Items by Lissa James

The education of an oyster farmer
The education of an oyster farmer
If you want to run a successful oyster farm, you need to develop a taste for eating raw oysters.
Brushed aside
Brushed aside
On Washington's Olympic Peninsula, the once-lucrative floral greens industry is floundering as its immigrant workers face deportation.
Wherever you go, there you are
Lissa James learns about solitude in places as diverse as an apartment in downtown Paris and a ranch in rural Wyoming.
Treehuggers and treecutters unite
Environmentalists have been working with Washington foresters to keep small tree farms in business, but the treaty between the two remains a fragile one.
Water does move uphill toward money
Lissa James figures that, with so many other get-rich-quick schemers exploiting the West’s need for water, she should have no problem selling her new book, How to Turn Catastrophe into Cash.
Christmas fuels the 'bough industry' in Washington
The writer tells how Christmas has fueled a "bough industry" in the forest
In the Washington woods, managers face a catch-22
The Forests and Fish plan was supposed to help both salmon and the timber industry in Washington State, but clauses in the agreement may tilt it against wildlife
Backbreaking work props up 'sustainable' crops
California farmworkers fight for stricter regulations on hand weeding, only to find themselves at odds with organic farmers.
Cows versus condos -- Northwest style
Some say that Washington’s Forests and Fish rules could be so hard on small timber farms that the owners are likely to sell out to development, to the detriment of salmon and other wildlife
Evolution of a timber family
A Northwestern family finds itself in the midst of heated controversy over ecology and economics when it has to decide how to manage its timber farm
Wildlife refuge may still be radioactive
Scientists may have found a radioactive "hot spot" at the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant near Denver, soon to be home to a wildlife refuge
Graves halt a highway project
An ambitious highway construction project has been put on hold in Port Angeles, Wash., following the discovery of the state’s largest prehistoric village
Seattle's rural neighbors rise up
Inspired by Oregon’s Measure 37, a private-property rights group in King County, Wash., is fighting to repeal recently adopted land-use ordinances
The Utah backcountry gets crowded
Cross-country skiers and environmentalists clash with a heli-skiing company over use of the Tri-Canyon area in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains
My jeans grow on trees
The writer listens to heated arguments about logging the extended family’s oldest and most valuable trees
City slaps back at property-rights measure
In response to Oregon’s recently passed Measure 37, Bend, Ore., adopts a rule that allows people to sue their neighbors if nearby development reduces property values
Fisheries agency rewards a loyal bureaucrat
Environmentalists and some of his own biologists say James Lecky sold out the endangered fish he was charged with protecting, but NOAA Fisheries has just given him a promotion
Racetrack
A short guide to the highlights of election results from contests around the West.
The Sierra gets 'a pocket' for conservation funding
California creates the Sierra Nevada Conservancy in order to funnel state money toward buying and protecting land in the region
Citizens wary of their nuclear neighbor
Sandia National Laboratories wants to monitor the nuclear waste in a Cold War-era landfill just outside Albuquerque, rather than excavate it or try to move it elsewhere
Dear friends
HCN’s upcoming potluck is in Portland; new interns Deanna Belch and Lissa James; and corrections
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