High Country News – Know the West

The U.S. Air Force will soon deploy the first operational MX nuclear missile near Cheyenne, Wyo.

Philip White Oct. 28, 1985 From the print edition

Baffling Bufo plight tied to Basin Baytex fight

The virtual disappearance of frog and toad species in Wyoming's Laramie Basin may be caused by mosquito-control used by ranchers.

Philip White June 12, 1981 From the print edition

Linford's pen still pursues West's polluters

Ernest Linford may be retired after a noted career as a journalist and professor in Wyoming, but he remains committed to land and water conservation.

Philip White Feb. 6, 1981 From the print edition

Trumpeter's woes may be linked to radioactivity

High mortality of young trumpeter swans in and around Yellowstone National Park has puzzled researchers, but a new study suggests that radioactive substances may be the cause.

Philip White April 18, 1980 From the print edition

High heating costs fire up consumers in Rockies

Rising fuels costs mean higher heating bills for homeowners and businesses, with no relief in sight.

Philip White Feb. 8, 1980 From the print edition

Study says geothermal plan may hurt geysers

The U.S. Interior Department has reiterated that no drilling will be allowed in the Island Park Geothermal Area next to Yellowstone National Park until there are scientific assurances that drilling poses no threat to Yellowstone's thermal features.

Philip White Oct. 19, 1979 From the print edition

Could energy seekers make Old Faithful falter?

Targhee National Forest officials, who manage nearly all of the Island Park Geothermal Area adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, are being pressured by more than 70 parties who want to drill for hot water that would be used to generate electricity.

Philip White June 1, 1979 From the print edition

A winter's tale of wildlife suffering

Although the death toll is not in yet, Wyoming Game and Fish Department personnel say it was the worst winter for wildlife in memory, and wildlife in other Rocky Mountain states fared only slightly better.

Philip White April 6, 1979 From the print edition

Yellowstone: for people or for preservation?

Ever since Congress designated Yellowstone National Park in 1872, the park's guardians have faced a riddle: whether to manage Yellowstone for the benefit and enjoyment of people, or to preserve it from injury and spoilation.

Philip White Feb. 23, 1979 From the print edition

BLM picks 86 potential Wyoming wildernesses

Ninety-two percent of the Bureau of Land Management's 17.8 million acres in Wyoming do not qualify for further study of wilderness potential, according to BLM's proposed "first cut" in the wilderness inventory process.

Philip White Feb. 9, 1979 From the print edition

BLM catches flak for wilderness inventory

As the Bureau of Land Management inventories potential wilderness on the 174 million acres its oversees in the Western states, industry spokesmen are leveling charges of "land grab" while conservationists are concerned about the compressed timetables and a lack of knowledge.

Philip White Dec. 29, 1978 From the print edition

Yellowstone Park's most devoted geyser gazer

For three months and 380 consecutive eruptions, John Wegel has been present to watch the Riverside Geyser arch its plume 80 feet high out over the Firehole River.

Philip White Dec. 15, 1978 From the print edition

Political rapids rock proposals for wild rivers

After stretches of eight Western rivers -- including Idaho's Salmon River and Colorado's Dolores River -- were included in an omnibus wild and scenic rivers bill at the recommendation of President Jimmy Carter, the bill is caught in the perilous whitewater of Congress.

Philip White June 2, 1978 From the print edition

Nuclear accident spurs investigation

A seal ruptured in the helium circulator of the Fort St. Vain nuclear plant at Platteville, Colo., releasing helium gas containing radioactive iodine into the plant interior and then into the outside air.

Philip White Feb. 10, 1978 From the print edition

South Wyoming may not look like much, but ...

Although the sagebrush flats of southern Wyoming appear monotonous and dry, to biologists they are a complex natural system -- one that is likely to be disturbed by extraction of coal.

Philip White Nov. 18, 1977 From the print edition

Too much water stymies desert mine

In the year of the drought, in the middle of Wyoming's Red Desert, Union 76's Minerals Exploration Co. faces an ironic problem: what to do with a pesky 11,000 acre-feet per year of good quality ground water that will seep into its proposed open pit uranium mine.

Philip White July 15, 1977 From the print edition

Cranes' fate depends on Platte's flow

Proposed water projects and uncontrolled pumping of groundwater for irrigation threaten the wide-flowing, flooding, living oasis that sandhill cranes call home on Nebraska's Platte River.

Philip White April 8, 1977 From the print edition

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