As this summer’s massive wildfires wind down, the West still can’t decide who’s at fault. Yet nearly everyone agrees on one thing: A century of fire suppression has disrupted the cycle of frequent fires in dry conifer forests, replacing old-growth pine stands with thickets of small trees. When the fuel buildup collided with drought and […]
News
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Looters beware: Tribes are fighting back
Lori Watlamet can’t hold back tears when she talks about the looting of an old Native Indian village site in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia River Gorge. In May, with a reporter in tow, the law enforcement officer walked over a bluff that protects the site from plain view and her heart sank. Watlamet, a member […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
A park rediscovers a surprising asset
Springdale, Utah – Though some still question the wisdom of spending $11.8 million on 350 shuttle buses for Zion National Park (HCN, 4/10/00), practically everyone agrees that they allow an unexpected experience to emerge from the surreal canyons of Utah. Quiet strikes tourists when they step off a propane-powered bus at any of the seven […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
The Latest Bounce
The Army Corps of Engineers has suffered a setback: The National Marine Fisheries Service revoked approval Aug. 25 for the Corps to deepen 103 miles of the Columbia River’s shipping lane. New studies show dredging will hurt endangered salmon (HCN, 1/17/00: A dredging dilemma). Meanwhile, a preliminary report by independent scientists in Portland, Ore., estimates […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
A massacre is not forgotten
In 1864 in southeastern Colorado, more than 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho tribe members, mostly women, children and elderly people, were killed in an unprovoked attack led by Colonel John Chivington. Although the U.S. government quickly denounced Chivington’s actions as a national disgrace, no memorial distinguishes the site from its surroundings. More than a century later, […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
New developer thinks big
UTAH An unlikely company is proposing to build what most developers can’t – a dense community in an area where large homes and large lots are the norm. Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., which has mined copper in the Salt Lake Valley for almost 100 years, plans to build 12,000 homes, apartments and condominiums and 4 […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Coalition ushers a mine off sacred ground
Agreement will fill a hole dug for the fashion industry
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Ski town workers find homes in the hills
Squatters say camping on public land is the only affordable option
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
What’s best for a crumbling treasure?
Plans to rescue Glacier’s hotels could be a sweetheart deal for big business in a national park
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Ranchers forgo their federal lease
IDAHO Cows and salmon don’t mix; at least that’s the message rancher Rollin Baker says he has received repeatedly from the National Marine Fisheries Service. So Baker and his partner, A.D. Watkins, recently relinquished their federal grazing privileges near Bear Valley Creek in Idaho’s Boise National Forest. The ranchers say strict rules aimed at protecting […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Cement glues citizens together
A southern Colorado city could lose its newly clean reputation PUEBLO, Colo. – Cecil Ross remembers when his city was known as “Pew Town.” The wheat farmer says pollution from the state’s largest steel mill once filled the city’s air with foul-smelling odors and chemicals. Today, standing on his ranch three miles from Pueblo, Ross […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Republicans attack sovereignty
WASHINGTON Native Americans throughout the West say they’re disgusted with Republicans in Washington state: Delegates at the state GOP convention this summer passed a resolution to abolish tribal governments. John Fleming won his party’s support when he complained that as a non-Indian living on the Swinomish reservation in northwestern Washington, he can’t vote in tribal […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
The Latest Bounce
Lyle McNeal, the professor who helped restore churro sheep to the Navajo Reservation, won his suit for $44,000 in back pay from Utah State University. The suit highlighted the role of a land-grant college, with McNeal arguing that he helped the tribe build community (HCN, 1/31/00: Searching for pasture). University officials unsuccessfully defended their position […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Who’ll clean up a mining mess?
Idaho wrangles with the feds over a Superfund site COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – For years, a handful of locals in Northern Idaho have grumbled that federal cleanup efforts were botched and that Bunker Hill, the largest Superfund site in the country, was still unsafe after 20 years. Now, the cleanup is supposed to wind down […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Home is where the heat is
Federal firefighters save houses while the West’s woods burn
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Protect yourself from wildfires
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article,”Home is where the heat is.” The Montana Division of Disaster and Emergency Services has a few suggestions for making your home more fire safe: Copyright © 2000 HCN and Mark Matthews This article appeared in the print […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Fires burn through boundaries at Mesa Verde
The flames have illuminated – and possibly strengthened – the park’s intimate connections with its neighbors
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Farm it or mine it?
OREGON A gravel company’s proposal to mine 550 acres of farmland near the Willamette River has farmers fighting to save their soil. A mild, wet climate and top-grade soils make Oregon’s Willamette River Valley a prime farming location. “Anything you put in it will grow,” says Thom Lanfear, planner for Lane County. The river valley, […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
No recreation fees – for now
WYOMING There’s at least one way to get around the government’s recreation fee-demonstration program. Just one week before the Forest Service installed signs telling visitors that they’d have to pay to enjoy the Snake River in Wyoming, an anonymous donor offered $50,000 to keep river access free. Then the nearby Jackson, Wyo., community added its […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Dumping diesel
CALIFORNIA Southern California, home to some of the dirtiest air in the nation, is dumping diesel engines in favor of cleaner-burning energy sources such as natural gas and electricity. Last year, a report conducted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, a local air pollution control agency, found that diesel exhaust is responsible for […]