Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, Two views of forest health at the University of Idaho, in a special issue about the West’s forestry schools. Controversy comes with the territory in Jay O’Laughlin’s job. He directs the University of Idaho’s Policy Analysis Group, which is charged with explaining natural […]
Lisa Jones
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
Another judge says no
It reads as predictably as a Harlequin romance: Rejected by the judiciary, the University of Arizona has rushed into the arms of its political allies. On July 31, for the third time in a year, a federal court shut down the university’s plan to build its $60 million Large Binocular Telescope outside an area on […]
Posted inAugust 21, 1995: HCN's founder fights his last fight, yet again
‘Green’ professor cleared in Wyoming
In a decision that rankled officials of Wyoming’s extractive industries, the University of Wyoming has cleared one of its law professors of allegations that his work with environmental groups amounted to misuse of university facilities. University president Terry Roark said that Mark Squillace’s work with Friends of the Bow, the Wyoming Outdoor Council and the […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
The administrator
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Making a mountain into a starbase. “The reality of this project is that it was never a threat to the red squirrel.” Michael Cusanovich, vice president for research and graduate studies at the U of A, oversees a $220 million annual research budget. He’s […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
The Apache activist
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Making a mountain into a starbase. “The university, I’d say, is like a tin man. No heart. They don’t have no feeling.” Ola Cassadore Davis grew up on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, about 30 miles from Mount Graham. Her father was a medicine […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
The diplomat ecologist
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Making a mountain into a starbase. “I came off the mountain saying probably the best way to save this place is to build an observatory …” Conrad Istock is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in the U of A’s College of Arts […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
The biogladiator
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Making a mountain into a starbase. “Biologists who don’t speak out on biological issues become the passive accepters of the loss of biodiversity …” Peter Warshall, an adjunct scientist at the University of Arizona, directed research for an environmental impact statement on Mount Graham […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
The petitioning ecologist
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Making a mountain into a starbase. “My objection to the project is based on … the lack of vision about what’s important to preserve in the Southwest.” Mark Fishbein is a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Arizona’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology; […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
The straight arrow
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Making a mountain into a starbase. “The university has no choice except to tilt the rewards system toward faculty and departments that can generate the most money. And that’s bad.” Frank Gregg, head of the BLM under President Jimmy Carter, was a U of […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
The university aimed for the stars and hit Mount Graham
The sins of land-grant universities are usually those of inertia. The land-grants are old-fashioned. They’re politically cautious. They’re financially dependent upon the powers-that-be in their states. Young faculty with new ideas often hold their tongues rather than speak their minds. There’s a culture of countrified politeness among land-grant faculties that can be stultifying. Watching for […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
Sound-bite slogans distort a complicated reality
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Making a mountain into a starbase. In the acrimonious conflict over Mount Graham, middle ground is harder to find than red squirrels. Some opponents like to say the telescopes will drive the squirrel extinct. According to the best scientific knowledge, that’s not exactly true. […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
A 77-year-old cow watcher from Arizona
Reader Pauline Sandholdt wrote to let us know that a photo caption in our May 1 issue had blown a “considerable hole” in her confidence in High Country News. The picture in question appeared on page 19 of our special issue on land grant universities headlined, “Reform comes to “Ag” Schools.” It depicted cattle in […]
Posted inMay 1, 1995: Land grants under the microscope
Land grants under the microscope
Scrutinized from all sides, they defend their turf and look for new ideas
Posted inMay 1, 1995: Land grants under the microscope
The gospel according to Wes Jackson
He believes we can grow food without chemicals, plows or erosion
Posted inMay 1, 1995: Land grants under the microscope
Starting a war at Ohio State
An untenured academic challenged his colleagues, farmers and students to think deeply about the land-grant mission
Posted inMay 1, 1995: Land grants under the microscope
An in-your-face range scientist
Note: this feature article is one of several in this special issue on the West’s land grant universities. LAS CRUCES, N.M. – In the wake of a drought that left the Southwestern range parched and degraded, scientists at New Mexico State University are busy: They’re figuring out which cattle breeds do the best in the […]
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
A tale of two ag programs
Evergreen State provides an alternative to giant Washington State
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Off campus: A sociologist tries to help Idaho’s small towns
Note: this feature article is one of several in a special issue about land grant universities in the West. When sociologist Aaron Harp interviewed for a job at the University of Idaho, he was asked if the university had an obligation to save the state’s rural communities. “That’s a loaded question,” says Harp. “And having […]
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Between past and future
Washington State University tries to get there from here
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Sexy weapon thwarts bugs
Codling moths find frustration at end of pheromone trail