High Country News – Know the West

Managing scenery, wildlife and humans

Idaho's Sawtooth National Recreation Area has long seen trouble between the Forest Service and private inholders, and manager Paul Ries is on the hot seat for trying to protect the area.

Emily Miller Feb. 16, 1998 From the print edition

Salmon says no bears, no way

In Salmon, Idaho, a public hearing on the possible reintroduction of grizzly bears reveals an almost-hysterical fear of bears among many of the locals.

Emily Miller Oct. 27, 1997 From the print edition

Rafters vs. fish

River outfitters protest the Forest Service's policy of periodically closing Idaho's Salmon River to floaters to protect endangered salmon.

Emily Miller Oct. 13, 1997 From the print edition

Rid-a-Bird works too well

A small pest control company's product, Rid-a-Bird, is blamed in the deaths of two protected birds, a hawk and an owl, after Weyerhaeuser uses it to kill starlings at its Longview, Wash., paper mill.

Emily Miller Sept. 15, 1997 From the print edition

Maps may save lives

A mapping project is set up in Oregon to identify sites at risk for landslides, in an attempt to discourage both logging and home building in dangerous areas.

Emily Miller Sept. 15, 1997 From the print edition

Wolves take heavy toll in Montana

Wolves have killed at least 30 sheep in six weeks in Montana's Tobacco Valley, and despite being compensated by Defenders of Wildlife, some sheep ranchers are furious.

Emily Miller Sept. 15, 1997 From the print edition

Bigger might be better for Utah's parks

In Utah, Canyonlands park officials and conservationists are saying that an area slated for oil drilling, Lockhart Basin, which is right outside the park boundaries, should be included in the park and protected.

Emily Miller Sept. 15, 1997 From the print edition

An Indian casino would sit on ancient graves

On Arizona's Tohono O'odham Reservation, a controversial tribal council plan would build a casino on land where a 700-year-old village and graves are buried.

Emily Miller Sept. 1, 1997 From the print edition

Bad blood over good sheep

Lyle McNeal, founder of Utah State University's Navajo Sheep Project, comes to a crisis with the university and files suit against it over the future of his project to save the Churro sheep.

Emily Miller Aug. 18, 1997 From the print edition

Bombs tested in Nevada

The Department of Energy begins a series of underground nuclear detonations at the Nevada Test Site, and environmentalists and arms control groups protest.

Emily Miller Aug. 18, 1997 From the print edition

A timber town yells for help

Town officials in Forks, Wash., which has been badly hit by logging restrictions, complain to the state government that they were promised economic assistance.

Emily Miller Aug. 18, 1997 From the print edition

A do-over in Telluride

The Forest Service revises its approval of a ski area expansion onto public land in Telluride, Colo.

Emily Miller Aug. 4, 1997 From the print edition

Co-existence criticized

Five environmental groups say that oil and gas drilling on the Shoshone National Forest threatens grizzly bear habitat.

Emily Miller Aug. 4, 1997 From the print edition

Trouble for grizzly bear recovery plan

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's draft plan to restore grizzly bears to western Montana and central Idaho's Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem faces opposition from Republican Sens. Conrad Burns and Larry Craig.

Emily Miller Aug. 4, 1997 From the print edition

Lakes vanish - and then return

A 10-mile stretch of lakes, creeks and a waterfall in Lincoln County, Wash. - dry for a decade - come back to life this spring as the drought ends.

Emily Miller July 7, 1997 From the print edition

Get your ash off our mountain

The Forest Service prohibits scattering human ashes on its land - and Native Americans object, too - but the remains keep appearing.

Emily Miller July 7, 1997 From the print edition

Hanford workers point the finger

Four workers at the Hanford, Wash., plutonium reclamation facility say they are still suffering health problems after a May 14 accident at the facility.

Emily Miller July 7, 1997 From the print edition

Bills target Antiquities Act

Utah lawmakers try to push bills thgrough Congress to limit the Antiquities Act and control management of the new Grand Staircase-Escalante Nat'l Monument created with the Antiquities Act.

Emily Miller June 23, 1997 From the print edition

Climbing ban fails

The Forest Service reverses a climbing ban at Cave Rock in South Lake Tahoe, Nev., despite Indian claims that the site is sacred.

Emily Miller June 23, 1997 From the print edition

Tribes say count us out

A forum intended to come up with a salmon recovery plan loses support when four Northwest Indian tribes withdraw, charging that the process favors hydropower, not fish.

Emily Miller June 23, 1997 From the print edition

The roads less funded

A bill before Congress would end funding for new logging roads in national forests.

Emily Miller June 9, 1997 From the print edition

Tell it to the judge

Ninety-five species of Southwestern wildlife, proposed over a year ago for listing as endangered, still have not been evaluated.

Emily Miller June 9, 1997 From the print edition

Dear Michael Dombeck

Biologists and botanists from 30 different forests have written a letter to new Chief Michael Dombeck, saying the agency's ability to achieve its conservation goals is seriously hampered by budget cuts.

Emily Miller June 9, 1997 From the print edition

The system cuts a new chief down to size

New Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck and his plans for agency reform face slow going on a rough road filled with obstacles.

Emily Miller June 9, 1997 From the print edition

Mount Zirkel's acid trip

Air pollution from coal-fired power plants in Craig and Hayden, Colo., is harming wildlife in the Mount Zirkel wilderness.

Emily Miller May 26, 1997 From the print edition

Taking range reform by the horns

Navajo ranchers are warming up to the idea of range reform on their overgrazed, drought-damaged reservation.