Unleashing the Snake

Feature

In Washington, conservationists, farmers, and federal and state agencies are passionately debating whether four dams on the lower Snake River should be breached in an attempt to restore endangered salmon and steelhead runs.

Paul Larmer Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Sidebar

'The science pushed me'

Jim Baker, the Sierra Club's point man on Columbia salmon, offers his ideas on breaching dams to save fish.

Paul Larmer Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Tribes cast for tradition, catch controversy

The treaty rights of Indians from the Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Warm Springs tribes to fish for salmon in the Columbia River are coming under attack from non-Native fishermen and other river users.

Rocky Barker Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

A 700th generation fisherman

Umatilla Indian Donald Sampson, director of the Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission, defends Indian rights to fish for salmon.

Paul Larmer Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

'Dams made the modern Northwest'

Historian Keith Petersen talks about how Columbia and Snake River dams have made the Pacific Northwest what it is today.

Paul Larmer Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

'People are important'

Potlatch Corporation employee Frank Carroll explains why he thinks dam-breaching is a poor idea.

Paul Larmer Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Uncommon Westerners

All you can eat at Pueblito del Paiz

In the western Colorado town of Olathe, Ted Medina's Pueblito del Paiz serves as boarding house, dining hall and occasionally tense meeting ground for the Mexican and Indian workers who labor in the area's farm fields.

Lisa Jones Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Essays

Salmon crisis is a kaleidoscope of complexity

A National Marine Fisheries Service policy advisor says the questions raised by endangered salmon and dam-breaching are complicated and cannot be answered solely in deference to ecological theory.

John M. Volkman Essay Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Book Reviews

Gracias

Photographer Celia Roberts' bilingual Year 2000 calendar "Gracias" celebrates the Latino migrant workers who harvest western Colorado's fields.

Karen Mockler Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Snow surfers with a mission

The "Mountain Surf" chapter of the Surfrider Foundation in Bozeman, Mont., has started the Snowrider Project to protect water quality at ski areas.

Ali Macalady Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Treasure Valley's housing not so golden

A report in the Idaho Press-Tribune documents the trouble Latinos have getting home mortgages in southwest Idaho's Treasure Valley.

Ali Macalady Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Barely there

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies has launched the "Great Grizzly Search" to scour Idaho and Montana's Bitterroot-Selway ecosystem for a remnant grizzly population.

Ali Macalady Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Free, four-hour tour of his ranch

New Mexico rancher Jim Winder offers tour of his ranch Jan. 15.

Staff Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Our Environment and Our Health

The fourth annual "Mission Possible" conference, "Our Environment and Our Health," will be held Jan. 22 in El Paso, Texas.

Staff Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

A Hunter's Voice

A new organization, "A Hunter's Voice, has been formed by activist George Wuerthner.

Staff Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

Souvenirs of "battle in Seattle"; Seattle newspaper spoof; zealots attack wrong plants at WSU; car drives into Sante Fe apartment; Cliff Notes founder endows chair; sexy store mannequins in Salt Lake City; buckled-up Utahns; "Big Pig Gig" in Cincinnati.

Betsy Marston Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Dear Friends

Skipped issue, books by Ruth Mary Lamb and Malcolm Wells; Altair to underwrite Radio High Country News.

Betsy Marston Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

News

GASP! Some greens are grinning

As the year 1999 ends, environmentalists can point to some victories, particularly in roadless area protection, dam dismantling and hardrock mining control.

Rebecca Clarren Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

WTO limps home from Seattle

Protesting environmentalists and labor unions seem to be the only winners at the end of the tumultuous meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, Wash.

Chris Carrel Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Westerners take sides on road ban

Around the West, Forest Service "listening sessions" get an earful from environmentalists and offroad vehicle fans at odds over President Clinton's plan to protect roadless forests.

Greg Hanscom Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

The Wayward West

Babbitt proposes new nat'l monuments in AZ and CA; Nev.'s Paiute Tribe can control water from Truckee River; N.M. charges illegal hazardous waste sent to WIPP; North Fork at ID's Payette River stays free-flowing; NPS lays off 700 law-enforcement workers.

Rebecca Clarren Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Counties grab for control of national forests

Environmentalists are worried by a new House bill that will strengthen county control of national forests and their budgets.

Karen Mockler Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

New resort in the San Juans?

Local activists led by 77-year-old Betty Feazel plan to fight a proposed resort in the San Juan Mountains near Pagosa Springs, Colo.

Ali Macalady Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Desert development raises dust

In Phoenix, Ariz., cases of "Valley Fever" are rising as rapid development stirs up pathogens in the area's dust.

Karen Mockler Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

An upscale development divides a town

In western Idaho, locals are at odds over the proposed "WestRock Resort at Lake Cascade."

Dave Goins Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Buy land now, says Udall

Rep. Mark Udall, D, is battling a Colorado Department of Resources moratorium on buying land for wildlife habitat.

Catherine Lutz Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Hanford leaves a surprising Cold War legacy

Area farmers are unhappy that the Wahluke Slope, a buffer zone for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, may now be protected as a wildlife refuge.

Ken Olsen Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Bulldozers roll in Tucson

In Tucson, conservationists are angry and the Amphitheater school distrct is rejoicing over the decision to build a new high school in endangered pygmy-owl habitat.

Tony Davis Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition

Clean-air program may suffocate

In Washington, a tax-slashing ballot initiative is going to hurt the state's clean-air program.

Rebecca Clarren Dec. 20, 1999 From the print edition