Magazine
Out of the darkness

July 31, 2000

When Paonia, Colo., resident Richard Rudin challenged a local mine's plans for expansion, the town was painfully divided, until the efforts of the North Fork Coal Working Group brought miners, environmentalists and agencies together for a solution.

Feature

Out of the darkness
When Paonia, Colo., resident Richard Rudin challenged a local mine's plans for expansion, the town was painfully divided, until the efforts of the North Fork Coal Working Group brought miners, environmentalists and agencies together for a solution.
Paul Larmer July 31, 2000 From the print edition

Sidebar

Mining out the middleman
In Montana, the Stillwater Mining Co. and local citizens' groups have signed a legally binding "good neighbor" agreement that holds the palladium mine to strict environmental standards in exchange for environmentalists agreeing to drop a lawsuit.
Eric Whitney July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Rural Green: A new shade of activism
Ed Marston interviews Steve Hinchman, former HCN staffer and director of the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council, about the different kind of environmental activism and consensus-building needed in rural Western communities.
Ed Marston July 31, 2000 From the print edition

Book Reviews

One big bighorn
The National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Center in Dubois, Wyo., will display the skull of the biggest bighorn ever known, a 15,000- to 22,000-year-old relic.
Beth Wohlberg July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Barberry bush beats bacteria
A compound from the Fremont barberry bush on Colorado's Western Slope is helping researchers fight antibiotic resistance.
Beth Wohlberg July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Help search for snakes
Biologist Nikolle Brown is seeking photographs and information on any reptiles seen in the Grand Canyon for her Snakes of the Grand Canyon Identification and Distribution Project.
Kayley Mendenhall July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Saving some of Utah
A coalition of environmentalists has raised the money to protect a historic ranch in Utah's Wasatch Mountains from the sprawling development of nearby Park City.
Tim Westby July 31, 2000 From the print edition
The bees' needs
Golfers are working with conservationists to encourage bees and other native pollinators to inhabit golf courses.
David Williams July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Vulgar yet valiant
"Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper's Memoir" by Murry A. Taylor tells the story of the sometimes "irreverent, vulgar, uncouth and crass" folks who parachute in to fight forest fires in the West.
Matt Jenkins July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Killing Coyote
Doug Hawes-Davis' new video documentary, "Killing Coyote," goes inside the battle waged by humans against one of the most resilient predators, the coyote.
Hal Herring July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Raging river, quiet mind
"Raging River, Quiet Mind: Field Notes from the Grand Canyon" wonderfully reproduces the illustrated journal writer Teresa Jordan kept on a 12-day river trip through the Grand Canyon.
Betsy Marston July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Sacred Buffalo Conference
The third annual Sacred Buffalo Conference is held Aug. 13-15 in Santa Fe, N.M.
Staff July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Riparian Ecology and Management in Multi-Land Use Watersheds
A conference on Riparian Ecology and Management in Multi-Land Use Watersheds is held Aug. 28-31 in Portland, Ore.
Staff July 31, 2000 From the print edition
National Mountain Conference
Hiking and mountaineering clubs are sponsoring a National Mountain Conference Sept. 14-16 in Golden, Colo.
Staff July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Volunteer Stewards
Volunteers are sought for Colorado's Natural Areas Program.
Staff July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Communities Directory: A Guide to Intentional Communities and Cooperative Living
A new directory features maps, cross-references charts and an index of various communities.
Staff July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Musicians United to Sustain the Environment
A Michigan-based nonprofit, Musicians United to Sustain the Environment, is giving away CDs in drawings.
Staff July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Society for Human Ecology
The Society for Human Ecology is sponsoring a conference for scientists, educators and urban planners Oct. 18-22 in Jackson, Wyo.
Staff July 31, 2000 From the print edition
National Land Trust Rally
Open-space advocates will gather at a National Land Trust Rally Oct. 19-22 in Portland, Oregon.
Staff July 31, 2000 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West
San Francisco vs. tourists; "Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)"; camping at Wal-Mart; Yellowstone Web site pulls ads begging for corporate money; lawn ornament bandits in Oregon; lawn mowers vs. people.
Betsy Marston July 31, 2000 From the print edition

Dear Friends

Dear Friends
Paonia, Colo., and HCN; visitors from near and far.
Greg Hanscom July 31, 2000 From the print edition

News

A party for the people
A group of unrelated Utah activists who first came together as the "Bastille Family" during anti-war protests in 1969 celebrates its 30th anniversary with a family reunion in Salt Lake City.
Tim Westby July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Kicking and screaming in Nevada
The Jarbidge Shovel Brigade's July 4 rally failed to reopen a controversial closed road along Nev.'s Jarbidge River, but the Forest Service's proposal to rebuild the road in a slightly different place so far has satisfied neither wise-users nor enviros.
Zachary Mider July 31, 2000 From the print edition
The Wayward West
Clinton administration delays dam-breaching decision; critics call Army Corps of Engineers' Los Alamos, NM, dam unnecessary; W.R. Grace repurchases vermiculite mine in Libby, MT and revokes EPA access; Californians vie to get $ for their polluting cars.
Rebecca Clarren July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Government writes wolf success story
The federal government wants to downlist the gray wolf from "endangered" to "threatened" status, a move conservationists say could endanger the whole wolf recovery program.
Beth Wohlberg July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Buddhist temple hits a snag
A California environmental group says that building a Buddhist retreat center in Morse Canyon near Rancho Cucamonga would harm endangered species, especially the California gnatcatcher and the kangaroo rat.
Kayley Mendenhall July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Water district has identity crisis
The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, until recently thought to be part of New Mexico's state government, is actually a federal agency, and could be forced to keep enough water in the river to protect the endangered silvery minnow.
Greg Hanscom and Kayley Mendenhall July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Neighbors oppose land trade
A proposed land swap by the Colorado State Land Board would trade the Little Cochetopa Creek School Section near Salida to a Kansas developer, a move critics say would harm elk and deer habitat and end local access.
Kayley Mendenhall July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Loggers win one
A county jury says the state of Washington must pay SDS Co., a logging company, to protect endangered spotted owls on the company's private land.
Beth Wohlberg July 31, 2000 From the print edition
The snail that stands like a dam
Future human-made floods from Glen Canyon Dam, designed to help restore the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, are on hold until scientists find a way to protect and recover an endangered subspecies, the Kanab ambersnail.
Guy Webster July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Up in smoke: Hanford fire releases plutonium
A recent wildfire on Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Wash., released plutonium into the air, and watchdog groups are not satisfied by the Department of Energy's claim that there is no cause for worry.
Ken Olsen July 31, 2000 From the print edition
In New Mexico, a surprising proposal rises from the flames
For the first time ever, the environmental group Forest Guardians has recommended thinning and prescribed burning in the dense pine forests on Santa Fe's watershed.
Greg Hanscom July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Colorado blazes fuel forest restoration efforts
In the wake of forest fires, mountain communities along Colorado's Front Range are working with agencies to protect homes and watersheds from storm-caused floods that could race over burned and eroded ground.
Victoria Peglar July 31, 2000 From the print edition

Letters

Carroll lives on imaginary planet
Joy Belsky July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Don't ignore role of climate change
Grant Meyer July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Delta water treaty needs amending
Stephen P. Mumme July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Expect the big burn
Anthony Peiffer July 31, 2000 From the print edition
Don't blame cows
Chris Frasier July 31, 2000 From the print edition
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