Going Through GhostsMary Sojourner296 pages, softcover: $25.University of Nevada Press, 2010. Shadows inhabit every corner of Mary Sojourner’s newest novel, Going Through Ghosts — spirits of ancestors and deceased friends, fragments of characters’ souls. The settings — casino coffee shops, riverside benches, buses — are places a Westerner will recognize as haunts of the lonely […]
Departments
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Of rivers, boats and baseball umpires
Another Waythe River Has:Taut True Talesfrom the NorthwestRobin Cody208 pages, softcover: $18.95.Oregon State University Press, 2010. Robin Cody inspired me to buy a kayak. A confirmed landlubber, it didn’t occur to me to become familiar with my local waterways until I read Cody’s eclectic collection of essays, Another Way the River Has: Taut True Tales […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Hula on the hill
“When I first found out about the Cool Water Hula (in 2000), I thought it was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard of,” says Tom Malloy, a tall, brawny ex-football player who now works as reclamation manager for the Butte-Silver Bow County Planning Department. “This time, I’m gonna dance in it.” The Cool Water Hula […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Some notable arson wildfire cases in the West
Sidebar to “The Fiery Touch”
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Asbestos all around us
Libby is the most unsung of environmental disasters (HCN, 6/21/10). People know (or knew) about Love Canal and even Times Beach and Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, but no one has heard of Libby; and yet the exposures continue, as your “Data” stated. I have done work for the federal Department of Health and Human […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Private equity not prudent for tribes
“The Ute Paradox” was well-written and thoroughly researched (HCN, 7/19/10). However, I have devoted 22 years of my working life to the Southern Utes’ success, and must respectfully disagree with some of Jonathan Thompson’s conclusions. The article states that “Mr. Jurrius … brought capital from a huge private equity firm with which the tribe was […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
The drift dweller
Colorado scientists track the ubiquitous mountain snow mold
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
In Utah, the more things change, the more they stay the same
No one can accurately predict the future, whether it’s the effects of climate change or the flow of the Colorado River. But it’s always interesting to speculate. Here in San Juan County, Utah, it appeared there might be some progress in the decades-old debate over which public lands should be protected as wilderness. Republican Sen. […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
A river again?
Obama’s EPA extends protection to L.A.’s urban watershed
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Leasing lag?
During the past two years, the Bureau of Land Management has been offering less land for oil and gas leasing in Wyoming. The trend is due largely to market conditions — a reflection of low current and future oil and gas prices — but energy experts also cite a surplus in non-producing acreage, an increase […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Exercises in discretion
OREGONVincent Ruark was sitting at home with his two dogs in northern Oregon recently, not doing much of anything, when two Klickitat County officers knocked on his door. Aerial surveillance had spotted marijuana plants growing in his yard, they informed him, and they wanted permission to conduct a search. Taken by surprise and flustered, Ruark […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Vermillion surprise
BLM’s no-drilling decision in Colorado startles locals
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Case in point
Artifacts roadshow connects archaeologists to lost treasures
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Seeing the triceratops for the trees
Kirk Johnson combines science and art to create an ancient landscape
Posted inHeard Around the West
Beware the leprechaun
THE WESTWhat is it about summer and people acting nutty in cars? In Salt Lake City, “a naked woman led police on a wild chase with two stolen cars — including their cruiser,” reports the Salt Lake Tribune. A week later, a Utah man ran Wyoming state police ragged by first driving erratically, then taking […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Dust takes a toll
Soil in the West’s air disrupts health, snow cover, even rainfall
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
How to return a pot
Imagine discovering a pot tucked inside an ancient ruin on a hike. That’d really look nice on my mantel, you think, and grab it. Later, you learn that collecting artifacts from public lands is not only illegal, it permanently destroys the object’s original context and meaning — the information that helps archaeologists piece together the […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Green on brown
Your recent article regarding renewable energy on brownfields is accurate and well-timed (HCN, 6/7/10). This idea makes sense for developers and site owners like mining companies, but the advantages for land conservation deserve to be more fleshed out. Siting large renewable energy projects on disturbed areas eases the pressure to develop pristine public lands such […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
It’s the science, not the numbers
Hal Herring’s recent article on wolf hunts mischaracterizes Defenders of Wildlife’s position as supporting a population goal of 450 wolves per state, when we do not in fact seek such a target (HCN, 5/10/10). It’s tempting to try to come up with a number of wolves that all stakeholders can agree on, in hopes of […]