In search of the Glory Days

Feature

Twenty years after its longtime mainstay, the Climax Molybdenum Mine, closed, Leadville, Colo., is still groping for a secure economy and a new identity.

Steve Voynick, with Ray Ring and Hal Clifford Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Sidebar

“They want the workers to be invisible”

Former Leadville miner Bob Elder decries the exploitation of service workers who have to commute from Leadville to jobs in the resort counties. Jim Zoller, a former miner who now works as Leadville’s police chief, thinks that a lot of his town’s problems

Hal Clifford Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Open space initiative offers hope

The Lake County Open Space Initiative has preserved land around Leadville and created trails for cross-country skiing and other recreation, but some local politicians say it’s snatching up too much private land and water.

Ray Ring and J. T. Thomas Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Essays

Catch 22

A plan to restore native pikeminnow and sucker to the San Juan River in New Mexico may end up destroying a world-class trout fishery.

Joshua Zaffos Essay Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

The canyon between us

A visit to the strange landscape of Utah’s Goosenecks of the San Juan reveals the chasm growing between two people.

Diane Sylvain Essay Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Book Reviews

A gilded wrinkle in time

In Cities of Gold, his first historical novel, William K. Hartmann interweaves the conquistadors of the 16th with a contemporary murder mystery in Tucson.

Craig Childs Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Building off the grid

Rex and LaVonne Ewing wrote Logs, Wind and Sun to share what they learned in the process of building their dream house, creating a book that is both informative and enjoyable.

Linda Masterson Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Writers on the Range

Holding open the door to the good life up north

A day spent helping Mexican immigrants apply for matricula personal identification cards leads the writer to believe that the influx of workers from the south is not a threat to the West’s environment.

Michelle Nijhuis Essay Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Bush vs. enviros; logging sequoias; election by the cards; duct tape for wart removal & wallets; 130-year-old hot sauce in Virginia City, Nev.; Japanese outdoor gear hits Boulder; wounded grizzly continues to care for her cubs; and Bigfoot fraud revealed.

Betsy Marston Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Dear Friends

A town reborn; the HCN torch is passed; whoops! And see you next year.

Greg Hanscom Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

News

Forest planning gets a facelift

The Forest Service has announced a major overhaul of the forest planning process that some fear may cut out both environmental oversight and public involvement, and lead to even more legal gridlock.

Matt Jenkins Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

The Latest Bounce

New Mexico and the Navajo Nation tackle cattle rustling; details of Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Plan won’t be released; "anaerobic digester" in the works to clean up hog-farm waste; Imperial Valley farmers refuse to sell water to San Diego, Calif.

Laura Paskus and Matt Jenkins Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Northwest braces itself for wolves

Unconfirmed wolf sightings in Oregon are on the rise, and wolf advocates are arguing with ranchers over how to handle the return of the predator packs.

Rachel Odell Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Wayward wolf nabbed in Utah

"Wolf No. 253," from the Druid Peak Pack in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, is caught far from home when he steps into a leghold coyote trap, 30 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Brent Israelsen Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Budget cuts bury paleontologists

The new superintendent of Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, Utah, plans to cut nine positions in the paleontology department and hand over future scientific work to private contractors, much to the outrage of the scientific community.

Tom Rea Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Logging for water creates a buzz

In Colorado, a long-dead notion to clear-cut forests to increase water runoff is resurrected in a time of drought.

Robyn Morrison Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Wild tiles

To celebrate its purchase and renovation of the historic Roxy Theater in Missoula, Mont., the International Wildlife Film Festival is displaying 300 hand-painted ceramic tiles by artist Melanie Jeffs, each representing a donation.

Lolly Merrell Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

Ranching conference secrets revealed!

The landmark conference "Ranching West of the 100th Meridian" is now available on four videotapes.

Ed Marston Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition

How to go with the flow

Montana Audubon has written an eight-page guide to flood preparation, called Go With the Flow: Streams and Bank Stabilization.

Joshua Zaffos Dec. 23, 2002 From the print edition