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.
Magazine
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
Editor's Note
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.
Uncommon Westerners
Longtime, controversial New Mexico activist Sam Hitt
retires from Forest Guardians to write a book.
Book Reviews
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.
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.
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.
Perspective
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.
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.
Dear Friends
Activist Connie Harvey celebrates 70th birthday in Aspen,
Colo.; visitors by modem and phone; God leads HCN subscribers;
oops: HCN booboos.
News
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.
The Bush administration is working to revise and weaken
Clinton's roadless area conservation rules for national
forests.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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