When House Interior Committee Chairman Morris K. Udall of Arizona flew north in 1977 to hold hearings on a bill to protect more than 100 million acres in Alaska, locals in the town of Pelican hanged him in effigy. Ten years later, when Udall returned to Alaska to make a speech, an audience of chamber […]
News
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Agencies seek quieter public meetings
This winter, hundreds of people filed into school gymnasiums, town halls and hotel conference rooms, working up the gumption to stand in front of a crowd and speak out on the future of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. To their surprise, the stomach butterflies were for nothing. They didn’t find the rows […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Cougars too close for comfort
Mountain lions will soon be prey in the popular federal Rattlesnake Recreation Area on the edge of Missoula, Mont. In early December, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Forest Service announced the end of a ban on hunting the big cats in the lower Rattlesnake area. The announcement comes after […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Murmurs about a new monument
The 3 million-acre swath of Bureau of Land Management land between the Grand Canyon and the Utah border, unromantically known as the Arizona Strip, is getting more visitors than usual these days. In late November, Bruce Babbitt toured the area and suggested that nearly 400,000 acres of the wide-open desert lands are worthy of stronger […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Not a creature was stirring…
The endangered Preble’s meadow jumping mouse has Colorado Front Range developers running scared (HCN, 3/16/98), but proposed temporary protections from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may calm their fears. The small, secretive mouse lives near foothill mountain streams, and biologists believe that urban sprawl near Denver is contributing to its decline. The agency’s proposal […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
The Wayward West
There’s grim news for the Yellowstone cutthroat trout: Whirling disease, the fatal parasite that wiped out several trout populations in Colorado and Montana in 1994 (HCN, 9/18/95), has resurfaced in the prize fisheries of Yellowstone National Park. The extent of the disease in the park is not yet known, but the Salt Lake Tribune reports […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Ice Bump survives congressional ax
For the second year running, the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP, or Ice Bump) has survived an attempt on its life in the U.S. Congress. The plan is the federal government’s most ambitious ecosystem management plan ever, covering 72 million acres of public lands sprawling across seven states. The $40 million environmental impact […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Sewage fouls Yellowstone
Outdated plumbing at tourist lodges in Yellowstone National Park is spilling sewage into lakes and streams, and the state of Wyoming has taken an unprecedented step: In October, it threatened to fine the National Park Service unless it fixes antiquated sewage systems pieced together over the last 50 years. Such fines are unprecedented in Wyoming, […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Wolf killers sought in Southwest
ALPINE, Ariz. – Four Mexican gray wolves splashed with fluorescent paint and wearing brightly colored radio collars scurried into the wild here in mid-December. Their controversial release is the latest act in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s bullet-riddled effort to bring the wolf back to the Southwest. Earlier this year, biologists had released 11 […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Scientists get a free ride
-We’re not very receptive to charges that the park is “wimping out,” “””says Rocky Mountain National Park spokesman Doug Caldwell. But critics say the park did just that – by permitting a crew of soil scientists to take a helicopter ride in a wilderness study area. Last summer, the park in northeastern Colorado sent a […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
The Wayward West
The revolving door to the Bureau of Land Management director’s office took a spin in November. On the way out was Salt Lake City attorney Pat Shea, who headed the agency for just over a year. Shea has been promoted to acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, where he will help create […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
A road could go there
Forest Service officials in central Montana are finding themselves in a tight spot over a proposed land exchange. The agency has been trying for five years to acquire about 4,000 privately owned acres surrounded by the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Acquiring these islands of private land “will enable us to manage in a more […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Women want the railroad to back off
Kathy Beisner and her family used to take vacation trips in their camper. Though her husband Ron worked long hours for the Union Pacific railroad, making the run between Omaha and their hometown of North Platte, Neb., there was always time off to take the kids camping. No more. Since a 1996 merger with Southern […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Keep the backcountry free
Backpackers who frequent Grand Teton National Park scored a partial victory in their fight to keep the backcountry experience almost free. When Park Superintendent Jack Neckels unveiled an extensive backcountry fee program at a recent meeting organized by the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, the audience of over 200 people vehemently protested. Many Jackson residents told […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Top gun seeks more of the high desert
Two years ago, a remarkable coalition formed in rural central Nevada to halt the spread of Navy war games on public lands. Low-flying jets and the military’s hunger for land withdrawals spurred the Sierra Club, the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association, People for the USA, and almost every level of government – from local land-use boards to […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Loggers told to stop cutting
In an unprecedented action against a major timber company, California suspended Pacific Lumber’s operating license this November. The Humboldt County company, locked in confrontation with environmentalists over the giant coastal redwoods of the Headwaters Forest, was cited for numerous violations, including cutting trees too close to streams and driving heavy equipment in spotted-owl habitat. Paul […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Bears flocked to Aspen
ASPEN, Colo. – Celebrity sightings are old news in the place known as “Glitter Gulch.” New this summer and fall were black bear sightings. “The number of nuisance bear calls was the highest it’s been since I moved here 20 years ago,” says Randy Cote, Colorado Department of Wildlife’s Aspen-area district manager, who received more […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Using tools of destruction to restore redwoods
ARCATA, Calif. – In a dense forest of second-growth redwoods next to a logging road, Bill Weaver bounces on a culvert pipe so rusted it’s ready to collapse. A stagnant pool of water is the only sign of the torrent that will gush through the pipe when autumn rains start. “If this culvert hasn’t already […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Power poles make deadly perches
To most people, utility poles and power lines are just another part of the Western landscape. Not to Montana falconer Kirk Hohenberger; he sees power lines as death traps for hawks, eagles and falcons. “I’ve seen four of my own falcons electrocuted,” says Hohenberger. “I reported the poles to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Utah builds a dream trail
Late one afternoon, a trim, bearded University of Utah administrator climbs from a car in a foothill cul-de-sac 10 minutes from the busiest intersection in Salt Lake City. Rick Reese brims with energy as he strides off down a mountain path toward a perch with an astonishing view of the Salt Lake Valley. He stands […]