Items by Lisa Jones

A daunting, beautiful place
The 1.7 million acres at the new Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument contain a wide variety of landscapes, life zones and archaeological treasures.
Heard around the West
Overheard cafe conversations in North Dakota; "Amazing Grace" radio in South Dakota; sheep's "beautiful buttocks" gone; fish image problems; Arizona speeding excuses; Idaho UFOs.
Droughts come, droughts go
Rancher Quentin Hulse, in his own words, remembers previous Southwestern droughts.
The art of control
Rancher Jim Winder, in his own words, about the art of ranching during severe drought.
Drought cuts to the bone on Southwest range
The Southwest's severe drought takes a toll on the ranchers of New Mexico's Gila National Forest.
Ranger charges ranchers with assault
Forest Service Range Conservationist Chuck Oliver is physically assaulted when he tries to attend a meeting in Eagle, Ariz., between public-lands ranchers and wise-use attorney Karen Budd-Falen.
Heard around the West
High Country Shopper, Rocky Mountain News scorns rural Colorado cows, low wages for Wyoming women, husband wife team of wilderness rangers needs money in Montana, quips from Myles Rademan, New York Times' Freemen blooper.
The Country Doctor
Reserve, N.M., Dr. Mark Unverzagt, in his own words, on the often overlooked middle ground in Catron County.
The Psychologist
Psychologist Melinda Garcia, in her own words, on working with people in Catron County's "war zone."
The Forest Ranger
Forest Service District Ranger Mike Gardner, in his own words, on dealing with the tensions in Catron County.
The Businessperson
An anonymous Catron County businessperson, in his words, on the tensions between factions in the county.
The County Attorney
Catron County Attorney Jim Catron, in his own words, on the "rural Western resistance to the federal empire."
Heard around the West
Strange bedfellows in the West: Wal-Mart and Main Street, sheep and range restoration, javelinas in Washington state, cartoonist John Callahan runs for Oregon state Legislature, Cheetos in space, cowboys and California.
Heard Around the West
Sex at the prom, Abstinence Week, Utah's baby boom, complaints in a Silver City, N.M., lumberyard about having to take off your gun at the door, tourists hurry through Utah, linger in Wyoming, and in South Dakota folks are nice to cows.
Some not-so-easy steps to successful collaboration
Mediator Gerald Mueller of Missoula, Mont., names ingredients necessary for successful consensus groups.
Howdy, neighbor!
Consensus-building groups seek to find common ground in the land.
Heard Around the West
Montana weirdness, Santa Fe Mayor Debbie Jaramillo and nepotism, Utah bans gay groups in schools, livestock fight back in Colorado, rattlesnakes in Vail, and Idaho paints over swastikas.
Heard around the West
Praying for cold weather, Jesus and fishing permits, wild horse contraceptives, reservoirs help earth rotate, Bigfoot on endangered species list, Northwesterners for more fish use, wrong fish for logo.
Heard around the West
Sen. Hatfield and sausages, hunting in a bra, East bunny "scramble" in N.M., Oliver Stone opposing buffalo hunting in N.M., Carlsbad Caverns a world heritage site, John Talbott fished without a license but still is on Wyoming payroll.
Heard around the West
Lost in the West, including Sacajawea, Bureau of Indian Affairs money; extra acres of public land appearing; busted for nude sunbathing in Spokane; computer sculpture courtesy of DIA; Helen Chenoweth on new species; Columbia Falls finally gets waterfall.
Taking a stand for New Mexico's small farmers
In his own words, extension agent Edmund Gomez describes how the Rural Agriculture Improvement Project seeks to help New Mexico's poor farmers.
What is cooperative extension?
Description of what the West's extension agents do.
What does the West need to know?
In a changing West, the land-grant universities' cooperative extension programs must rethink their mission.
Heard around the West
Poodle-free Montana, militias, peyote bust, the spiritual center of the universe.
Heard around the West
Navajo football broadcast, George Nethercutt not a good listener, fish visitors comment, Wanaleiya resort in Nevada, Iowa romance, cold weather in the Dakotas, big and little DIAs.
Facts take a beating on the range
New Mexico State's Range Improvement Task Force issues a press release saying the Diamond Bar allotment is not overgrazed, and environmentalists and scientist critics cry "pseudoscience."
Heard Around the West
Nevada pigeon poop, an empty Arches National Park, impersonating game wardens, Ben Campbell upset by female impersonator, militia forms PAC, Helen Chenoweth on grizzly bear recovery, hunting escaped cows, DIA's traffic control woes.
Critics say an Idaho think tank could be more scholarly
Jay O'Laughlin, director of the University of Idaho's Policy Analysis Group, denies the charges of industry bias leveled against his group.
'Anything you say about a whole forest is wrong'
The University of Idaho's Art Partridge believes that the forest health crisis is a fraud.
Two views of forest health at the University of Idaho
University of Idaho scientists Art Partridge and Jay O'Laughlin bring opposite viewpoints to the question of forest health.
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