All those cries of “5.7 Wild!” may have paid off for the Utah Wilderness Coalition. The Bureau of Land Management took a look at the public lands proposed for wilderness status by Utah environmental groups – and, in early February, announced that all 5.7 million acres have wilderness characteristics. “We’re pretty tickled,” says Mike Matz, […]
News
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
Wolves colonize Jackson Hole
A lone wolf howl was heard in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for the first time in over 50 years this November. Since then, 11 wolves have been sighted in the area, some of them only five miles from the town of Jackson. Migrating south from Yellowstone, the animals make up three groups that seem to be […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
No love for Lycra in Moab
For the third time since October, someone has fired shots into the empty fee booth at the entrance to Moab’s Sand Flats Recreation Area, which includes the popular Slickrock bike trail. The Bureau of Land Management and Sand Flats are offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the culprits. Investigators have no leads, but […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
Burial at Pine Ridge
The remains of 42 Oglala Indians, stored for years in numbered, steel drawers at the Smithsonian Institution, have now been laid to rest in South Dakota. The burial marks the end of a long journey that began more than 100 years ago. Some of the bones were pilfered from graves and others were stolen from […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
Snowmobilers booted from Montana forest
SUPERIOR, Mont. – About 300 snowmobilers from across the Northwest congregated here Jan. 2 for a bittersweet rally. For many, it was likely the last ride to their favorite destination – the 89,500-acre proposed Great Burn Wilderness Area that straddles the border of Montana and Idaho. Two days later, the Lolo National Forest closed 400,000 […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
The last mine closes in Leadville
For the past 139 years, men and machines have mined along the gulches at the source of Colorado’s Arkansas River, producing metals worth more than $2 billion at current prices. That era ended Jan. 29, when the Asarco Black Cloud Mine, which sits above timberline about 10 miles east of Leadville, Colo., hoisted its last […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
Renegade house with a view – for now
The three-story cedar house with its tall windows and panoramic views stands boldly on an open bluff near the rim of the Columbia River Gorge, where its prominence defies a federal law that says it should not be there. Since the house went up last year, it has become a test of the 13-year-old National […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
Wyoming regulators gamble on Amoco cleanup
CASPER, Wyo. – Clad from head to toe in sterile white clothing, environmental engineers have become a familiar sight in this central Wyoming city of 51,000. They come to clean up the defunct Amoco Corp. oil refinery, one of the state’s oldest, and one of its most notorious, hazardous-waste sites. During its boom years in […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
ELF strikes again
The Earth Liberation Front is keeping busy. On Jan. 16, it claimed responsibility for an arson fire in southern Oregon – its seventh attack in just over two years. On Dec. 27, a fire destroyed the corporate headquarters of U.S. Forest Industries in Medford, Ore. Less than a month later, the Associated Press office in […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
The Wayward West
Three men accused of slaughtering more than 30 wild horses in the Nevada desert have been arrested (HCN, 1/18/99). Two of the suspects, Scott Brendle and Darien Brock, are stationed at Marine Corps bases in California. Grisly details about the other suspect’s life have surfaced in Nevada newspapers. Anthony Merlino of Reno is described as […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Wolves worry outfitters
Gray wolves transplanted to Yellowstone National Park and Idaho wilderness areas three and a half years ago are multiplying fast – but so are the concerns of Idaho hunting guides, who say the wolves are killing too many elk. “If the wolf recovery program goes on unchecked, it will put us out of business,” said […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
To trap or not?
When the red fox expanded its range and moved into coastal California in the 1980s, wildlife managers relied on leghold traps to stop the clever predators from killing endangered marsh birds such as the California clapper rail and California least tern. Without the traps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said, the red fox could […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
South Dakota tells a mine to stay put
DEADWOOD, S.D. – South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow, R, has a reputation for getting tough with Canadian companies. The popular four-term governor made news last fall when he stopped Canadian farm exports at his state’s borders, but environmentalists say his attempt to salvage a bad mining situation is wrongheaded and could only make things worse. […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Fun-hogs to replace cows in a Utah monument
As tourists flock to southern Utah’s new Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, ranchers are breaking camp and moving out. In December, the nonprofit Grand Canyon Trust announced it had brokered a deal between five ranching families and the Bureau of Land Management to retire or relocate grazing allotments on about 120,000 acres inside the monument. “There […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Plant pays hefty fine for polluting the air
POCATELLO, Idaho – At the foot of the bare-faced Portneuf Mountains, plumes of white smoke issue from a cluster of smokestacks at FMC Corp.” s phosphorous plant, often obscuring the view of motorists passing by on Interstate 84. And charcoal-colored slag flanks the factory’s sides. The 1,400-acre Pocatello plant, first opened in 1949, is North […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Ranchers don’t want refugee prairie dogs
SPRINGFIELD, Colo. – Prairie dog relocator Susan Miller climbed the steps of the 70-year-old Baca County courthouse on New Year’s Eve day, thinking she was headed to a private meeting with three county commissioners. Instead, she stepped inside to face dozens of angry cattle ranchers. The ranchers had gotten wind of the meeting and were […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
The great bison chase continues
Fifteen bison thundered along a barbed-wire fence in West Yellowstone while officials from the Montana Department of Livestock chased them from snowmobiles in December. After running the herd for a half an hour through a privately owned field, officials cornered eight. Then they shot blanks from rifles into the air, set off firecrackers and yelled […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
The Wayward West
Two of the managers of Colorado’s Summitville gold mine finally got their day in court, but the company higher-ups won’t ever step inside the courtroom to explain their role in the nation’s costliest mine disaster – the clean-up has cost $150 million so far. Six years after Galactic Resources declared bankruptcy, a federal court slapped […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Starry, starry night
Many New Mexicans worry that their ability to see the stars is vanishing. Because light pollution is increasing, the New Mexico Historic Preservation Alliance has declared the night sky one of the 11 most endangered places in the state. “The night sky has always been looked at as simply a natural resource,” says National Park […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Keystone snowmakers get thirsty
Ski resorts are working overtime to beef up the sparse early season snowfall in the Central Rockies, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board thinks snowmakers at the Keystone Ski Area might be working a little too hard. In early December, the Summit County resort pulled more than its share of water out of the nearby […]