Magazine
The Big Blowup

April 23, 2001

A historian of fire recalls the "Big Blowup" of 1910, an explosion of wildfire in Idaho that took 78 lives, made a hero of ranger Ed Pulaski, and helped to share a century of fire policy on the national forests.

Feature

The Big Blowup
A historian of fire recalls the "Big Blowup" of 1910, an explosion of wildfire in Idaho that took 78 lives, made a hero of ranger Ed Pulaski, and helped to share a century of fire policy on the national forests.
Stephen J. Pyne April 23, 2001 From the print edition

Editor's Note

After the fires, Part I
An introduction to this issue's lead story and the next talks about the need for changes in the Forest Service's fire policy, especially in the West.
Greg Hanscom April 23, 2001 From the print edition

Uncommon Westerners

An unabashed moralist bows out
Longtime, controversial New Mexico activist Sam Hitt retires from Forest Guardians to write a book.
Cathy Robbins April 23, 2001 From the print edition

Book Reviews

Benigna's Chimayo: Cuentos from the Old Plaza
In "Benigna's Chimayo: Cuentos from the Old Plaza," Don Usner recounts the rich stories his grandmother used to tell him, when he spent childhood summers with her in Chimayo, N.M.
Kirsten Bovee April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Fool's Gold: Telluride's 'magical realism'
In "Fool's Gold: Lives, Loves, and Misadventures in the Four Corners Country," Rob Schultheis tells of life in Telluride, Colo., from its ramshackle hippie days in the 1970s to its growth into an expensive ski resort.
Renee Guillory April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Billboards blast bomb industries
The Los Alamos Study Group, a nonprofit focused on nuclear disarmament, has put up five billboards on I-25 in New Mexico that criticize the state's dependence on the nuclear weapons industry.
John Rosapepe April 23, 2001 From the print edition

Perspective

An environmentalist in the heart of cowboy culture
Former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, Arizona native, rancher and environmentalist, lectures on cooperation and community in the West at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev., and gets a surprising ovation.
Jon Christensen April 21, 2001 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West
Moab and "The Vagina Monologues"; "squaw" and its English equivalent in Idaho; Unimogs are new ultimate behemoths; motorized scooters new trend.
Betsy Marston April 23, 2001 From the print edition

Dear Friends

Dear friends
Activist Connie Harvey celebrates 70th birthday in Aspen, Colo.; visitors by modem and phone; God leads HCN subscribers; oops: HCN booboos.
Paul Larmer and Greg Hanscom April 23, 2001 From the print edition

News

Monuments caught in the crosshairs
Under the new administration of George W. Bush, Republicans seek to open Clinton's new national monuments to oil and gas exploration and other uses and to revise the way monuments are created.
Kirsten Bovee April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Roadless rule hits the skids
The Bush administration is working to revise and weaken Clinton's roadless area conservation rules for national forests.
Michelle Nijhuis April 23, 2001 From the print edition
The latest bounce
Idaho can't kill sage grouse predators; Colo. coyote-killing study stopped; Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) against drilling on public land near Jackson; Interior/Treasury must account for lost Indian monies; Sen. Slade Gorton may become federal judge.
Rebecca Clarren April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Monument status could wreck ruins
Archaeologists fear that without more funds to manage tourism, the ruins in newly designated Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colo., will suffer from increased visitors.
Gail Binkly April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Microwaveable wilderness
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Wilderness Watch are challenging a microwave repeater tower in Death Valley National Park that was put up without any environmental assessment.
Matt Jenkins April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Company leaves victims in its dust
In Libby, Mont., residents who are sick or dying of exposure to asbestos from W.R. Grace's vermiculite mine are outraged by the company's decision to file for bankruptcy in the face of their lawsuits.
Jane Fritz April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Debate roars over quiet canyon
Environmentalists say new rules restricting helicopter and airplane flights in the Grand Canyon still aren't enough to restore quiet, even as air-tour operators react with anger and lawsuits.
Terri Likens April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Slapping back at SLAPPs
A bill designed to protect citizens from frivolous lawsuits called SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) was defeated in Colorado's state Senate, but its sponsor plans to try again.
Jennifer Chergo April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Islands hung out to dry
Idaho irrigators are relieved that water rights have been denied for the 94 islands in the Snake River that make up the Deer Flats National Wildlife Refuge.
Kirsten Bovee April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Plan protects foresters, not fish
Washington state's much-hyped "Forests and Fish" plan is being criticized by scientists, environmentalists, fishermen and tribes as a sell-out to the timber industry likely to hasten the salmon's decline.
Tim McNulty April 23, 2001 From the print edition

Letters

Cloudrock is a cave-in to corporate control
Mathew Gross April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Snowmobiles have no business in Yellowstone
Joy York April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Bush-Cheney bunch are the new eco-terrorists
Gene Sentz April 23, 2001 From the print edition
Ranchers not necessarily the enemy
David M. Nelson April 23, 2001 From the print edition
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