COLORADO INTERNS Colorado native and high-tech refugee Jodi Peterson has decided to write about her passion, the beautiful but threatened American West. After 15 years of penning online help and users’ guides for Hewlett-Packard, she has taken a sabbatical to become an intern at HCN. Now, Jodi looks forward to the freedom of writing without […]
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Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Saving a sacred lake: Zuni activist Pablo Padilla
Pablo Padilla is lying low right now, but don’t expect him to remain quiet for long. The 29-year-old law student at the University of New Mexico and member of the Zuni Tribe was an instrumental player in his tribe’s recent victory against an Arizona energy company (HCN, 8/18/03: Follow-up). He’s now trying to be just […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Does Wal-Mart really need our tax dollars?
Typical of shopping centers built decades ago, Alameda Square in Denver is a cheap, single-story strip of stores. It’s ugly and rundown. But that does not deter shoppers: Mostly Asian Americans, they come from miles around to patronize more than a dozen Asian-owned businesses, including two grocery stores, two restaurants, a hair salon, a clothing […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Heard Around the West
THE WEST Democrats can get really lonely in the West. In rural areas, some are even driven to change their party affiliation to Republican. They’re not converts — heaven forbid — they just want to vote in the primaries where the real choices get made. Now, there’s a weblog to bond Western dissidents. It’s called […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
A plan for Spaceship Earth
I’ve always gotten a chuckle out of the bumper sticker that says, “Earth First! We’ll mine the other planets later.” But now that President George W. Bush has decided that America should expand its reach to the moon and Mars, my laugh is becoming a groan. Oh, I know that Bush’s plans for a permanent […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Mending the Nets
After years of a disastrous free-for-all on the sea, one Oregon fishing community searches for a sustainable future
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Generation gap
The laws meant to protect future generations may not last one more
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Immigration reform from Washington, DC
Bush’s reform policy would give employers willing workers — and workers a temporary stay in the U.S.
Posted inJanuary 24, 2005: Written in the Rings
A bear book that tames the fear factor
“Wyoming is bear country,” Tom Reed writes in Great Wyoming Bear Stories, a book of yarns from the wild high county in and around Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks — land he calls the grizzly bear’s “last, best stronghold.” Unlike the authors of the many “slasher” bear books on the market, Reed writes with […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Calendar
Colorado Preservation, Inc., is holding its annual conference, Saving Places 2004: The Business of Preservation, Feb. 5-7 in Denver. The event will include workshops, educational sessions and a trade show. www.coloradopreservation.org/SP04program.pdf 303-893-4260 The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science will be in Seattle, Feb. 12-16. Seminars include those sponsored by […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Warm-water native fish are left out in the cold
Little is being done to pull the Southwest’s native fish back from the brink of extinction, according to an independent team of biologists. The study of a dozen warm-water fish in Arizona’s Gila River Basin found that half the species no longer exist in wild populations, while five species occupy less than one-fifth of their […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Ranchers hijacking public lands
HCN’s Owyhee Initiative coverage (HCN, 12/8/03: Riding the middle path) shows that this paper is firmly mired in the livestock-industry myths of the Old West, and is unwilling to see beyond the boots, buckles and he-men, to understand that we must change how we treat our public wild lands and waters, if native ecosystems are […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Interior supports collaboration
In “Riding the middle path,” (HCN, 12/8/03: Riding the middle path) High Country News explores the efforts of Owyhee County citizens to achieve consensus on how to manage thousands of acres of public lands. The article rightly points out that this effort is an arduous one, as folks with widely varying interests, dreams, and backgrounds […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Owyhee initiative ignores majority interest
The HCN article on the Owyhee Initiative was superficial, misleading and omitted several key points (HCN, 12/8/03: Riding the middle path). None of the ostensibly green groups at the table is fighting for what is best for this ecosystem: real wilderness on a big enough scale for native wildlife to flourish. The Idaho Conservation League, […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Owyhee Initiative brings hope
As a graduate of the College of Idaho (Albertson College) I was excited and encouraged to read your recent article on the Owyhee Initiative (HCN, 12/8/03: Riding the middle path). The College of Idaho is only an hour from the wild landscape of the Owyhee Canyonlands. I spent many a weekend escaping into the rugged […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
HCN still mired in cowboy myth
High Country News has done a disservice to the West by publishing the article, “Riding the middle path” (HCN, 12/8/03: Riding the middle path). The article and its fawning photographs fail to fully describe the condition of the Owyhee landscape or the costs to the public of maintaining ranching there. It sadly reinforces HCN’s reputation […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
HCN is a sop to the cowboys
I just read “Riding the middle path” (HCN, 12/8/03: Riding the middle path). As a writer and photographer, I am acutely aware of how word and photo choice influences perception. And once again HCN proves that it is incapable of writing about the livestock industry without being a sop to the industry. When I read […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Follow-up
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is not all wet, after all: After outraged public comment from environmentalists and sportsmen alike, the Bush administration has backed off plans to remove “isolated” wetlands — those that are dry for more than six months out of the year — from protection under the Clean Water Act. Proposed changes […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Voices rising from the desert
I say the writers of the Southwest, we are like horses that have gone out on the llano and eaten locoweed, and madness is what is unique to us. –Rudolfo Anaya It’s one thing to read the printed words of your favorite author; it’s quite another to actually hear his or her voice. Almost 10 […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Dear Friends
MANY THANKS Happy New Year from snowy Paonia, and a huge thanks to all of you who sent cards and treats to the office over the holidays. They certainly lifted our spirits, and, in at least one case, reminded us what this enterprise is all about. Tracy, who gave no last name and identified herself […]