Karen Mockler likes the West’s grittier towns
– the ones that aren’t remotely cool, the ones with a
certain funk
Items by Karen Mockler
In Ahead of Their Time, editors
Broughton Coburn and Leila Bruno collect the stories of the heroes
and heroines of the Wyoming wilderness movement
With its beautiful photographs and fine writing, Pete
Bengeyfield’s Incredible Vision: The Wildlands of Greater
Yellowstone succeeds in giving readers a new look at an
often-photographed landscape
West Nile virus is impacting Western wildlife,
particularly birds, and some think coalbed methane development may
be spreading the disease
Grizzlies in the Mist by Chuck Neal is
an idiosyncratic look at the great bears of Yellowstone, combining
scientific background and personal anecdotes with a strong
conservation message
Westerners are becoming more concerned about incidents of
cruelty to wildlife, but laws against such acts remain inconsistent
in the region
People of Powell, Wyo., resurrects their own department
store.
The plan for a golf course and housing development on the
Snake River near Jackson Hole, Wyo., would allow the developer to
displace or kill up to 18 bald eagles.
Several communities surrounding Yellowstone National Park
have passed regulations banning grizzlies, wolves and other
"unacceptable species," even though the laws are
unenforceable.
Conservation groups want to phase out 23 elk feedgrounds
managed by the state, claiming they are expensive breeding grounds
for disease.
Tucson, Ariz., development foes are upset by a plan to
sell land that was given to the Boy Scouts by a local rancher 30
years ago.
In the Northwest, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
is fighting with the National Marine Fisheries Service over
relicensing three dams in Hells Canyon on the Snake River that the
fisheries service says are killing salmon.
On a tributary of Oregon's Nehalem River, the writer
worked with Fish and Wildlife biologist Michele Long to scatter the
carcasses of hatchery salmon, which feed a wide range of
wildlife.
At long last, the Bureau of Indian Affairs recognizes the
existence of the Chinook Tribe.
Some environmentalists fear that a proposed land exchange
involving Oregon's Clatsop State Forest will lead to the logging of
an intact forest ecosystem.
A tour of Arizona's recently opened Kartchner Caverns
State Park reveals an extraordinary underground landscape that was
undiscovered until 1974.
The decline of logging in the Northwest has created a
timber boom in the South, where most timber grows on private lands
and chip mills are increasingly popular.
Photographer Celia Roberts' bilingual Year 2000 calendar
"Gracias" celebrates the Latino migrant workers who harvest western
Colorado's fields.
In Phoenix, Ariz., cases of "Valley Fever" are rising as
rapid development stirs up pathogens in the area's dust.
Environmentalists are worried by a new House bill that
will strengthen county control of national forests and their
budgets.
In its study, "Rivers Among Us: Local Watershed
Preservation and Resource Management in the Western United States,"
the Reason Public Policy Institute offers a free-market,
libertarian look at balancing water needs with environmental
protection.
The report "Profile of Rural Idaho" reflects a "two-Idaho"
phenomenon, where the economic gulf is widening, especially in poor
rural areas.
Perry R. Wilkes, Jr., and his wife, Bette, founded the
nonprofit Citizens for a Rational Water Policy to try to change the
city of Albuquerque's water policies.
The Forest Service is suing Tufflite Inc. for illegally
mining pumice on the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona's Coconino
National Forest.
Arizona Public Service agrees to restore Fossil Creek by
decommissioning the creek's two small hydroelectric
plants.
In western Washington, the Muckleshoot Tribe's plan to
build a 20,000-seat open-air amphitheater is stirring up heated
opposition from other King County residents.
A report by Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility titled "Attacks on Federal Employees" documents a
rising tide of violence against Forest Service and BLM
staffers.
A new report, "Air Quality Concerns Related to Snowmobile
Usage," says snowmobiles produce nearly all the air pollution in
Yellowstone National Park.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the
little-known agency that handles hydroelectric project
licensing.
Environmentalists, federal agencies and area Indian tribes
are pushing to decommission 90-year-old Fossil Creek Dam and its
two small hydropower plants near Strawberry, Ariz.
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