Save Our Sagebrush

Feature

In the wake of the huge fires that swept across the Great Basin in August 1999, the BLM is seeking ways to restore the sagebrush landscape and to control the fire-prone cheatgrass that now infests it.

Jon Christensen May 22, 2000 From the print edition

The weedy future of the Great Basin

The fire-loving weed cheatgrass is taking over the Great Basin's overgrazed sagebrush steppes, and BLM scientists are struggling to find a way to eradicate the non-native weeds and restore the land before it all goes up in flames.

Jon Christensen May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Sidebar

Are cows the ultimate weed seeders?

Ecologist Joy Belski believes that cattle are the prime culprit behind the rapid spread of weeds in the Great Basin.

Paul Larmer May 22, 2000 From the print edition

A few facts about weeds

Some facts and statistics about the spread of weeds in the West.

Staff May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Uncommon Westerners

He's worried about weeds

A profile of Forest Service botanist Steve Monsen describes his battle with squarrose knapweed, which is infesting the western part of Utah, where Monsen has spent his life.

Lisa Jones May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Essays

'Los Alamos is burning'

The prescribed burn in Bandelier National Monument that roared out of control into Los Alamos, N.M., can be blamed on logging restrictions, the writer argues.

Frank Carroll Essay May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Yelling fire in a crowded West

Only consensus between environmentalists and loggers and careful, sustainable forestry can protect the West from the kind of fires that ravaged Los Alamos, N.M., the writer believes.

Ed Marston Essay May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

Steamboat Geyser erupts in Yellowstone; behind scenes at Miss USA pageant; killer bees in AZ; backcountry skier gets to safety with perseverance; subsidized smoking on reservations; geckos released to control roaches in Golden Gate State Park, Calif.

Betsy Marston May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Dear Friends

"Errare humanum est"; summer interns Kayley Mendenhall and Katie Oppenheimer; fourth grade visits HCN; Craig Child's reading; William Hornby gets award.

Betsy Marston May 22, 2000 From the print edition

News

Service says dams should stay put

The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to table for five to 10 years any serious debate on breaching four dams in the Snake River to save salmon.

Eric Barker May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Activist calls for cease-fire on wolves

Some wolf advocates are furious over the recent killing of five livestock-attacking wolves in the White Cloud Mountains of Idaho.

Steve Stuebner May 22, 2000 From the print edition

The burbs target cougars

As Seattle's suburbs encroach on wildlife habitat, residents alarmed by increasing mountain lion-human encounters have pressured the Legislature into passing a law allowing the public to hunt cougars with dogs.

Boyd Hartwig May 22, 2000 From the print edition

The Wayward West

Craters of the Moon expanded in Idaho; Colo. gold-mining company sues Montana over anti-cyanide heap-leaching law; EPA's Bill Yellowtail suspended during investigation; Allan Elias gets 17 years for exposing employee to cyanide; not that many cows in NV.

Rebecca Clarren May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Stirrings in the San Rafael Swell

As increasing numbers of recreationists discover Utah's San Rafael Swell, the BLM struggles to manage the area and environmentalists, ORVers and politicians wrangle over the best way to preserve - or exploit - the land.

Catherine Lutz May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Another compromise plan falls flat

In Utah, a huge swap of state and federal lands in the western part of the state falls through when environmentalists and anti-wilderness locals object.

Tim Westby May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Lawmaker accepts Babbitt's challenge

In Colorado, Rep. Scott McInnis has proposed a bill to make the 130,000-acre Black Ridge Canyon a national conservation area, with 72,000 acres designated wilderness.

Allen Best May 22, 2000 From the print edition

Hikers stumble into an old dispute

A plan to extend the Continental Divide Trail through northern New Mexico's Rio Arriba County meets opposition from Hispanic locals, who claim the land under old Spanish land grants and say that until their land is returned, no trail will go through.

May 22, 2000