Items by Michelle Nijhuis
In Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, Tom Painter and
other scientists study the dust in the snow and ponder its
implications for future drought and weather conditions, especially
in the era of global warming
Matt Jenkins leaves the HCN office to
become California-Great Basin correspondent; Western Slope
Environmental Resource Conference and North Fork River Improvement
Association hold annual meetings; visitors; "secretary" Bruce
Babbitt
Faced with rising temperatures and a passive federal
government, Western towns such as Aspen, Colo., are beginning to
work out a local approach to combating global warming
In Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams,
Displaced People, and the Environment, Jacques Leslie
profiles people dealing with dams in India, Africa and
Australia
Sprinkled throughout the lead story are "fun facts" about
what causes greenhouse gas emissions and what people can do to
reduce them
The state of California pioneered pollution-control
efforts decades ago in response to L.A. smog, and today, the
Western states are hoping to set the course for national action on
climate change
The writer tells of new research linking the extinction of
frogs to global warming
Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial
Landscape by Brian Hayes is a wonderfully conversational
explanation of everything one sees along the highway that
isn’t natural
The chance to see a huge dead whale draws "carcass
tourists" to the California coast
Modern-day scientists, retracing the path of Joseph
Grinnell in Yosemite National Park, document conspicuous changes in
the natural world and find a culprit unimagined by biologists 100
years ago: global warming
Wildlife biologist Erik Beever says that as the climate
warms in the Great Basin, pikas are rapidly disappearing from
mountains where they formerly thrived
The writer visits the remains of a dead whale — so
big that a dignified resting place proves elusive
In Sonoita Plain: Views from a Southwestern
Grassland, biologists Carl and Jane Bock convey the
subtle beauty of the wildlife and people of Arizona’s Sonoita
Valley.
When drought shrank Lake Powell this summer,
paleontologist Martin Lockley went to work scouring the shoreline
for newly revealed rare dinosaur tracks in the sandstone
The author’s successful search for a car that can
run on biodiesel helps her understand the lure of the open
road
The writer finds you can have the American dream without
gasoline
In With a Measure of Grace: The Story and Recipes
of a Small Town Restaurant, Blake Spalding and Jennifer
Castle tell how they ended up running the Hell’s Backbone
Grill in the remote community of Boulder, Utah
The Columbia River Basin's serious drought means a hard
choice between fish and hydropower
The Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies brace for a
fierce fire season, and desperately seek the resources to fight
it.
A recent study from the U.S. Geological Survey finds
traces of pharmaceuticals, pesticides and personal care products in
Colorado’s streams and groundwater
An unusual winter sends ripples through the West's water
and wildlife systems, and leaves scientists wondering whether
global warming is the cause.
Jordan Fisher Smith’s Nature Noir: A Park
Ranger’s Patrol in the Sierra explores a part of
California that is not easy to love
Inside an abandoned Air Force base on the Nevada-Utah
border, the Center for Land Use Interpretation houses a remarkable
museum of the West's human landscapes.
In Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You: A White
Mountain Apache Family Life, anthropologist Keith Basso
collects the reminiscences of Eva Tulene Watt
Tree-ring scientists Tom Swetnam and Julio Betancourt
study past climatic conditions seeking clues to better forest
management
The art of counting tree rings requires a lot of patience,
strong legs, and a love of statistical gymnastics
The study of tree rings opens a window into the
West’s distant past, and warns us that the region’s
future may be dangerously hot and dry
The writer suggests sending a new kind of representative
to Congress
The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, a new Colorado
nonprofit, is taking a local approach to the global problem of
climate change
Judge Clarence Brimmer strikes down Clinton's ban on
snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, but
another lawsuit may still bring limits on traffic
