The Stock Farm outside of Hamilton, Mont., is one of many
new exclusive gated housing developments in the West, and some fear
that these fortified palaces, which cater to a wealthy elite, will
further divide communities and adversely impact the land.
Magazine
November 11, 2002
The "Real West" at the touch of an access code? A look into the fortified rural retreats of the West's moneyed elite. Also in this issue: Hanford bomb factory's hard-to-reach radioactive dregs might stay where they are.
Feature
Sidebar
Exclusive gated communities such as Montana's Yellowstone
Club impact the land as well as the social fabric.
The sales pitch for the Silver Bow Club, a gated ranch
community proposed for Montana's Big Hole River, weighs 12 pounds
and encourages vivid lifestyle fantasies.
Essays
An anti-war demonstration in Flagstaff, Ariz., leads the
writer to consider that our leaders are becoming more and more
removed from the people, living and governing in isolation behind
high and fortified walls.
Conversation
Colorado writer Alex Merkels talks about the revolution in
wind power now sweeping over the West.
Writers on the Range
Independent, family-owned newspapers are disappearing down
the gullets of huge corporations, and American democracy is
directly threatened by the loss of a diversity of voices.
Heard Around the West
Grizzly jam turns into fracas; School administrator
embezzles for his self-esteem; yield to bison; Cody Boobyprise
speaks out for endangered liberals; low-flow toilets cause problems
in Santa Fe; rats in Beverly Hills; and Nike vs. British
brewery.
Dear Friends
Gated communities; HCN calls readers; visitors; gripes
& gun-totin' Democrats
News
The Department of Energy is looking for shortcuts in the
cleanup of radioactive waste at the Hanford bomb factory in
Washington, but area tribes and environmentalists fear the job may
not be properly done.
In Hanford, Wash., a local group, the Citizens for Medical
Isotopes, wants to convert the Fast Flux Test Facility into a
private facility producing medical isotopes.
Whistleblower says Fisheries Service followed politics,
not science; decision to release water for the silvery minnow is
reversed; Farmers get money for destroyed crops; Report says Bush
admin. acted improperly when it overturned environmental
regs.
Small desert springs in the Grand Canyon area are
indispensable oases for many plants and animals, but they may be
endangered by development many miles away as the groundwater is
depleted.
Rancher Merle Edsall wants to save wild horses by sending
them to a sanctuary in Sonora, Mexico, but some fear such a move
would actually endanger the animals.
RD's Drive-In in Page, Ariz., is facing a federal lawsuit
over its policy of not allowing Navajo employees to speak their
native language while at work.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says that, because of
drought, changing the management of the Missouri River and its dams
to benefit endangered fish and birds must be postponed.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering whether
to list the disappearing golden trout, California's state fish, as
endangered.
Some Sheridan, Wyo., residents fear a planned land swap
could land them with responsibility for an underground coal-seam
fire at the Welch Ranch on the Tongue River.
In Coahuila, Mexico, the corporate colossus CEMEX is
working to create a "Mexican Yellowstone" that would preserve the
rich wildlife and wild country of the Sierra El Carmen.
Under a new law, California's three investor-owned
utilities must buy 20 percent of their power from alternative
energy sources such as wind and solar.
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