Magazine
October 11, 1999
In northern New Mexico, the small, family-owned Sipapu Ski Area is battling the little farming town of Dixon over water rights to the Rio Pueblo and Rio Embudo, tributaries of the Rio Grande. Plus, the endangered silvery minnow is forcing the water users of the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico to reconsider the ways cities, towns, pueblos and farms have always made use of the river.
Feature
An introduction to this special issue describes the work
and cooperation needed from all the Rio Grande's users if the river
is to ever flow freely again.
In northern New Mexico, the small, family-owned Sipapu Ski
Area is battling the little farming town of Dixon over water rights
to the Rio Pueblo and Rio Embudo, tributaries of the Rio
Grande.
The endangered silvery minnow is forcing the water users
of the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico to reconsider the ways
cities, towns, pueblos and farms have always made use of the
river.
Essays
Overjoyed at the ruling that means the Dry Lake volcanic
area near Flagstaff, Ariz., will not be developed as planned, an
activist still feels compassion for the developer, remembering her
own gambling days and how it feels to gamble and lose.
Watching as an illegal immigrant is arrested near Rio
Rico, Ariz., the author considers the risks that border-crossers
must take, and remembers that his own great-great-great-grandfather
was once an immigrant, too.
Dear Friends
Research Fund; HCN's Paonia board meeting and potlucks;
our circulation numbers; a lavish book, "Colorado 1870-2000" by
John Fielder and Ed Marston; visitors.
News
Developer Jim Sievers wants to build an exclusive
wilderness playground on the inholding he owns in the middle of
Montana's Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness.
Idaho Lt. Gov. Butch Otter fined for dredging wetlands
without permit; Jon Marvel outbids millionaire for grazing parcels;
Wyo. ranch manager gets permit to kill wolves; Mark Alldredge
abandons mining claims on Rocky Mtn. Front; Blue Ribbon
Coalition.
Wind power is getting a second wind, especially on the
"wind farms" of Wyoming.
Developer Jim Mehen is ordered to scale back his
development plans for the Dry Lake volcanic area near Flagstaff,
Ariz.
A new sport called sandboarding is becoming popular in
Park Service wilderness areas with dunes, and some worry that it is
a form of recreation "not compatible with wilderness
values."
Locals and environmentalists are concerned about
development plans for a 400-acre resort right next to Mount Rainier
National Park and the little town of Ashford, Wash.
Environmentalists are rejoicing at the decision, largely
economic, to demolish Condit Dam in southeastern
Washington.
Farmers in San Luis, Colo., are upset that pollution from
a defunct gold mine owned by Battle Mountain Gold is leaking into
Rito Seco Creek, which feeds their irrigation ditches.
A draft for the 15-year management plan for Colorado's
White River National Forest has sparked controversy from everyone,
from Vail Resorts and ATV operators to some environmental
groups.
Heard Around the West
"Mz. Prairie Dog" pageant in Camas, ID; armed Boy Scouts;
lightning strikes elk; poachers sentenced near Craig, CO; moose
misbehavior; "Hell House" in Arvada, CO; homophobia in Elk City,
ID, church; outfitter survives 200-ft. fall in his
Subaru.
Sidebar
Marie Coburn, mayordoma of an acequia that waters the
small farms of Dixon, N.M., works to make sure that the 98 farmers
on the ditch get the water they are entitled to.
In his own words, artist and scholar Nicasio Romero talks
about the threats facing the centuries-old acequia farm culture of
New Mexico.
Some river activists and farmers worry that Subhis Shah,
chief engineer and CEO of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy
District, is out to start a "water-banking empire" rather than
conserve water.
