A federal judge raked Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt over the coals last month, when he held Babbitt in contempt of court in a lawsuit over unaccounted-for Indian money. Babbitt’s department “engaged in a shocking pattern of deception of the court,” said Federal District Court Judge Royce Lamberth. “I have never seen more egregious misconduct by […]
Greg Hanscom
Greg Hanscom is the publisher and executive director for High Country News. Email him at greg.hanscom@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
Clearcut the neighborhood
Whoever said irony is wasted on the West never met Tom Clyde. Clyde spent 17 traumatic years practicing law in Park City, Utah. In 1984, he packed his belongings into his Volkswagen bus and moved to a cabin on his family’s ranch 20 miles away. From this safe distance, he has been providing the locals […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Agencies seek quieter public meetings
This winter, hundreds of people filed into school gymnasiums, town halls and hotel conference rooms, working up the gumption to stand in front of a crowd and speak out on the future of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. To their surprise, the stomach butterflies were for nothing. They didn’t find the rows […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
The Wayward West
The revolving door to the Bureau of Land Management director’s office took a spin in November. On the way out was Salt Lake City attorney Pat Shea, who headed the agency for just over a year. Shea has been promoted to acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, where he will help create […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Grand Staircase-Escalante in the spotlight
When President Clinton created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah two years ago, environmentalists broke out the champagne, while many locals moped (HCN, 4/14/97). A proposed management plan for the monument has the two groups in each others’ shoes. “I thought the people doing the plan really did a good job,” Kane County […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Bounty on wolf killers
Government agents and environmental groups are offering $25,000 to anyone who turns in those responsible for killing Mexican gray wolves. The reward followed an announcement by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigators that a wolf found dead near the Arizona-New Mexico border in early November had died of a gunshot wound. It was the fourth […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
The Wayward West
Forest Service officials in Driggs, Idaho, found a homemade fertilizer bomb on their office doorstep Oct. 19. Targhee National Forest Supervisor Jerry Reese thinks the bomb, which was quickly defused by a sheriff’s deputy, might have been planted by someone upset with road closures meant to protect grizzly bear habitat. Off-road vehicle users and others […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
The Wayward West
Chalk one up for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in northern Idaho. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge rejected the state’s attempt to stop the tribe from taking control of the southern third of Lake Coeur d’Alene and part of the St. Joe River, reports the Spokane, Wash., Spokesman Review. The decision came on the eve […]
Posted inOctober 26, 1998: The Oregon way
The Wayward West
The Forest Service won’t give Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young information about connections between agency staffers and environmental groups. In July, Young asked Southwest Regional Forester Eleanor Towns for a list of employees who are members of groups like the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity and Forest Guardians (HCN, 9/14/98). In a Sept. 21 letter, […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
The Wayward West
The fastest bird in the world could fly off the endangered species list in the next year, according to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The peregrine falcon nearly died out in the 1970s, after the pesticide DDT and other chemicals caused it to lay thin-shelled eggs. Today, there are 1,600 breeding pairs in the United States […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Proposed land trade riles Crested Butte
When developer Tom Chapman made millions on western Colorado land the Forest Service appraised at just $640,000, agency land exchange specialist Paul Zimmerman admitted, “We may well have missed on this one” (HCN, 1/23/95). Now, residents of Crested Butte, Colo., say the agency didn’t learn much from the experience. “It’s totally bass ackwards,” says Sandy […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Note: A front-page editor’s note and a sidebar titled “A banker battles to hold the government accountable” accompany this feature story. FORT HALL, Idaho – The councilman’s voice drones through the microphone, echoing off walls lined with nickel slots and joker poker games. The Shoshone and Bannock people file into the bingo hall slowly, some […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
A banker battles to hold the government accountable
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. BROWNING, Mont. – Until recently, Browning, a dusty settlement on the Blackfeet Indian reservation in northern Montana, was known more for its bar fights than its financial enterprise. But thanks to the small town’s banker, Elouise Cobell, Browning is becoming known for something else. […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
The Wayward West
Don’t expect to hear Utah environmentalists crying for 5.7 million acres of wilderness, says Kevin Walker of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (HCN, 8/4/97). SUWA and other groups are almost finished with a two-year “re-inventory” of the state’s wild lands. Since the first inventory, new trails, roads and mines have knocked some areas out of […]
Posted inMarch 30, 1998: A bare-knuckled trio goes after the Forest Service
River heritage plan sent downstream
PAONIA, Colo. – When water engineer Jeff Crane learned about a new program called the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, he thought he’d found something his community could rally behind. Over the past three years, Crane has been working to build consensus among landowners, fruit farmers and gravel miners along western Colorado’s North Fork of the […]
Posted inMarch 30, 1998: A bare-knuckled trio goes after the Forest Service
Some tourists opt for a dose of reality
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article,”‘Ecotourism’ – a gold mine for ailing agencies?“ While many of us bolt to the beach or head for the hills when vacation time rolls around, a few groups around the West have discovered that some crave a […]
Posted inMarch 16, 1998: Olympic onslaught: Salt Lake City braces for the winter games
Does Utah know what’s coming?
Note: see end of this feature story for a list of three accompanying sidebar articles. In four years, thousands of reporters and spectators will crowd hillsides and stadiums around Salt Lake City to watch the world’s top skiers, skaters, bobsledders and other athletes muscle for medals in the world’s biggest winter sporting event. Competition will […]
Posted inMarch 16, 1998: Olympic onslaught: Salt Lake City braces for the winter games
The games should belong to the people
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. John Cushing just started his fifth term as the mayor of Bountiful, and his first term as the president of the Utah League of Cities and Towns: John Cushing: “Since Utah was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, we have heard a great deal […]
Posted inMarch 16, 1998: Olympic onslaught: Salt Lake City braces for the winter games
Can a ski town survive its moment of glory?
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. PARK CITY, Utah – If it is true that the three keys to real estate are location, location, location, then this town is two-thirds of the way home. It is only a half-hour’s interstate drive east of Salt Lake City, with its airport, hotels […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 1998: Looking at dams in a new way
The Wayward West
Pilots of “personal watercraft” such as Wavejammers and WetJets may get reined in at Lake Powell. The National Park Service is considering making parts of the reservoir “Jet Ski free,” because of increasing complaints – many from houseboaters calling from cell phones. A federal rule is expected soon allowing all national park superintendents to restrict […]