The nonprofit Wolf Education and Research Center, in Ketchum, Idaho, has begun a new program encouraging people to contribute directly to the annual costs of returning wolves to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. It supports logistical expenses, estimated at over $500,000, which include radio collars and tracking equipment as well as field operations. The […]
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Posted inFebruary 20, 1995: No more ignoring the obvious: Idaho sucks itself dry
Bare land at Bear Lake
People who live near drought-plagued Bear Lake, along the Idaho-Utah border, don’t want to see water levels drop another four feet. Yet dredging by Utah Power & Light, which aims to dig a 2,000-foot channel to a pumping station at the north end of the lake, would do just that. The company needs the water […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 1995: No more ignoring the obvious: Idaho sucks itself dry
Trumpeter swans play through
Trumpeter swans have set up housekeeping in Utah for the first time in recorded history, with three of the swans settling in at a golf course near St. George. State wildlife officials discovered the swans after golfers complained that the birds, which can grow to six feet from tail to beak, interfered with their game. […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
‘Wise-use’ laws challenged
Environmentalists are challenging the “wise-use” laws of Catron County, N.M., that have become a model for other rural counties around the West. Two groups, the Greater Gila Biodiversity Project and Gila Watch, along with several private citizens, filed suit in federal court Nov. 17 charging that the ordinances are unconstitutional and violate civil rights laws. […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
A Newtonian vision
A cadre of policy wonks from some ultra-conservative think tanks decended on Capitol Hill Jan. 11 to tell sympathetic Republicans how they’d strip the budgets of the Department of Interior and the Forest Service. Representatives of the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy and Citizens Against Government Waste urged legislators to: * […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
Are grizzlies safe?
Grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem have “recovered” and no longer need protection under the Endangered Species Act. That’s the opinion of a federal team known as the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, which decided in December to support the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s decision to petition for delisting the bear. “People should keep […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
Option 9 survives
In a rare environmental victory for the Clinton administration, a federal judge upheld the president’s plan for protecting wildlife and allowing some timber cutting in the federal forests of the Pacific Northwest. Judge William Dwyer of Seattle, who said in 1991 that federal land managers had committed “deliberate, systematic” violations of environmental laws, ruled Dec. […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
L-P coughs up
Corporate giant Louisiana-Pacific must answer, finally, to a diminutive plaintiff. Four families who successfully sued the wood-products company two years ago will now collect their $2.3 million settlement. The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied the company’s appeal of the original judgment, reports the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. The case centers on the small town of […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
Wilderness trader cashes in
When the Forest Service agreed to give developer Tom Chapman 110 acres near the ski town of Telluride, Colo., in exchange for his wilderness inholding on the Gunnison National Forest, critics were outraged. They said taxpayers would lose valuable public land while Chapman stood to gain a huge profit. Apparently, the critics were right. Chapman, […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Colorado booming
Colorado residents concerned about the fast pace and scale of growth in their state are invited to attend a Summit on Smart Growth and Development, in Denver, Jan. 25-26. Gov. Roy Romer will host the gathering, which costs $60. The governor’s office plans to hold regional meetings after the summit to allow participation. The registration […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Timber sale killed
A federal judge in Denver recently ordered the U.S. Forest Service to shelve a timber sale a decade in the making. Judge Lewis Babcock told the Forest Service on Nov. 17 to abandon a 240-acre timber sale at Long Draw in Colorado’s Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest. He said the Forest Service illegally favored clearcutting over less-intrusive […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Delay again for R.S. 2477
In a surprise move, the Interior Department extended its comment period a third time on R.S. 2477, a law adopted in 1866 to spur colonizing of the West. R.S. 2477 granted a right-of-way to rural counties for the construction of highways on public lands (HCN, 3/21/94). When Congress repealed the law in 1976, pre-existing claims […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Are bears de-fenceless?
Roads closed in some national forests in Idaho to protect grizzly bears are really wide open to anyone driving a motorcycle or all-terrain vehicle, says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency conducted an unannounced inspection of about 80 gates in the state’s Panhandle National Forest this fall and found nearly 90 percent of […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
A penchant for pee
It’s Miller Time for mountain goats in Colorado’s San Juan National Forest when hikers and hunters head home. The goats come down from the high country to congregate at campsites where visitors have urinated. Driven by a craving for salt, the animals have torn up the tundra in the forest’s Weminuche Wilderness. “It’s a strange […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Arizonan gets crosswise with neighbors
A call from the Lord to erect a 70-foot Celtic cross and 30-foot statue of the Madonna has not gone over well with some people in the southern Arizona town of Sierra Vista. Jerry and Pat Chouinard plan a $500,000 project that includes a chapel and a 10-car parking lot – as well as the […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Grazing reformers banned from hunting
If you’re a member of the National or Montana Wildlife Federation, don’t even think about hunting on the Japanese-owned Selkirk Ranch. Zenchiku Land and Livestock banned federation members from hunting this fall after the groups sued Beaverhead National Forest to force reform of its grazing program, reports the Montana Standard. Zenchiku president John Morse placed […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Don’t dump on tourists
Those who blame tourism for dissolving ties in small towns and increasing living costs are on the wrong track, say some planning experts. It’s “the real estate community that is corrupting towns,” said Myles Rademan, public affairs director for Park City, Utah, at a Telluride, Colo., summer travel symposium. Other panelists also targeted escalating real […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Peace gets no chance
Elected officials in Los Alamos, N.M., where government scientists built the first atomic bomb, recently squelched a plan hatched by Albuquerque children to commemorate peace. County council members said the proposed park might become a gathering place for peaceniks, and that a plaque on a statue there might express anti-war sentiments. The council’s rejection stunned […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Raising hell
Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge on earth and one of the most spectacular canyons in the country, may one day resemble Disneyland, warns one critic. “Envision this place,” says Ric Bailey, director of the Hells Canyon Preservation Council. “It’s a backcountry place with dusty unpaved roads. The Forest Service is going to turn it into […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
RX for forests
In response to last year’s devastating fire season, the Forest Service has proposed 330 projects over the next two years to reduce the threat of disease and fire while producing an estimated 1.5 to 2 billion board-feet of timber. Some 1 million acres would be affected, including as much as 150,000 acres on roadless areas. […]