When Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester introduced his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act last July, he did something that is all too uncommon in today’s political world. He kept a promise. He’d told conservationists, loggers and recreationists that if they could reach agreement on contentious issues involving public lands — including wilderness designation, deciding where […]
Bruce Farling
Posted inNovember 20, 1989: The West's fouled waters, Part I: Billions for quantity, but not a penny for quality
Drained rivers rouse Montana
During the droughty summer of 1988, irrigators sucked many Montana streams dry. The backlash could re-order the way the state manages water. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/21.22/download-entire-issue
Posted inMay 22, 1989: The charring of Wyoming
Group says coal tax cut hurts Montana
According to a February report published by the Western Organization of Resource Councils, the new tax rates have significantly reduced state income and not produced new jobs. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/21.10/download-entire-issue
Posted inOctober 10, 1988: Environmentalism triumphant
Butte comes out of the pit
Butte, Montana is finding, under the leadership of an energetic chief executive, that there is life after mining. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/20.19/download-entire-issue
Posted inMarch 14, 1988: Montana's Clark Fork River: An industrial drain
The legacy of Montana’s pioneers
How the copper under Butte, Montana., turned the Clark Fork into an industrial ditch. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/20.5/download-entire-issue
Posted inMarch 14, 1988: Montana's Clark Fork River: An industrial drain
Montana’s Clark Fork River: An industrial drain
The Clark Fork of the Columbia has been neglected and abused for decades, and is only now gaining the attention of people who are determined to bring it back to life. (To read the full text, click on the “View a PDF from the original” link below, or download a PDF of the entire issue: http://www.hcn.org/issues/20.5/download-entire-issue) This […]
Posted inAugust 17, 1987: Hoover Dam, 1990s version: The Superconducting Collider
Mining rears its head again in Montana
Despite grim times, it appears that reports of the death of Montana’s hardrock mining industry have been greatly exaggerated. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/19.15/download-entire-issue
Posted inJune 22, 1987: Update on Yellowstone: Mott quietly locks horns with his boss
Williams pushes hard for a wilderness bill
Although Montana’s conservationists are willing to cooperate with Democratic Rep. Pat Williams, development interests are not. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/19.12/download-entire-issue
Posted inMarch 2, 1987: The Hanford Nuclear Reservation: Poor engineering, worse PR
Ruminations on the ecology of wilderness trash
The great wilderness experience, at times, becomes a continuing obsession with inappropriately placed pop-tops, cigarette butts and Jiffy Pop tins. I am hopelessly addicted to collecting wilderness trash. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/19.4/download-entire-issue
Posted inJune 9, 1986: The dismal science grabs agriculture by the throat
On playing mouse to a hungry wild cat
The lion now crouched directly in front of the truck, staring at me … Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/18.11/download-entire-issue
Posted inMay 26, 1986: The fate of the grizzly
Montana’s fight with Burlington Northern goes on, and on
Hit with rising unemployment and a potential $60 million budget shortfall, Montana faces another economic setback from the state’s only railroad. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/18.10/download-entire-issue
Posted inApril 1, 1986: A still-wild chunk of America is vulnerable to development
A feisty, true-grit breed in Montana
One thing Northwest Montana conservationists share with their counterparts elsewhere is an inordinate fondness for paper: legal briefs, affidavits and reams of memos. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/18.6/download-entire-issue
Posted inApril 1, 1986: A still-wild chunk of America is vulnerable to development
A still-wild chunk of America is vulnerable to development
When lumped together, Glacier National Park and the nearby Bob Marshall Wilderness are at the hub of one of the West’s largest wild areas. Yet they face mining, logging and other threats. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/18.6/download-entire-issue
Posted inFebruary 17, 1986: Wolves make a comeback in the West
A Montana river is pitted against 700 jobs
The debate has heated up in Montana over whether Champion International should be allowed to discharge treated wastewater year-round from its Frenchtown pulp mill into the Clark Fork River. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/18.3/download-entire-issue
Posted inMay 13, 1985: Mining may come to a wilderness
Mining may come to a wilderness
Taking advantage of the 1872 Mining Law and the exemption in the Wilderness Act, U.S. Borax and the American Smelting and Refining Company want to mine in Montana’s Cabinet Mountains. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/17.9/download-entire-issue
Posted inMarch 4, 1985: The West as military target
The West is being drafted
The Navy and Air Force are planning to convert 8,500 square miles of public air space in Nevada into a supersonic jet training area. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/17.4/download-entire-issue