Farmers in Maricopa County, Ariz., may harvest an unexpected crop this summer. Thanks to an unknown culprit who dumped more than a ton of freshly harvested marijuana into an irrigation canal, millions of seeds could find their way onto cotton farms. Steve Werner of the county sheriff’s office said 1,500 pounds of pot were retrieved […]
Staff
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
For rangeland reformers
The Western Legislative Conference is hosting a conference on “Rangeland Reform and Watershed Management in the West” June 24-25 in Denver. The event will profile collaborative efforts among federal and state government officials and ranchers and environmentalists to restore rangeland and watersheds in Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Washington and Arizona. Speakers include Mike Penfold, an Interior […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Environmental group reaches out
The Colorado Environmental Coalition, a Denver-based non-profit group, recently opened a new office on the Continental Divide’s Western Slope. Norm Mullen, the group’s public-lands coordinator and manager of the new Grand Junction office, will work on wilderness, oil and gas development, wild and scenic rivers, and serve as a link between environmental groups on both […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Learn the limits
The University of Colorado will host a three-day conference on “Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits?,” June 13-15. The get-together features Larry MacDonnell of the Natural Resources Law Center; Lois Schiffer from the Department of Justice; Mark Squillace, law professor at the University of Wyoming, and John Echeverria, attorney with the National […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Wind in the West
New wind turbines that produce electricity almost as cheaply as new coal- or natural gas-fired plants have spurred four wind power projects in the West. San Francisco-based Kenetech, the nation’s largest developer of wind energy, proposes three projects featuring turbines that adjust to wind speeds while still creating energy at a uniform rate. Two of […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Our West
Perhaps the best way to understand the West is to live it. That’s the guiding philosophy behind the “Our West: Loving the Land” conference hosted by Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, June 19-25. Conference participants will live on a ranch and explore the Wind River Mountains with local environmentalists. There will also be […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Suit halts coyote killings
Suit halts coyote killings When the federal government refused to shoot coyotes from the air last year, ranchers in Idaho appealed to the state Department of Agriculture for help. The agency responded by issuing seven aerial permits to gunners, who killed 193 coyotes. This year was different: Idaho’s attorney general recently shut down the state’s […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
A one-man Sagebrush Rebellion
A Nevada rancher refuses to pay more than $25,000 in fines to the BLM.
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
It ain’t Antioch
Male grizzly bears basically have two courting styles: find a female and guard her from other males; or, find one that is mating, chase the male away and take over. Those are the conclusions of “Do Big Mean Studs Get All the Action?” and “Why Are Deadbeat Dads Often Abusive?” two chapter titles Lance Craighead […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
At last, a California desert bill
After winning overwhelming approval in the U.S. Senate, the California Desert Protection Act is only one vote away from becoming law. The voluminous bill, which was held up for eight years by Republican opponents and commercial interests, would create 74 new wilderness areas, three new national parks, and protect a total of 6.3 million acres […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Woodlot owners at risk
-I know I’ll have to sue him,” says Ken Hopkins of Greenbluff, Wash., who is unhappy with a private logger who harvested trees on Hopkins’ woodlot. The dispute centers around the price for trees and environmental damages from improper logging, according to the Spokane Spokesman-Review. State officials in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Utah say […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
A spinning door
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Dan Beard isn’t happy with former agency colleague Joe Hall. Eight months after resigning as the number two official at the bureau, Hall was hired as a $95-per-hour consultant by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, reports The Denver Post. According to federal ethics law, former top officials must abstain from […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
A bright idea
When the lights start to dim or the TV won’t turn on, some Navajos in Arizona know it’s time to drive to a gas station and recharge the car battery. For the 10,000 people who live out of range of the tribal utility’s powerlines, car batteries provide a quick, though inconvenient, source of energy. But […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
BLM OKs drilling near cave, sort of
The Bureau of Land Management will allow a New Mexico company to drill for gas on federal land near Lechuguilla Cave, the deepest cave in the United States and part of Carlsbad Caverns National Park (HCN, 2/22/93). But Yates Petroleum says the strict criteria the agency established for the leases make it economically infeasible to […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Home on the Range: A Culinary History of the AmericanWest
To Catch Wild Ducks,Geese or Birds AliveSoak wheat in strong alcohol.Scatter where they are in the habit of feeding.Take them while they are drunk. * Early recipe book titled Cookbook private collection, ca. 1880 Coon Cake Take what flour you have, mix with water, shorten with coon oil and fry in coon fat. Army Coffee […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Rainbows over Wyoming
Counter-culture types will be dropping out somewhere in Wyoming this July when the 22nd Rainbow Gathering convenes. From 10,000 to 25,000 people are expected to come from across the country to one of Wyoming’s five national forests. Rolling Stone magazine reports that last year’s gathering drew about 10,000 people to a national forest in Alabama. […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
BuRec downsizes
Seven years after the Bureau of Reclamation promised to transform itself from dam builder to environmental water manager, the agency announced its first self-imposed overhaul. Under an order signed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, the Bureau will move its headquarters from Denver back to Washington, D.C., streamline its management structure and cut 550 jobs, mostly […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Rancher fined for vandalism
A retired Escalante, Utah, rancher pleaded guilty to “enhancing” 21 Anasazi petroglyphs at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area with a pocket knife. Rancher McKay Bailey agreed to pay restoration costs and forfeit his 1990 Ford pickup for violating the 1979 Archaeological Resources Protection Act. In exchange for his guilty plea, the government recommended a […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Legal fight is costly
The Oregon Natural Resources Council hopes to raise $100,000 to defend itself against a lawsuit concerning its activities in the Klamath Basin in south-central Oregon and northern California. The group, with an annual budget of $650,000, has already spent $25,000 on defense. Farmer Marion Palmer charges that ONRC and others have interfered with his water […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Judge chastises forest plan defendant
The Clinton administration’s Northwest forest plan received a blow March 21 when a federal judge ruled the plan was prepared in violation of a federal open-meetings law. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said the administration failed to include public comment and took information from a limited circle of […]