Invasion of the rock jocks

Feature

Bishop, Calif., is a hot spot for the lively new sport of bouldering, but some fear that the new generation of rock-climbers is short on environmental ethics, treating nature as little more than an outdoor climbing gym

Robyn Morrison July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Sidebar

Who’s managing climbers?

A look at popular climbing areas around the West shows both the problems – and the solutions – inspired by the popularity of rock climbing

Robyn Morrison July 7, 2003 From the print edition

One park clamps down on climbers

Hueco Tanks State Historic Site near El Paso, Texas, had to enact strict regulations governing climbing after the area’s rock art was vandalized

Robyn Morrison July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Climbers: More than just fun-hogs?

The Access Fund says it’s out to prove that climbers care about the environment, but some say that the group’s tactics are no different from any wise-use group’s

Robyn Morrison July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Editor's Note

Speak up, ‘quiet recreationists’

Outdoor recreationists need to follow the lead of the Outdoor Industry Association, which is fighting the Utah wilderness rollbacks, in caring about the fate of their natural playgrounds

Greg Hanscom July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Book Reviews

Westerners must be fire-starters as well as firefighters

Fire specialist Stephen Pyne’s new book, Smokechasing, is a brilliant and thoughtful collection of essays on a topic he knows very well

Ed Marston July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Perspective

Fire in the West: It’s no simple story

A group of scientists says that the West is facing a megadrought, and the notion that wildfires should be allowed to burn is simplistic and downright dangerous

Julio L. Betancourt, Thomas W. Swetnam, Craig D. Allen andMelis Essay July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Writers on the Range

Once touched by drought, you never forget

The writer remembers his mother and grandmother’s stories of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression as he faces the current drought afflicting the West

Allen Best Essay July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Orange County, Calif., is running out of building room; Arizona man says, "Cage cattle, not people;" "Provider Pals" program wants Montana schoolkids to "adopt" loggers and miners; endangered Bigfoot; DNA catches rustler; arguing about prairie dogs in Gra

Betsy Marston July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Dear Friends

We need a vacation! Paonia board meeting; visitors; Karen Mockler’s first novel

Greg Hanscom July 7, 2003 From the print edition

News

As fires rage, governors counsel discretion

Even as wildfires blaze in Arizona and New Mexico, and President Bush’s forest-thinning plan moves through Congress, Western governors counsel moderation in logging and suggest more research and collaboration

Ray Ring July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Follow-up

Klamath farmers have to cut back on water; hunters asked to use lead-free ammo to protect condors; Interior Department forms new appraisal office for land swaps; Indian activist Russell Means crashes NPS dedication of Little Big Horn Memorial

Laura Paskus July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Back on the range?

Controversy is rising over a plan to transfer management of Montana’s National Bison Range and several other wildlife refuges to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Mark Matthews July 7, 2003 From the print edition

‘New Homestead Act’ would boost dwindling towns

The "New Homestead Act" now before Congress seeks to entice the young and skilled back into the Great Plains’ dying towns -- struggling communities like Eads, Colo

Sierra Standish July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Reinstating the heir to the Truckee River

The Nevada Lahontan cutthroat trout, believed to be extinct for 60 years, may still be alive, but actually restoring the fish to its native Truckee River and Pyramid Lake could prove extremely complicated

Joshua Zaffos July 7, 2003 From the print edition

A ravaged river gets a new life

The Nature Conservancy is using the McCarran Ranch, which it recently purchased, as a river-restoration pilot project for Nevada’s Truckee River

Joshua Zaffos July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Bikers want back in to national park

Tucson, Ariz., mountain bikers are pushing the Park Service to reopen the Cactus Forest Trail in Saguaro National Park

Mitch Tobin July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Trees help clean the West’s dumps

The Riverbend Landfill in McMinnville, Ore., is planting poplar trees to help clean up contaminants in a cutting-edge process called phytoremediation

Rebecca Clarren July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Water bottles flood landfills

A nonprofit group, Californians Against Waste, is trying to double the state’s recycling deposits on beverage containers, but the industry is fighting attempts to put a bill through Congress

Rosemary Winters July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Demolish the dam, sayeth the Lord

Montana’s Clark Fork River Coalition is celebrating the EPA’s call for the removal of Milltown Dam and its toxic reservoir, a decision even conservative Gov. Judy Martz says God’s will

Mark Matthews and Ray Ring July 7, 2003 From the print edition

War on fire takes a toll on fish

The group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics is calling for Forest Service firefighters to be more careful with fire retardants, which are causing fish kills in Western streams

Ray Ring July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Hood River dam’s days are numbered

Pacificorp has agreed to remove the Powerdale Dam on Oregon’s Hood River in 2010

Rosemary Winters July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Report brandishes cold facts about U.S. energy

A new report by the Rocky Mountain Institute called U.S. Energy Facts criticizes current energy policy and urges efficiency and conservation

Joshua Zaffos July 7, 2003 From the print edition

Log on for fire news

A new Web site, Forest Fire and the American Southwest, is intended to serve as a "one-stop-shopping site" for information about regional wildfires

Donna Redman July 7, 2003 From the print edition