A conservation movement is stirring on the Great Plains, but farmers are stuck with a stark reality: It pays to plow up virgin ground
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Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Waxing and waning in the Modern West
The sky still held plenty of light at 9:15 p.m., as I pulled off Interstate 90 and headed north on Montana State Highway 89. My destination was a Motel 6, 55 miles away, where two dozen high school teachers were holed up, in between sessions of a weeklong summer field program sponsored by the Montana […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
New rules coming down for off-roaders
Cross-country travel will be banned in most areas, but enforcement may be next to impossible
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
New Mexicans move to make roads more wildlife-friendly
Local residents and school kids speak up about preventing roadkill
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Buying ecological leverage
Conservationists become land managers in northern Arizona
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
An icon of the Rio Grande has all but vanished in the wild
Consensus efforts and millions of dollars haven’t saved the silvery minnow
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Dear Friends
A presidential visit Readers Nicki Leniton and Brett Nelson, schoolteachers who live in Carbondale, Colo., came by the High Country News office in mid-July driving a Ford Crown Victoria and towing a 12-foot-tall effigy of George W. Bush. The two are part of a nationwide effort by the nonprofit True Majority (founded by Ben Cohen […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
You can’t plant a prairie
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “The Greening of the Plains.” Once the sod has been busted, prairie restoration becomes extremely difficult, to say the least. “I always say that you can’t plant a prairie,” says Jim Stubbendieck, a grasslands ecologist and the director of the Center for Great Plains […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Speaking up for rural Oregonians: Judge Laura Pryor
JOHN DAY, Oregon — As hail pounds the concrete outside, more than 200 people cram into an Elks Lodge — replete with wood paneling and a smoky bar in the rear — to see Judge Laura Pryor, the chairwoman of the Gilliam County Commission and one of the rural West’s most outspoken champions. With her […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
BLM gags an archaeologist to get out the gas
Critics say a slew of new projects could endanger Indian rock art and ruins
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Inspire us, don’t scare us
I’d agree with recent criticisms that your paper has taken a turn toward political bandwagoning. It mirrors most of the endless stream of imploring letters from the Sierra Club/Wilderness Society/Audubon Society/Nature Conservancy/Public Land Trust/Trust to Save the Grand Canyon or Silvery Minnow or Spotted Perch, etc., that find their way to my door every week. […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
King of Fish, Slave to Man
In his new book, David R. Montgomery wants Northwesterners lamenting the decline of wild Pacific salmon to know they’re not alone. King of Fish documents the death of Atlantic salmon, while pointing out that the same threats — and similar challenges — face salmon recovery around the world. Today, one-third of Pacific salmon stocks are […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Wanted: Leak-proof dumps
Until the 1980s, conventional wisdom held that Wyoming was so arid that landfills didn’t need liners to prevent leaks. As a result, at least 21 of the state’s currently operating and closed municipal landfills are now leaking dangerous chemicals, such as nitrates, chlorides, pesticides and dry-cleaning solvents, into groundwater. The number could be even higher; […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
We need solutions, not divisiveness
Looking at the opinions and positions of the writers in HCN, it’s clear that many don’t have the same ambivalence that I have. I grew up in the country of southwestern Pennsylvania and enjoyed it immensely. Always a rebel, I was pro-McGovern and anti-Nixon, and gradually became a Reagan Republican, ever retaining my love for […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Oceans need a sea change
It’s time to wake up and smell the salt water. According to a recent report from the United States Commission on Ocean Policy, America’s oceans are overfished, polluted and in desperate need of new management policies. After three years of study, the President Bush-appointed commission came up with more than 200 preliminary recommendations aimed at […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Mowing down pollution
The drone of lawn mowers is a classic sign of summer in the suburbs. But these gas guzzlers contribute heavily to another summer phenomenon: smog. The yearly pollution from one gas mower is equivalent to “43 new cars driving 12,000 miles each,” says Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
HCN isn’t responsible for polarization
I am writing in support of HCN’s coverage of the Bush administration’s attack on the environment. I suppose, at one point, wanting a healthy habitat for human beings was a nonpartisan issue. Unfortunately, it seems these days if you care about anything that could be vaguely termed “social equity” or “conservation,” you’re automatically a pinko-commie […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Timber company collides with gas drillers
Conservationists have struck a $4 million deal with a progressive Canadian timber company, Tembec Inc., to protect land just west of the Glacier National Park/Waterton Lakes National Park complex. The Nature Conservancy of Canada is buying 3,800 acres of Elk River riparian habitat outright; purchasing a conservation easement on another 7,400 acres; and obtaining a […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Fight on, HCN
Regarding the note in “Dear Friends” about readers troubled by HCN’s tough coverage of the Bush administration’s policies across the West: Let ’em be troubled and angry! These are troubling, angry times. The Bush administration is carrying out an array of highly controversial policies across the West. I speak as one who’s been reporting on […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
HCN bears witness
I am a longtime subscriber to HCN. The willingness to address the political causes of land-management decisions in the coverage of HCN was striking, with the selection of a new executive director. But I believe that it is important. Politics is the modus operandi of the corporations and their political allies who recognize only the […]