John Fayhee quotes Heidi McIntosh, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s conservation director: “At one time The Zephyr was important” (HCN, 5/29/06: Clinging Hopelessly to the Past). That really got my attention, my outrage. Seven words of dismissal, the meaning crystal clear: Public disagreement with SUWA automatically puts The Zephyr in gulag territory, no longer relevant, […]
Martin Murie
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Sociology is essential
I see there’s another letter condemning HCN’s “drift” into “sociology” eye. One of the biggest mistakes made by conservationists and environmentalists in the past 40 or 50 years was to drift away from sociology. Sociology has to do with the way we humans treat each other and that in turn has enormous implications for how […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2004: Where Do We Go From Here?
Together, we cross the fence
“My credo has always been: Don’t take yourself too seriously, and never give up.” –Tom Bell, founder of High Country News, speaking to the National Wildlife Federation, March 9, 2002 Barbed wire in the mind, I’ll call it that; a four-strand fence, let’s say, barbs sharp against chest, gut and legs, little reinforcers, reminders that […]
Posted inJuly 7, 2003: Invasion of the rock jocks
Pesticides and frogs – it’s worse than we thought
The article on frogs and pesticides is useful, but incomplete (HCN, 5/26/03: Agriculture exacts a price in the High Sierra). At a recent Rachel Carson Council seminar in Baltimore, Md., two researchers presented their findings. Tyrone Hayes of Berkeley, Calif., found, in both laboratory and field tests, that very low levels of atrazine, a pesticide […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
A citizen soldier looks beyond war
During World War II, three infantry regiments and a light artillery unit with mules came together to form a special unit trained for mountain and winter combat — the 10th Mountain Division. The training grounds, Camp Hale, took up most of an s-shaped valley at 9,200 feet in the White River National Forest in central […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
WTO protesters deserve better
Dear HCN, I have some problems with Jon Margolis’ Washington Watch (HCN, 1/31/00: Protesters raised the right questions): Some anti-WTO demonstrators’ arguments might or might not have been “silly,” but one adjective does not constitute a counterargument. Some of the costumes were “silly’? We readers and the protesters in the street struggles deserve more than […]