About a decade ago, while waiting at the town stoplight, I read the bumper stickers on the Jeep Cherokee in front of me. Two were familiar: “The West wasn’t won with a registered gun” and “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” But the other one was new: “MY PRESIDENT IS CHARLTON HESTON.” […]
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Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Feeding time
Dinner for the next few days is elk. It hangs from a heavy chain that dangles from a tall tripod of lodgepole pine logs. The body still smells of warmth and life. I glide my knife along the length of the whetstone, a few times on one side, a few times on the other. The […]
Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Pillaging the Past
Approximately 90 percent of archaeological sites in the Southwest have been vandalized.
Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Heard Around the West
WASHINGTON How many ways can a neighbor’s house drive you crazy? The Seattle Weekly counts 10, with each one dreadful in its own distinctive way. Among them is the “Pig Face” dwelling that thrusts its two-car garage toward the street “like a greedy sow rooting for rotten vegetables.” This house clusters in herds, and its […]
Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Nuclear crossroads
Feds gear up for new nukes while cleanup lags
Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Leave it alone
The circle of stones sits in the Utah desert, on a bench above the murky waters of the river. Nearby, more stones are strewn about in an orderly fashion. And everywhere, pieces of gray, red and corrugated pottery lie scattered. Hundreds of years ago, this was a sacred Puebloan site. The circle, about 50 feet […]
Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Dear friends
A CRASH IN WESTERN COLORADO What happens when an energy boom collides with an amenity boom? Join High Country News and a panel of experts on Thursday, May 15, at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colo., for a rousing discussion exploring whether a gas-field town and a recreation and retirement community can coexist. Hear […]
Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Two weeks in the West
Imagine you’re taking in the view from a national park overlook: The red cliffs, blue shadows, and cottonwood bottoms of Zion; the jagged upsweep of the Tetons from Jackson Hole; the weird snaking remains of ancient trees at Petrified Forest. True, there are also oodles of lollygagging tourons, a remuda of RVs, and some faux-woodsy […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Plowing under the fields of shame
Under a brain-scorching heat, a group of farmworkers harvests melons from a vast field near Huron, Calif. There is only one woman among the dozen or so workers; she leans into the task, her arms outstretched, her body itself a tool. The bandana around her face and her baggy long-sleeved T-shirt offer a thin protection […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
A life of words and wilderness
Deeply felt, often metaphysical and sometimes maddening, Rick Bass’ memoir describes his long journey West, from the “petrochemical horrors” of Houston to the Yaak Valley in the far northwestern corner of Montana. But his cross-country migration is merely a starting point for the musings in Why I Came West. The book serves as a study […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Vaguely sexist?
Having just read the (for the most part) well-written article by Matt Jenkins on Navajo water rights, I just couldn’t get one phrase from the opening paragraphs out of my head (HCN, 3/17/08). He describes tribal water rights commissioner Lena Fowler as possessing a “… cool intensity and a vaguely sexy set of crow’s feet […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Lines in the sand
Desert cultures are a breed apart. The environments of each shape the particular ways in which its inhabitants – human and otherwise – survive and express themselves. But beyond each desert’s distinctive topography, climate and culture, “a living river of common heritage runs through them all.” So says Gary Nabhan, Sonoran Desert ecologist and author […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Democracy in water decisions
Matt Jenkins’ article on Navajo water claims seemed to exhibit a subtle bias against the grassroots Dine folks on the outside of the tribal bureaucracy (HCN, 3/17/08). And maybe the activists are a little unfair to the white lawyer – after all, there are also Indian lawyers, elected officials, water consultants and bureaucrats who are […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Grand targhee stretches out
As a Teton County commissioner, I thought HCN’s readers would appreciate some additional information about the expansion of the Grand Targhee Resort in Teton County, Wyo., described in a recent “Two Weeks in the West” item (HCN, 3/03/08). The decision balanced the legitimate need for a historic resort to expand with the protection of natural […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Lupophobia blues
I thought that Alaska was crazy over wolves, and yes, they still are, but in Catron County, where I now spend my winters, things are crazier yet (HCN, 2/04/08). I’m not sure how the threatened child issue became so prominent in Catron County. Of course, wolves could kill a child, or an adult, for that […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
A Montana rancher stands his ground against subdivision
Name Vernon Gliko Age 86 Hometown Belt, Montana Occupation Farmer/rancher He Says “They were friendly people back then. Everybody was trying to help everybody because they were in the same situation. Well, now, you know, you may not even know your neighbor.” Biggest change in his lifetime Transition from using horses to tractors Known for […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Tough sledding
A few weeks ago, after a party, my son Truman, who is 7, asked me, “You know when I was outside yesterday with Danny?” “Did you have fun?” I asked. “Yeah,” Truman said. “Except Danny said he was going to kick me in the head because I don’t believe in God.” This is the kind […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Ascending Giants
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking to the Trees.” They’re like a new frontier,” Sean O’Connor says, speaking about the gigantic trees he climbs, “because no other humans have been up there.” O’Connor is the photographer for the Ascending the Giants expedition team, which seeks out, climbs and measures […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
A hard winter makes you think
After more than a decade of mild winters, we residents of this high-altitude town in southern Colorado finally got a dose of the genuine article. Not since “Remember December,” when it snowed every day in December 1983, had anyone seen this much snow. But stories told by old-timers, those former miners who stayed on here […]