Bart Koehler helped Westerners protect the places they love.
Bruce Hamilton
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
High Country News in the ’70s
The HCN community reflects on the ‘Me Decade.’
Posted inMarch 26, 2001: Teach the children well
Club supports flexible grazing policy
Dear HCN, “Zero-Cow initiative splits Sierra Club” (HCN, 2/26/01: ‘Zero-Cow’ initiative splits Sierra Club) fails to recognize that the Club is neither “zero-cut” nor “zero-cud.” In its attempt to simplify it misses the real story. While the Club has a position that advocates an end to all commercial logging on public lands, private use and […]
Posted inNovember 20, 2000: Water pressure
David Brower: Remembering the Archdruid
I was 20 years old and an undergraduate wildlife biology student when I first heard David R. Brower deliver “The Sermon” at the University of Colorado. I had come to Boulder to hear the famous Archdruid, whom I had only known through Sierra Club books and magazine articles before. I knew him by reputation as […]
Posted inOctober 31, 1994: Water for the taking
Wise-use power is overblown; the real threat is apathy
The 103rd Congress, which just wrapped up most of its business, was the worst environmental Congress since the first Earth Day 25 years ago. The conventional wisdom in the mainstream press is that this poor record comes from the diminished clout of the environmental movement and the rise of the wise-use movement. But is the […]
Posted inMarch 27, 1989: In Montana: Grass-roots group may be Astroturf
Edward Abbey: druid of the arches
The sudden death last week of Edward Abbey recalled to us this superb profile of the writer by Bruce Hamilton, who was HCN managing editor in 1976, when this story appeared. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/21.6/download-entire-issue
Posted inNovember 17, 1978: Western Election Review
EPA shrinks from regulating tons of dust stirred up by coal mines
As coal mines proliferate, environmentalists are starting to realize that mining creates major air pollution problems, but federal agencies appear reluctant to regulate it and industry may not have the technology to control it. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.22/download-entire-issue
Posted inOctober 20, 1978: National Park Service chases squirrels of political popularity
Congress passes ‘fantastic’ park and recreation bill
In its final hours, Congress passed a $1.2 billion National Park and Recreation Act that settles several of the nation’s leading environmental controversies, including the fight over Mineral King in California. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.20/download-entire-issue
Posted inJune 2, 1978: Dirty air a health hazard in 30 areas of West
Alaska: how the House was won
A Sierra Club employee recounts his initiation as a lobbyist during the congressional battle over the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/10.11/download-entire-issue
Posted inAugust 12, 1977: Northern Cheyenne tribe wins Class I air quality
Carter’s water politics to strangle the West?
The Carter Administration’s proposals for reforming national water policy may ruffle the longstanding laws of prior appropriation, and have Western politicians and water user groups fighting mad. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.16/download-entire-issue
Posted inMarch 11, 1977: Boise rediscovers geothermal
Boise rediscovers geothermal
Using geothermal energy to warm your home and heat your water may sound like a far-fetched idea, but some residents of Warm Springs Avenue in Boise, Idaho, have been doing it for 85 years. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.5/download-entire-issue
Posted inFebruary 25, 1977: Wood stove revival puts damper on energy costs
Carter attacks dams; battle of the decade ahead?
President Jimmy Carter has asked Congress to delete funds in the next fiscal year for 19 controversial water development projects. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.4/download-entire-issue
Posted inFebruary 25, 1977: Wood stove revival puts damper on energy costs
Wood stove revival puts damper on energy costs
Today, with rising energy costs, wood burning is probably the fastest growing form of alternative renewable energy use. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.4/download-entire-issue
Posted inFebruary 11, 1977: Idaho legislature axes conservation programs
Idaho legislature axes conservation programs
The forced resignation of Earl Adams, the director of Idaho’s Office of Energy, was the coup de grace in a long line of attacks by a hostile Republican-controlled legislature against efforts to set up a state energy conservation policy. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.3/download-entire-issue
Posted inJanuary 14, 1977: Rest-rotation range plan -- panacea of problem?
Rest-rotation range plan — panacea of problem?
Both critics and advocates are weighing in on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s drive to improve deteriorating range conditions on public lands in the West through a grazing system known as rest-rotation. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/9.1/download-entire-issue
Posted inDecember 3, 1976: Utah oil shale boom: not if, but when
Utah oil shale boom: not if, but when
Unknowns are plaguing oil shale development southwest of Vernal, Utah, but the burst of optimism for oil shale in the early 1970s has many local residents saying that extraction of oil from their abundant rock is inevitable. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/8.24/download-entire-issue
Posted inNovember 19, 1976: Boulder adopts plan to slow growth
Boulder adopts plan to slow growth
Boulder, Colorado, has become the first community in the Rocky Mountain West to attempt to slow down its growth rate by city ordinance, which will limit the amount of new housing. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/8.23/download-entire-issue
Posted inNovember 19, 1976: Boulder adopts plan to slow growth
Grizzly critical habitat — what will be excluded?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released its suggested boundaries for grizzly bear habitat in the Lower 48 States; many high country residents are up in arms because activities like logging, according to the FWS, may have to be “modified” in critical habitat. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/8.23/download-entire-issue
Posted inNovember 5, 1976: Uranium experiment moves into northeast Colorado
Alunite-to-alumina plant proposed for southwest Utah
Unstable supplies of bauxite — the main raw material of aluminum — have prompted the government and industry to search for new bauxite substitutes such as alunite. Southwest Utah has that resource and residents there are apparently welcoming the industry. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/8.22/download-entire-issue
Posted inOctober 8, 1976: Rocks, rivers, snakes, solitude -- Owyhee
Congress preserves new wild areas
A summary of the bills that passed and failed in the scramble that occurred before Congress adjourned, including legislation concerning strip mining, wild rivers, synfuels subsidies, wilderness, water pollution, and more. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/8.20/download-entire-issue