Culminating a five-year effort, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has gained control of Martin’s Cove — 940 acres of federal land — where several dozen Mormon immigrants died in a blizzard in 1856. The church considers the site, southwest of Casper, Wyo., sacred and sought to buy it (HCN, 9/30/02: This land […]
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Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
A near-miss for California’s clean-air rules
California’s newest clean-air law narrowly escaped an attempt to shoot it down in the U.S. Congress. Faced with the worst air pollution in the nation, the state has led the way in enacting tough air-quality regulations. But although California has made progress in combating auto emissions, pollution from small engines like lawnmowers and weed whackers […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Wildlife win one in Yellowstone
As part of a program to reduce conflicts between cattle and wildlife, the National Wildlife Federation has negotiated two important land deals with ranchers in the Yellowstone National Park region. In Wyoming in August, the federation raised $250,000 from other conservation groups, foundations and donors to buy out 77,000 acres of the Blackrock-Spread Creek grazing […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Cattalo could get the boot
The verdict is in — genetically speaking — on a troublesome bison herd in the Grand Canyon. The state-owned bison herd has been straying from its range north of the canyon and venturing into Grand Canyon National Park (HCN, 4/28/03: Bison arrive in Grand Canyon uninvited). The state wants to leave the herd on the […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Whose thousand words?
Print the Legend: Photography and the American West, is not another coffee-table gallery of black-and-white mountain vistas or solemn American Indian portraits. Rather, Martha Sandweiss’ book looks at how the new art of photography shaped the nation’s view of the West in the 19th century. Photos are not the accurate historical records they appear to […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Massive logging plan shakes Northwest
One of the largest timber sales in history uncovers old animosity, and undermines the Roadless Rule
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
West Nile isn’t just for people
Coalbed methane development may be helping spread disease to wild birds
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
National preserve is in hot water
Some say proposal to build a geothermal power plant in the Valles Caldera is a ploy to extort money from the Forest Service
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Fires take toll on San Diego’s wildlife
Rare butterfly is likely extinct, while imperiled gnatcatcher loses a chunk of habitat
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
King coal is back
With natural gas supplies stretched thin, and the Bush administration loosening environmental regulations, energy companies are turning their attention back to coal
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Biologist busted for moving endangered cacti
A darling of developers, consultant gets five years’ probation and $5,000 fine
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Planning for the new rural Idaho
Recently, an acclaimed young writer and a world-renowned opera singer charmed a packed house in Driggs, Idaho. What were they doing there instead of in a place a hundred times larger? The answer tells us something about the future of rural Idaho. The writer was Ann Patchett, whose most recent novel, Bel Canto, draws its […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Heard Around the West
CALIFORNIA Remember that New Yorker cartoon, the one where a plump pussycat looks at its behind in a mirror and asks: “Does this collar make my butt look too big?” Well, humans are passing on their overeating habits to pets. Medical researchers warn we’re also bad influences on wildlife: Bears in the Lake Tahoe area […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Toppling monoliths in Mormon Country
It’s all too easy to stereotype Mormons as conservative, anti-environment and unquestioning of their leaders. Kudos to those within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are breaking out of that stereotype — those who are proving that there is room within the faith for diversity and debate. As Rosemary Winters writes in […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Being Green in the Land of the Saints
In the heartland of the Mormon Church, a new movement is taking root
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
A gift of supreme excellence
It is good to be writing again. The mountains have snow, the air is cold, the sun is shining. It is a good November day, and I have been thinking of this idea of sovereignty, an almost foreign word here in Antonito, Colo., where there is so much poverty, and where most of us, to […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
What’s with the uppity New Englanders?
As a sixth-generation Montanan, and longtime subscriber to High Country News, I usually just read your great paper and keep quiet. But this time I had to pick up my writin’ stick. Lisa Jones’ attempt at regional satire (HCN, 10/27/03: My sensitive man meets culture shock on the range) left me wonderin’ where on earth […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Drop the stereotypes
I had to comment on Lisa Jones’ article “My Sensitive Man meets culture shock on the range” (HCN, 10/27/03: My Sensitive Man meets culture shock on the range). My immediate reaction when I read the article was to laugh. After I thought about the article, however, I realized that Ms. Jones’ rantings were exactly the […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Essay insults easterns and westerners
When I read Lisa Jones’ essay, I wasn’t sure whether I was more offended by what she wrote about the West, where I now live, or Vermont, where I used to live. The West she ridicules as callow, uncultured, easily excited to a frenzy by images of its violent past; Vermont she insults with false […]