President Bush says the Healthy Forests Restoration Act
and Initiative were needed to fight wildfire, but several years
into the new rules, critics question whether the changes they
brought were helpful or even necessary
Magazine
April 17, 2006
Four years after President Bush launched his Healthy Forests Initiative, the Western woods are abuzz. Also in this issue: "Nevada style" wilderness bill comes to Utah and Citizens unite against gas field chaos.
Feature
Sidebar
Loggers say forest-restoration work, which involves the
thinning and cutting of small, skinny trees, doesn’t bring in
much money
The National Fire Plan, the Healthy Forests Initiative and
the Healthy Forests Restoration Act are explained and
compared
Uncommon Westerners
Former California Rep. Pete McCloskey says the need to
defend the environment is behind his decision to run against
Richard Pombo in the Republican primary
Essays
All over the West, white roadside crosses and spontaneous,
humble shrines mark the holy sites where the souls of human beings
have left this world
Book Reviews
In George W. Bush’s Healthy Forests:
Reframing the Environmental Debate, authors Jacqueline
Vaughn and Hanna Cortner demonstrate that under Bush, "there has
been a rollback of environmental standards and
regulations."
In Condor: To the Brink and Back,
science reporter John Nielsen surveys the life and times of "one
giant bird."
Wayne Parrish’s Legend of the
Eagleman is a suspenseful and engaging novel set in the
world of tribal casino gambling
Communities and Forests: Where People Meet the
Land, is a collection of essays, edited by Robert G. Lee
and Donald R Field, examining changing styles of forest
management
Writers on the Range
The upcoming trial of 11 alleged "eco-terrorists" may not
be the Trial of the Century, but it reminds the writer, a longtime
activist, of the Boston Tea Party
Heard Around the West
Driving a little too far off-road in California; HOV Lane
is not for dummies; scrap metal thieves get creative; dream home
turns nightmare; St. George, Utah, gets expensive; military
recruiters get desperate
Dear Friends
Matt Jenkins leaves the HCN office to
become California-Great Basin correspondent; Western Slope
Environmental Resource Conference and North Fork River Improvement
Association hold annual meetings; visitors; "secretary" Bruce
Babbitt
News
A controversial proposed wilderness bill for Utah’s
Washington County includes utility corridors, motorized-vehicle
trails, and public-land sales designed to accommodate urban
growth
Sens. Max Baucus and Ron Wyden want to raise money for
rural schools by closing tax loopholes; Yates Petroleum won’t
drill in Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge; Montana wants to keep
Wyoming’s coalbed methane from harming rivers’ water
quality
Farmers, environmentalists, fishermen and tribes are
talking with PacifiCorp officials about the possible removal of
four dams on the Klamath River
In western Colorado, the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance is
trying to work with industry to set protections for landowners
before more drilling gets under way
Grand Junction and Palisade, Colo., try unsuccessfully to
bid on oil and gas leases to protect their water supply from
contamination by drilling
As drill rigs get closer to New Mexico’s Valle
Vidal, the coalition seeking to protect the area is attracting more
support
Outgoing Interior Secretary Gale Norton has opened the
door for counties and states to claim control of roads crossing
federal lands
Idaho’s Fish and Game Department wants to boost
dwindling elk numbers by killing wolves in the Lolo management
zone
Letters
- Was Yellowstone’s deadliest wolf hunt in 100 years an inside job?
- Scientists unravel the origins of the Southwest’s monsoon
- Alaska’s Willow Project promises huge amounts of oil — and huge environmental impacts
- The fires below
- The White Sands discovery only confirms what Indigenous people have said all along
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