Closing the wounds

Feature

If the 1993 New Mexico Mining Act is allowed to work, it could usher in a new era of mine reclamation in which mines actually have to clean up and pay for the messes they leave behind.

Ernest Atencio Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Sidebar

Reclamation's mixed bag

The art and science of mine reclamation is very complicated, and so far there have not been enough long-term successes to learn from.

Ernest Atencio Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

The fractured states of mining reclamation

A comparison of mine reclamation in Western states shows the specifics of reclamation very widely in each state.

Ernest Atencio Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

'You can't say no to mining'

In an interview, former Department of Interior attorney John Leshy talks about the long battle for reform of the 1872 Mining Law, and how the Bush administration has helped to set back that reform.

Ed Marston Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Essays

Las Vegas: Images in light, images in stone

Looking for petroglyphs and then watching a light show in Las Vegas, Nev., leads the writer to think that people haven't changed so much over the millennia.

Erica Olsen Essay Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Book Reviews

Critical mass

In "Learning to Glow: A Nuclear Reader," editor John Bradley pulls together the stories of downwinders, veterans and other Americans who have paid the price of this country's invisible nuclear history.

Marilyn Abildskov Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

A water tale to set you on fire

Drury Gunn Carr's new documentary follows the Shoshone Tribe's legal battle to change Wyoming water law and win its water rights.

Rachel Jackson Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Friendship in the Sagebrush West

In "Woven on the Wind," an anthology edited by Gaydell Collier, Linda Hasselstrom and Nancy Curtis, rural Western women write about their friendships with other women.

Ali Macalady Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Trash talk

A new edition of "Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage" by William Rathje and Cullen Murphy, reports the fascinating findings of the University of Arizona's "Garbage Project."

Michelle Nijhuis Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

A refreshing view

In "The View from Bald Hill: Thirty Years in an Arizona Grassland," biologist Carl and Jane Bock describe their field work in the Appleton-Whittell Ranch, where no grazing has occurred since the 1960s.

Ali Macalady Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Powell's enduring teachings

Two new books - "River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell" by Donald Worster and "Seeing Things Whole: The Essential John Wesley Powell" by William deBuys - offer a new look at Powell's life, legacy and writings.

Daniel Kemmis Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

Doctor sells his strip clubs; it's still hard to dance in Utah; moose vs. swingset; high country nudes in Vail fund raiser; bigfoot sightings; California teenager buys controversial cattle impounded in Nevada.

Betsy Marston Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Dear Friends

Change from the inside out; remember Cate Gilles; more letters, please; Renny Russell and "On The Loose"; visitors; Herbert Hoover on water; sad news about Tommie Bell's death.

Paul Larmer Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

News

Rocky Mountain Front saved again - but...

An industry suit is rejected, upholding - at least for the moment - former Forest Service Supervisor Gloria Flora's ban on drilling in Montana's Rocky Mountain Front.

Rebecca Clarren Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Ruling ripples through salmon country

A judge's ruling has removed Oregon coastal coho from protection under the Endangered Species Act, and sent the National Marine Fisheries Service scrambling to rethink its hatchery policy.

Rebecca Clarren Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

The Latest Bounce

Sierra Nevada Framework upheld; Rebecca Watson, Interior Dept., land and minerals mgmt; lawsuit on president's authority to create new monuments dismissed; Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Mgmt.; Torres-Martinez Band of Cahuilla Indians, Salton Sea.

Matt Jenkins Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Stargazers defend darkness in Arizona

The Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition's struggle to keep the stars visible has led to the city's designation as the first "International Dark-Sky City."

Peter Friederici Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Church aims to purchase public land

The Mormon Church is working to purchase a national historic site along the Oregon Trail in Wyoming, where nearly 200 Mormon pioneers died in the winter of 1856.

Robyn Morrison Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Cooperating on the Valles Caldera

The Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico will not be managed by any government agency, but by a president-appointed board of nine trustees, who are still trying to figure out their new job.

Erika Trautman and Andy Lenderman Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

A struggling mountain town looks for a lift

The former mining town of Silverton, Colo., has put its economic hopes in plans for a new but old-fashioned small-scale, low-key ski area, but some worry the area is too avalanche-prone to be safe.

Jonathan Thompson Dec. 3, 2001 From the print edition

Go west, fruit picker

Disappearing jobs in the hard-hit apple orchards of eastern Washington have led to a flood of displaced migrant workers moving west toward Seattle.