The land trust movement is bigger than the earliest groups
imagined, but the challenge the 250 Western groups face is even
bigger, as development swallows the last open space.
Magazine

February 28, 2000
The land trust movement is bigger than the earliest groups imagined, but the challenge the 250 Western groups face is even bigger, as development swallows the last open space.
Feature
Sidebar
A glossary defines some of the real estate-style concepts
behind land trust deals.
Rondal Snodgrass of Sanctuary Forest describes how his
land trust group has saved old growth in Northern
California.
Carla of the McDowell-Sonora Land Trust describes how her
group tries to save land near Scottsdale, Ariz.
Lynne Sherrod of the Colo. Cattlemen's Agricultural Land
Trust talks about how ranchers save open space. Rancher Jay Fetcher
came up with the idea of a cattleman's land trust when his family
began to look for ways to preserve their Yampa Valley
lands.
Wendy Ninteman of the Five Valleys Land Trust in Missoula,
Mont., talks about the experience of her land trust.
Wendy Fisher of Utah Open Lands talks about how her land
trust group began in booming Park City.
The Yampa Valley Beef Corp. seeks to protect land near
Steamboat Springs, Colo., by selling locally raised beef in the
area.
Colette Kostelec of the Jefferson Land Trust talks about
trying to save land on the Olympic Peninsula near Port Townsend,
Wash.
Uncommon Westerners
Montana State Rep. Ben Cohen, environmentalist,
garbageman, actor and outdoorsman, is mourned in Whitefish,
Mont.
Book Reviews
The Glen Canyon Action Network plans a Restoration
Celebration and Rendezvous at Utah's Glen Canyon Dam.
A special investigative report by the San Jose (Calif.)
Mercury News says public-lands grazing consumes dollars as well as
grass.
The League of Conservation Voters gives most Western
congress people a poor grade on environmental issues.
The Forest Service investigates Gloria Flora's charges of
"anti-federal fervor" and employee harassment in Nevada.
"Green Scissors 2000," a report by a coalition of
environmental and taxpayer groups, cites 77 wasteful government
programs.
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Training Academy offers
courses for interpreters involved with tourism.
Grand Teton National Park hosts a gathering to celebrate
the legacy of the Muries, July 20-30.
American Land Conservancy presents an Internet art show
on-line, March 3-31.
Colorado State University presents a High Altitude
Revegetation Workshop, March 8-10.
The Northwest Wilderness Conference, March 31-April 2,
will feature David Brower and Polly Dyer as speakers.
The Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts is sponsoring a
spring conference in Golden, Colo., April 6-8.
Prof. Debra Donahue's book, "The Western Range Revisited:
Removing Livestock from Public Lands to Conserve Native
Biodiversity," has infuriated Wyoming ranchers.
Heard Around the West
USFS mulls changing vehicle color; Ariz. couch potatoes
slim; Idaho's potato supremacy threatened; San Francisco battles
rodeos; Tom Forsythe told to quit photographing Barbie dolls; Aspen
fights monster homes; faux fish trophies; what animal?
Dear Friends
Dam-breaching correction; HCN's Robert Hayutin and Three
Rivers Land Trust; HCN is 30; Peggy Rawlins.
News
At the University of Wyoming, Prof. Debra Donahue's book,
"The Western Range Revisited," with its criticism of grazing, has
provoked fury among ranchers and raised questions about academic
freedom.
Babbitt plans "national landscape monuments"; Phoenix air
pollution; Animas-La Plata rises again; Las Vegas Mayor Oscar
Goodman's ideas on storing nuclear waste; lawsuit over Makah
Indians' right to hunt gray whales.
Both sides are surprised when dam-breaching supporters
outnumber opponents at public meetings over breaching four Snake
River dams to save salmon.
In Montana, the Blackfeet Tribe wants to remove a dam on
the reservation that is killing endangered St. Mary's River bull
trout.
Ashland, Ore., rallies to defend consensus-building Forest
Service District Ranger Linda Duffy, when she is unexpectedly
demoted and reassigned.
Jack and Stephanie McFarland sue when Glacier National
Park officials deny them a special permit to snowmobile into their
park inholding.
In Washington's Methow Valley, hunters deliver roadkilled
deer to six tribes in an agreement in which the tribe agrees to
stop hunting in the valley.
Two natural-foods chains - Wild Oats Market and Whole
Foods Market - are banning genetically engineered foods from their
stores.
San Juan County, Utah, officials are removing "road
closed" signs from BLM land in the Grand Gulch area, claiming
ownership of the roads.
The Fish and Wildlife Service agrees that the black-tailed
prairie dog needs protection but decides not to list it as
endangered yet.
The Army Corps of Engineers is trying to figure out how to
relocate the 10,000 pairs of Caspian terns nesting on Rice Island
at the mouth of the Columbia - and eating millions of young
salmon.
High Country News celebrates its 30 years by looking back
at the paper's early days in Lander, Wyo.
Quotes from High Country News' founding father, Tom Bell,
show his passion about preserving the West.
Opinion
A University of Wyoming faculty member says that the furor
over Debra Donahue's book, "The Western Range Revisited," is just
the most recent attack on academic freedom led by Wyoming special
interests.
Prof. Debra Donahue defends her controversial book, "The
Western Range Revisited," and its criticism of public-lands
grazing.
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