Two hundred years ago, Lewis and Clark’s wood and hide boats lacked speed, but floated the explorers safely along sections of the Yellowstone River. Had Bill Henderson of Big Sky Marine not withdrawn his application to host a Jet Boat Marathon this June, 20 personal watercraft would have raced up and back a 50-mile stretch […]
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Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
The Wayward West
Don’t expect to hear Utah environmentalists crying for 5.7 million acres of wilderness, says Kevin Walker of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (HCN, 8/4/97). SUWA and other groups are almost finished with a two-year “re-inventory” of the state’s wild lands. Since the first inventory, new trails, roads and mines have knocked some areas out of […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
‘In perfect cadence with my heartbeat’
Dear HCN, Tom Reed’s article about how life is tough in Wyoming (HCN, 4/13/98) spoke in perfect cadence with my own heartbeat. There are not many of us left; the “Westerners,” like the bighorn sheep and the mule man, are singing that sad and forlorn refrain of a vanishing time. Up until a few years […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Does Suckling know where he is?
Dear HCN, Buried within the text of Peter Aleshire’s informative story on the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity is a quote from Kieran Suckling which describes the country where the Malpai Group works as “not a national forest allotment” and “mostly private land with low-elevation grassland” (HCN, 3/30/98). On his one and (as far as […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Nobody gives a damn about this dam
The Army has abandoned a small reservoir in Red Butte Canyon east of Salt Lake City, Utah, leaving federal, state and county agencies playing a game of political hot potato. Red Butte Reservoir is one of several refuges established in northern Utah to protect the June sucker – a fish native to Utah Lake, south […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Southwest Center is to Disney as…
Dear HCN, Thanks for an informative piece on the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, but to the reader looking for a “real” story (HCN, 4/13/98) here’s one: To focus on Western public lands and not pay attention to the Southwest Center is like studying pop culture in America and ignoring Disney. It is so relevant […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Foreign forests keep mills alive
Even as the United States cuts fewer trees on its public lands and exports fewer raw logs, some mills stay as busy as ever. How? By milling imported logs. In Oregon, some mills are relying on imports of plantation-grown radiata pine from Chile and New Zealand to replace the dwindling supply of domestic trees. Cascade […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
There’s always more traffic
Dear HCN, I question Greg Hanscom’s statement that the rebuilding of Interstate 15 in Utah “… at the breathtaking cost of $1.6 billion … (is) the biggest public works project under construction anywhere in America” (HCN, 3/16/98). The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project here in Boston has a current, and seemingly ever-increasing, price tag of […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Hikes discover a road
The Snowbank Roadless Area near Cascade, Idaho, is no longer roadless. The Boise National Forest blames a mapping error for its approval of a road and a 315-acre logging operation in an area previously proposed for wilderness protection, but it’s too late now, the agency says. “We did not become aware of the mistake until […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Suers should feel sheepish
Dear HCN, I read with disgust the story by Electa Draper about the “sheep war” outside Durango, Colo. (HCN, 3/30/98). Prohibiting sheep in southwestern Colorado is like prohibiting toy poodles in Northbrook, Ill. The anti-sheep neighbors had better move back to Northbrook or perhaps try Beverly Hills or Jackson Hole, Wyo. I also raise border […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Climbing ban upheld at Devils Tower
The National Park Service can continue to ask rock climbers to stay off Wyoming’s Devils Tower during June, the month when Native Americans hold religious ceremonies at the foot of the volcanic monolith. On April 2, U.S. District Court Judge William Downes dismissed the case brought by climbing guide Andy Petefish and the Bear Lodge […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
A rising population is the real onslaught
Dear HCN, Greg Hanscom did an admirable and objective job describing Utah’s growing pains and the relative contributions from the 2002 Olympics (HCN, 3/16/98). The only component missing was the reality that more than two-thirds of the growth in Utah comes from within the state due to our propensity for large families. With the highest […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Judge gives grave-robbers a green light
The Utah Court of Appeals has decided that state law does not protect Anasazi graves. In late February, the court upheld a state judge’s dismissal of felony charges against Jeanne and James Redd, a Blanding, Utah, couple who were accused of desecrating a Native American burial site while pot hunting. “I am appalled the judges […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
The rural West can’t have it both ways
Dear HCN, Ed Marston’s essay, “Show me the science,” leaves me perplexed (HCN, 3/16/98). On the one hand, Ed admits that the typical rural lifestyle near and using public lands has led to environmental degradation. On the other hand, he claims environmentalists are enemies of the rural economies and life. He cannot have it both […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Delay for the “Oregon way’
Oregon’s Gov. John Kitzhaber has been trying to protect salmon on state and private land – and keep the fish off the endangered species list. Now, he says, the National Marine Fisheries Service threatens to upset his attempt at “managing our resources the Oregon way.” Kitzhaber’s Oregon Plan would protect salmon through voluntary efforts by […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Born caged: A new ‘wild’ West
I’ve tried to put my finger on the time when wild animals ceased being public property in North America and entered the domain of chattel. It isn’t an easy date to find. It’s not like a geologic event, when you can point a finger at a volcano and say: “Yes, that’s when the trouble started.” […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
The latest 1,000-pound gorilla
WASHINGTON, D.C. – “Good evening, sir and madam, Henri here, your concierge, representing ‘All-Natural, Inc.,’ the contract manager of Frogwart Hollow National Forest. Place Number 23 is reserved for your recreational vehicle, and there you will find posted our fee schedule for walks to the simulated waterfall, per-hour rates for fishing in the beautiful Cootahatchie […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Predator control gets out of control
In 1993, without much fanfare, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management turned their predator problems over to the experts. The agencies signed an agreement allowing the federal Animal Damage Control agency, now known as Wildlife Services, to plan for the extermination of coyotes, mountain lions and other “problem” animals that kill livestock […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Will Dombeck sock it to rebellious supervisors?
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. For three decades, Tom Kovalicky worked his way up the ranks of the Forest Service bureaucracy until he became supervisor of the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho during the 1980s. Once in that position, Kovalicky attempted to restrain the logging on […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Surrounded by dogs, bikers, developers
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. RIFLE, Colo. – Jim Snyder wants to give a piece of his mind to every driver hurtling down Interstate 70 past his ranch seven miles east of this town. He wants to tell them that they are driving over what was some […]