“Making a Home of It” in the October High Country News was sad and frightening on several levels. Our public lands are not a solution for “homeless” people or those who don’t follow the rules. These are problems the U.S. Congress and the states must fix by requiring the wealthy to pay for decent affordable housing […]
Brandt Mannchen
Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution
Wrong, illegal, and the agency knows this
I read with great interest the June 2021 article, “The Fire Next Time” by Carl Segerstrom. Similar events have occurred on the national forests and grasslands in Texas. The Forest Service everywhere is trying to avoid doing required environmental analysis. This is wrong, illegal, and the agency knows this. Megafires are not stopped by thinning, prescribed […]
Posted inMarch 1, 2020: Predator (Mis)perceptions
NEPA hasn’t failed
In my mind, NEPA did not fall short, but we have (“Where NEPA fell short,” January 2020). The only real requirement that NEPA provided was the environmental impact statement process, which gave citizens a process of public participation, review, and comment that was not optional. The reason that NEPA has not made more progress is […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2019: From Prison to Fireline
A Forest Service low
I certainly agree with the article, “Forest Service might limit public comments,” (HCN, 7/22/19). It is not that they “might,” though, in my opinion, but that they will. I have made personal comments to the agency, and I can see how the U.S. Forest Service plans to remove opportunities for public comments by categorically excluding most […]
Posted inAugust 31, 2018: The Big Threat to Bighorns
Playing God
While I understand the frustration that Carianne Campbell of the Sky Island Alliance and Don Falk of the University of Arizona have about climate change, which produces a “moving target” for ecosystem restoration, I believe the use of nonnative plant species, particularly from outside the United States, is not ecosystem restoration (“Restoration’s crisis of confidence,” […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Fire language
Too often the media sensationalizes wildfire. I think HCN should ensure its language does not add to sensationalism (“Scorched Earth,” HCN, 11/11/2017). For instance, HCN refers to the Eagle Creek Fire as “consuming close to 50,000 acres.” Those acres still exist, so what was consumed? Some of the vegetation is still there, since wildfires rarely burn 100 percent […]
Posted inMay 25, 2015: Monument Man
Water-harvest warning
It is very sad that a man of science, Brent Cluff, believes that “water harvesting could support unlimited growth.” In “Tucson’s rain-catching revolution” (HCN, 4/27/15), rainwater harvesting is touted as a way to conserve water. It is a step in the right direction, but only a step, and it has several negative impacts. First, it allows […]
Posted inAugust 18, 2014: Alaska's Uncertain Food Future
Wild ambitions
The environmental movement continues to dispirit me with the way it eats its young (“Wild paradox,” HCN, 7/21/14). Why we in that movement talk down our successes and accept the claims of others whose analysis is uninformed, I do not know. Paul Larmer, in his editor’s note, states that some “no longer see wilderness protection […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
“Stop the madness”
I am tired of people like Patty Limerick, chair of the Center of the American West, University of Colorado-Boulder, making uninformed statements about environmentalists (HCN, 12/22/08). Criticizing environmentalists with a broad brush by saying “the whole-line-in-the-sand, Alamo type-of-thing again” when referring to environmental issues is just plain wrong. If anything, environmentalists should be praised for […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2007: Last chance for the Lobo
Where have all the (exotic) flowers gone?
I enjoyed the article “Beetle Warfare” ( HCN, 11/26/07). However, I disagree with Ruth Hufbauer of Colorado State University when she says, “So we have to hope that today, we have a pretty good understanding of what’s going on, and that we’re not making mistakes that 50 years from now, we’ll look back on and […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 2007: Salmon Justice
Winning hearts and minds — in the National Park Service
Thank you for the wonderful article “Old but Faithful,” about the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. I agree with this group’s fight against commercialization, too many fees, and fees that are too high in our national parks. I cannot for the life of me understand how Holly Fretwell, of the Libertarian-oriented Property and Environment […]
Posted inJune 13, 2005: Owning a Piece of Paradise
Logging is an excuse, not a management tool
I don’t know where HCN editor Paul Larmer lives, but his statement about the U.S. Forest Service that, “Instead of being the primary driver of all management activities, logging has evolved into just another tool — like fire and erosion control — to be employed in maintaining healthy forests” sounds as if the Forest Service […]
Posted inSeptember 24, 2001: River of dreams
Check for your wallets
Dear HCN, I was surprised at the thoughts reflected in two articles in the Aug. 13 High Country News. In “The man in the rubber boots,” Paul Larmer states that in western Colorado, where he lives, 12 inches of rain falls. He says he lives in a desert. He says he used to use his […]
Posted inMarch 12, 2001: Divided Waters
Reborn Interior? That dog won’t hunt
Dear HCN, I read Ed Marston’s article, titled “Bush administration faces a reborn Interior,” and got a funny feeling in my stomach. I believe Ed is way off base believing the Bush administration will not succeed in using the so-called “reborn Interior” as the typical exploiters’ treasure trove. I see no evidence from the choices […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
The rural West can’t have it both ways
Dear HCN, Ed Marston’s essay, “Show me the science,” leaves me perplexed (HCN, 3/16/98). On the one hand, Ed admits that the typical rural lifestyle near and using public lands has led to environmental degradation. On the other hand, he claims environmentalists are enemies of the rural economies and life. He cannot have it both […]