Supreme Court to consider use of mobster law to sue federal employees; water to return to California’s Owens River; Timothy B. Sundles confesses to wolf poisoning; drilling banned on Rocky Mountain Front; Western religion or lack thereof; Christmas tree

by Staff, Dec 25, 2006
Slipping into the holidays

This issue’s cover essay on New Mexico’s gas fields – and our publisher’s adventures during a recent snowstorm in Paonia – reveal the complex links that bind Westerners together for better or worse

by Paul Larmer, Dec 25, 2006