Summer in the West’s deserts always feels a bit chaotic. This summer, it’s more than just the seasonal wildfires and strange cactus blooms — it’s also obvious in the federal government’s waffling on energy policy. Clean-energy advocates were stunned on May 29, when the Bureau of Land Management announced that it would not accept any […]
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Posted inJuly 21, 2008: A fractured party
Don’t fence Western Republicans in
Just over two years ago, in a political race that only folks in Colorado noticed, something remarkable happened. State Rep. Mark Larson, the Republican candidate to represent southwestern Colorado in the state Senate, abandoned the race. It wasn’t because he couldn’t win; he had at least a 50 percent chance, maybe more, of beating his […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Green in more ways than one
Regarding your story “Green and Mean”: While there was some benefit from the level of anti-Pombo ads that Defenders of Wildlife ran in 2006, they take far too much credit (HCN, 5/26/08). As an activist in that race, I can cite mistake after mistake that Defenders made, generally in playing fast and loose with the […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Survival and the fittest
What is an ultramarathon, anyway? Any race longer than 26.2 miles, the length of a traditional marathon. On ultramarathon-induced vomiting “Yes, that happens. Yes, it’s hard. But, it’s extreme. I mean, that’s the point.” Major wins in 2007 Western States Endurance Run (her third victory); Tour de Mont Blanc 100-miler (set new women’s course record); […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Don’t fill ’er up, plug ’er in
The “Heard Around the West” note about the introduction of the “Smart fortwo” car in the U.S. should, I suppose, seem to be good news (HCN, 5/26/08). We should not be distracted, however, from the fact that the sooner we convert to all-electric vehicles powered by wind turbines or another solar source, the better it […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
The population tsunami
As I read “Climate Revolutionary,” I wondered what Mary Wood suggests for population (HCN, 5/12/08). As I read in “Heard around the West” that “The bill to help farmers more quickly recruit legal workers passed the (Colorado) House …,” I pondered labor activist Cesar Chavez’s forgotten legacy. Nations with high growth rates hinder efforts by […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
What’s the penalty for “shooting under the influence ”
I have one very small quibble with Ed Quillen’s article “Cold Dead Fingers” (HCN, 4/28/08). Mr. Quillen seems to conflate “rights” and “responsibilities” in saying: “Owning a gun is more than a right; it is also a responsibility. …” (I have trouble thinking how a right can be something more than a right in this […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Loves, losses and utter disasters
In 1967, Harry Lynch — a tall, gawky 20-year-old who seemed very much out of his element — walked into Ruth Carson’s writing class at a community college in Oakland, Calif., fulfilled an in-class assignment by writing a poem, and became an enduring, persistently enigmatic figure in his teacher’s life. Years later, Ruth, watching television […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Solo journeys, life lessons
The nine essays in Mary Beath’s new book celebrate nature from the viewpoint of an “independent woman pursuing adventures that include self-exploration.” An avid hiker, the artist and award-winning poet moved to New Mexico from New York almost 20 years ago. Her title piece sums up this collection’s recurring theme: the risks and rewards of […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Peace on the Klamath
The enemies in the West’s most vicious water war have finally reached a ceasefire. This is the story of how it happened.
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Credo: The People’s West
How citizens and communities can reinvent their relationship with the American landscape Lifelong locals know their home. They understand the land’s intimate cycles from decades and generations of living in place, a miracle of stability and identity. We can never hope to restore or sustain landscapes and watersheds without the cooperation of local citizens. They […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Heard Around the West
NEVADA Debbie Rivenburgh is the general manager of a bordello in Pahrump, Nev., 60 miles from Las Vegas — one of 27 legal brothels in the state. In 21 years, she says, no college has ever called to request an intimate tour of her desert establishment. Then Randolph College in Virginia, a private liberal arts […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Unlikely alliance?
High Country News, like everyone else who covers the West’s environmental issues, loves “unlikely alliances.” We’re delighted whenever chardonnay-sipping Sierra Clubbers from Mill Valley fight on the same side of a cause as Budweiser-swilling elk hunters in Idaho. We love writing about what happens when surly miners join forces with grassroots greens, partly because these […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
The bone collectors
Wildlife managers clamp down on antlergatherers to protect deer and sage grouse
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Wilderness, schmilderness
In Nevada, wilderness-wary locals derail
lands bills that could help their communities
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Shifting sands in Navajoland
TEESTO, ARIZONA In the dry heart of the Navajo Reservation, at the end of a solitary, sand-choked dirt road, geologist Margaret Hiza Redsteer climbs out of her dark blue government Jeep, taps lightly on a door, and waits. And waits. When Mary Biggambler finally pokes her head around the door, it’s with a hearty […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Dewey Bridge: In memoriam
When old Dewey Bridge was burned to death in April by a 7-year-old playing with matches, it was almost more bad news than I could bear to hear. One relic after another of the rural West’s past has vanished, but this was one I thought would survive. The bridge was originally brought in pieces from […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Two weeks in the West
It may have surprised some people, but really it was as inevitable as sunrise: After seven years of denial, the Bush administration can no longer ignore the biggest environmental problem facing the West and the entire planet. Thirteen federal agencies, led by the Department of Agriculture, acknowledged reality in a thick May 28 report signed […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
The dark side of the cowboy myth
There are some things to sympathize with in Jeffrey Lockwood’s lament regarding criticism of the Cowboy Myth (HCN, 6/9/08). A sense of place and connections with the land are good values that might help us save this Last Best Place. There are also many sound reasons for criticizing the Cowboy Myth, and for the now […]