On the morning of Aug. 22, giant furnaces sparked into life in Tooele County, 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. Inside the infernos, M-55 nerve gas rockets were reduced to shrapnel and smoke. But three days later, the destruction of chemical weapons abruptly halted after traces of nerve gas were detected in a […]
News
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Multicultural grazing boards off to a good start
DENVER, Colo. – Call them the cowboy and the lady. He is T. Wright Dickinson, tall, rail-thin, a third-generation rancher living on 35,000 high-desert acres in northwestern Colorado. She is Kathy Carlson, dressed in an ankle-length dress, glasses framing a tanned face, a veteran of Washington, D.C., politics for the National Wildlife Federation who moved […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Grazing bill returns for another round
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another new article titled “Multicultural grazing boards off to a good start.” If Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., has his way, the Resource Advisory Committees, which just turned one year old, will never reach their second birthday. A bill sponsored by […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Babbitt takes the offensive on Utah wilderness
At a wilderness hearing last spring, Utah Rep. James Hansen challenged Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to find 5 million acres of BLM land in Utah that qualify for wilderness designation. Now that competing Utah wilderness bills are dormant in Congress, Babbitt has taken him up. The Interior boss has assembled “a small team of career […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Birds get eviction notice
When the Bureau of Reclamation floods the endangered southwestern willow flycatchers out of their nesting habitat near Phoenix, Ariz., will the birds simply move to the next best spot? The Bureau says they will. But conservationists fear the move will drive the local population of songbirds to extinction. The deluge comes next spring as a […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Devils Tower may get a second name
To Plains Indians, the name Devils Tower dishonors a sacred place. But to local Wyoming residents, the name stands for community identity and tourist dollars. When Devils Tower National Monument Superintendent Deborah Liggett revived the idea of renaming the feature, people spoke out in opposition. At an Aug. 15 meeting, says Liggett, “I was labeled […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Waste creeps toward Yucca Mountain
Nevada’s Yucca Mountain is one step closer to becoming a temporary nuclear waste dump. Republicans rushed a bill to the Senate floor before the August break that would clear the way for shipping nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain as early as 1998 (HCN, 4/1/96). It passed in late July despite an attempted filibuster by Democratic […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Where the wolves are
Though the media’s attention has focused on the wolf reintroduction effort in Yellowstone National Park, wolves in Idaho may reach the recovery goal of 10 breeding pairs first. Biologists received good news last spring when they confirmed that eight pairs of wolves in Idaho had denned. Three litters have been sighted so far. In 1995, […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Montana grizzlies move west
For a decade, Montanans have complained about the influx of Californians. The trend has reversed, at least for three grizzlies. A sow and her two 16-month-old cubs had run into trouble by repeatedly raiding garbage cans and cabins just outside Yellowstone National Park. Even after land managers relocated the family, the grizzlies returned to their […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Radioactive waste is hot issue in Idaho
BOISE, Idaho – Nuclear waste critics have taken on Idaho Gov. Phil Batt with a bang. In 10 weeks they collected 52,000 valid signatures – some 10,000 more than were needed – to get a “Stop the Shipments” initiative on the November ballot. If voters say yes Nov. 3, not only will Batt’s agreement to […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Politics in cyberspace
What happens when a computer whiz with a penchant for the outdoors decides to tackle politics? Brad Udall, creator of one of the first on-line political action committees, hopes he can influence the composition of the next Congress. Following in the footsteps of his father, former Arizona Rep. Morris Udall, and his uncle, former Secretary […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
A “bizarre” alliance fights logging
The southern Colorado town of San Luis, population 850, is predominantly rural, Hispanic and Catholic. Everyone here knows everyone else. But at a special sunrise service on June 10, the local priest welcomed some new faces from environmental groups such as Ancient Forest Rescue, Greenpeace and Earth First! Afterwards, the motley congregation drove to the […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
The Republicans weren’t dull by a long shot
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – As you no doubt noticed, some of the reporters covering the Republican National Convention here were so bored they wanted to go home. Indeed, one of them did. Ted Koppel of ABC’s Nightline imperiously announced he was leaving before the party ended. Ted missed a good story. Come to think of […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Recreation fee startles locals
In July, radio talk show hosts in Tucson, Ariz., went after an unlikely target: forest ranger Tom Quinn. “They roasted me for a week,” said Quinn, who works on the Coronado National Forest. The reason for the fuss? The Forest Service wants to charge an entrance fee for the popular Mount Lemmon recreation area just […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Yellowstone mine a goner
A year after President Clinton announced his opposition to a proposed gold mine just outside Yellowstone National Park, he delivered the goods. At an Aug. 12 press conference in the park, Clinton announced that Crown Butte Mine Inc. had agreed to give up its mine project in exchange for unspecified real estate valued at no […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Marvel wins a round
Anti-ranching activist Jon Marvel has won a favorable decision from the Idaho Supreme Court on the first state grazing lease that he challenged three years ago. On June 20, Idaho’s highest court ruled that the state Land Board violated the state constitution by awarding a 640-acre grazing lease to a Challis rancher, even though the […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Crane hunt is contested
Idaho approved a sandhill crane hunt last month to appease farmers who are losing barley and potatoes to the birds. The state plans to distribute 20 permits to shoot the lanky, long-necked cranes this September, but it is not yet clear who will do the killing. State officials would like to use the permits to […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Endangered salmon leave rafters dry
In Idaho’s Sawtooth National Recreation Area, rafters are butting heads with the U.S. Forest Service over regulations meant to protect endangered chinook salmon. This summer, four rafting companies filed an appeal to a plan that would keep boats away from spawning grounds in the upper Salmon River after late August. They said the Forest Service […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
A tree did it
On July 2, a blackout in the West left 2 million people without electricity. The culprit, it turns out, was a cottonwood tree in southeastern Idaho. Or perhaps it was the maintenance folks who allowed this lone tree to grow so close to a power line that electricity jumped to it. When this “flashover” occurred […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Park Service preys on lake trout
At Yellowstone Lake, there’s a new fishing regulation: No matter how many lake trout you catch, you can keep them. In fact, you have to. The compulsory open season is part of a desperate attempt by the Park Service to curb lake trout, a species dumped illegally in the lake (HCN, 9/19/94). Lake trout are […]