Magazine
March 26, 2001
In the West's public schools, corporations and conservationists quietly compete to control what students will learn in the largely unregulated field of environmental education.
Feature
In the West's public schools, corporations and
conservationists quietly compete to control what students will
learn in the largely unregulated field of environmental
education.
Dear Friends
The Ides of March; spring visitors; report from a land-use
management seminar sponsored by FREE (Foundation for Research on
Economics & the Environment).
News
In the new global economy, U.S. sawmills are going out of
business, unable to compete with cheap timber coming from Canada,
where environmental regulations are much looser.
Griles nominated deputy Interior Sec'y; Mont. Gov. Judy
Martz wants state to get 5,000 federal acres; pumice mining in San
Francisco Peaks, AZ, ends; Sen. Craig Thomas' bill would repeal
Yellowstone's snowmobile ban; N.M. keeps cockfighting
legal.
Gayla Benefield of Libby, Mont., is among many fighting to
keep the Montana Environmental Policy Act intact in the face of
Republican attempts to weaken the far-reaching and powerful
law.
A new law means that Idaho farmworkers will be entitled to
receive a minimum wage for their labors.
In Wyoming, backcountry skiers are upset to find that the
Park Service's decision to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone and
Grand Teton may also ban skiing in some areas, to protect bighorn
sheep.
Kniffy Hamilton, supervisor of Bridger-Teton National
Forest, Wyo., has issued a draft environmental impact statement
that would not allow oil and gas drilling on land near the Gros
Ventre Wilderness.
Stimson Lumber Company says the Alaska National Interest
Lands Conservation Act entitles it to build at least 21 miles of
new road through endangered species habitat in the Selkirk Range of
Idaho and Washington.
The Army Corps of Engineers has been ordered to come up
with a plan to lower salmon-endangering high temperatures and gas
content in the Snake River.
Some Moab, Utah, residents are fighting a luxury resort
and development called Cloudrock that developers want to build on a
state-owned mesa south of town.
Conservation organizations and activists are suddenly
feeling lost and lonely in Washington, D.C., in the new,
anti-environmental world of George W. Bush and friends.
The Glen Canyon Action Network toured part of the West to
promote basic conservation measures for the Colorado River, along
with a proposal to send 1 percent of the river's water downstream
to restore the delta.
On a tributary of Oregon's Nehalem River, the writer
worked with Fish and Wildlife biologist Michele Long to scatter the
carcasses of hatchery salmon, which feed a wide range of
wildlife.
Book Reviews
Geoffrey O'Gara's book, "What You See in Clear Water,"
explores past and present on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation, and
describes the continual conflict over control of the Wind River
watershed.
An Idaho State Land Board report called "Breaking the
Gridlock" recommends ways for locals to work with the federal
government to manage public lands.
The Conservation Fund and the Catto Charitable Foundation
are honoring Nancy Russell, founder of the Friends of the Columbia
Gorge, for her work to protect the Gorge.
"Voices from the Woods: Lives and Experiences of
Non-timber Forest Workers," an oral history compiled by the
Jefferson Center, documents the lives of Northwestern mushroom
harvesters, tree planters, herb gatherers and others.
Heard Around the West
Deer vs. trampoline; wild turkey vs. mailman; Wilderness
Society vs. Gale Norton's parents; hints for contacting
legislators; cheesy art comes to Powell, Wyo.; Utah Legislature vs.
hate-crimes bill.
Letters
Sidebar
Some critics say that Project Learning Tree, one of the
most popular environmental education programs, is too biased toward
the timber industry which helps to underwrite it.
Jeff Mitchell in Philomath, Ore., and Clinton Kennedy in
McCall, Idaho, are two teachers who have found creative ways to
teach environmental studies in the conservative West.
A list gives some of the resources environmental educators
can find on the Internet.
