Save the Sonoran “After five years of watching them bulldoze the desert and pack the sardines in, those people living in Del Webb’s 1,400-home Terravita development will need a therapist,” says David Phelps. He’s a local carpenter and board member of Sonoran North, a grassroots group battling the blade in the booming communities north of […]
Staff
Posted inAugust 21, 1995: HCN's founder fights his last fight, yet again
Short takes
The Montana Environmental Information Center will discuss recent state legislation that weakened water quality standards – plus mining, right-wing movements and Montana’s energy future – at its annual meeting Sept. 23 at Flathead Lake Biological Station. For more information, or to register by Sept. 8, contact MEIC, P.O. Box 1184, Helena, MT 59624 (406/443-2520). Desert […]
Posted inAugust 21, 1995: HCN's founder fights his last fight, yet again
Sharp edge of the West
SHARP EDGE OF THE WEST Jumping into the swim of the alternative press is Edging West, a new bimonthly magazine based in Logan, Utah. Editor and publisher Andrew Giarelli says his target audience includes Westerners from their 20s to their 50s who are “maybe a little irreverent.” The 40- to 50-page magazine covers movie, book […]
Posted inAugust 21, 1995: HCN's founder fights his last fight, yet again
Breaking the law for trees
Breaking the law for trees With acts of civil disobedience reminiscent of the 1960s civil rights movement, some people in Missoula, Mont., have begun protesting emergency salvage timber sales. One week after President Clinton signed the salvage sales into law, 15 people occupied Montana Sen. Max Baucus’ Missoula office. They refused to leave until the […]
Posted inAugust 21, 1995: HCN's founder fights his last fight, yet again
Better range, better cows
BETTER RANGE, BETTER COWS If you’re a rancher, environmentalist, or just plain interested in how better range makes for healthier cows and land, then come to Delta, Colo., for a Sept. 11 conference sponsored by the Delta/Montrose Public Lands Partnership. Program speakers include well-known ranchers such as Doc and Connie Hatfield of Brothers, Ore., Bob […]
Posted inAugust 21, 1995: HCN's founder fights his last fight, yet again
Dear friends
Thank you, Ray Ring To avoid a fight, we waited on this column until senior editor Ray Ring was out of the office. Not that Ray has been argumentative while here. Far from it. But he is a man who has never heard a compliment he liked. If we were writing this just for Ray, […]
Posted inAugust 7, 1995: Fighting fires, and indignities
Dear friends
A celebration Twenty-five years ago, schoolteacher-rancher-activist Tom Bell of Lander, Wyo., had the nutty, impractical, unsustainable idea of founding a newspaper to cover environmental issues in the rural, inland West. On Saturday, Sept. 9, Bell (who lost his ranch while establishing the paper) and scores of like spirits will gather in Lander, Wyo., to celebrate […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
Logan Canyon: Round 1,000
LOGAN CANYON: ROUND 1,000 A controversy that began in 1959 over widening and straightening the road through scenic Logan Canyon in Utah continued in May when the Forest Service decided against a citizens’ group. The group, the Logan Canyon Coalition, had submitted an 187-page critique of the state highway department’s plan to enlarge the road […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
Grazing thickens forests
GRAZING THICKENS FORESTS A June 12 report from the Oregon Natural Resources Council blames livestock in addition to the usual culprits – fire suppression and poor logging practices – for the declining health of Western forests. The group’s ecologists, Joy Belsky and Dana Blumenthal, reviewed four case studies from Washington, Utah, Idaho and the Southwest, […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
The Subdivision Massacre: Part II
THE SUBDIVISION MASSACRE: PART II Hot on the heels of his blockbuster video, Subdividing the West: Implications of Population Growth, Colorado State University wildlife professor Richard Knight has released a sequel: Saving the West: Protecting Open Space, starring a county commissioner, a Nature Conservancy staffer, the originator of one of the nation’s most successful open […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
Polluter Pork
POLLUTER PORK Renewable energy is on the congressional chopping block again. An 80-page report by the Sustainable Energy Budget Coalition blasts congressional budget cuts in the Department of Energy’s renewable energy programs. The coalition’s study, Congressional Energy Budget Proposals: Penny-Wise, Pound Fuelish is a state-by-state analysis of budget cut effects. Congress was far kinder to […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
Toughen the ESA, scientists say
TOUGHEN THE ESA, SCIENTISTS SAY In the midst of efforts to water down the Endangered Species Act, two scientific panels announced support for the beleaguered law. Convened by the National Academy of Sciences, the first panel called for swifter action by the government to denote and protect “survival habitat.” Panel chairman Michael Clegg, a geneticist […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
Short takes
To help people understand the complicated issue of water rights in New Mexico, Recursos de Santa Fe is organizing an Aug. 9 conference in Silver City, N.M., The Prehistoric Basis for Water Use in New Mexico: Options for the Future. Registration is $25. For more information contact M. Susan Barger at Recursos de Santa Fe, […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
Mount Graham time line
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Making a mountain into a starbase. About 9000 BC As continental glaciers retreat, conifer forests of the Pinalenos – where 10,720-foot Mount Graham is the highest peak – become isolated from those of the Mogollon Rim and other mountain islands in what is now […]
Posted inJuly 24, 1995: Making a mountain into a starbase
Dear friends
Snowplows in June Summer in this 6,000-foot mountain valley unofficially arrived July 5; up until then snow fell and dusted the West Elk Mountains overnight, and something called rain dripped every other day. The air felt more like October. Finally, 90-degree heat moved in – this was more like it! – though we could still […]
Posted inJune 26, 1995: Colorado's prison slayer
Dear Friends
Skipped issue Librarians especially should note that there will be no July 10 issue. This annual break allows readers to catch up on articles they haven’t read, and to get out into the great outdoors while it is still great. Getting into the higher outdoors is difficult around Paonia. Kebler Pass, which links us to […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
Family inspiration
Family inspiration Fictional and real-life families are the focus of this year’s Fishtrap gathering of writers in northeastern Oregon, July 3-9. Orphaned in Eden: The Search for Family in the West features workshops and discussion groups with literary agent Lizzie Grossman, novelist Craig Lesley and poet Naomi Shihab Nye, among others. Workshops will examine fictional […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
A humming good race
A humming good race This summer, the Rockies will host a kinder, gentler type of car race – one without roaring, polluting engines. The first annual Sun Sprint of the Rockies solar and electric car-race, a 500-mile run from Aspen, Colo., to Moab, Utah, is set for July 11-21. Racers will travel about 50 miles […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
Rescuing Colorado’s rivers
Rescuing Colorado’s rivers The rivers of Colorado have a new advocate. The nonprofit Colorado Rivers Alliance aims to protect and restore Colorado’s rivers and hopes to gain members from all streams of life, including environmentalists, farmers and politicians. Although the group’s mission is broad, it has more specific intentions as well, such as re-establishing riparian […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
Having it all
Having it all Can a city like Boulder, Colo., really have it all? Is it possible for a community to have open space, a sound economy, adequate schools, a healthy environment and affordable housing, all at once? A June 22-23 workshop, sponsored by the Boulder Housing Authority, will address those issues and invite participants to […]