Magazine
Harvesting Poison

September 29, 2003

The pesticides used in orchards and farm fields in places like eastern Washington endanger the health – and even the lives – of immigrant farm workers. Also in this issue: While Congress debates whether Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt should take over the Environmental Protection Agency, the agency itself plows ahead in an anti-environmental direction.

Feature

Harvesting Poison
In the little-seen world of immigrant farmworkers, pesticides are a constant threat — and for the workers, the only options are shutting up or getting out
Rebecca Clarren Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition

Sidebar

What child labor laws?
The effects of pesticides on farmworker children are often overlooked, because children are not supposed to work in the fields in the first place
Rebecca Clarren Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Healthy workers, healthy label
The Bailey family’s efforts to take care of its orchard workers in The Dalles, Ore., have earned it certification from The Food Alliance
Rebecca Clarren Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Connections to your kitchen
Pesticides that endanger farmworkers are used to grow common foods like apples, potatoes and asparagus
Staff Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition

Editor's Note

It’s time for some solidarity
It’s high time for the environmental movement to join with farmworker activists in their fight for fair treatment and protection from dangerous pesticides
Ray Ring Opinion Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition

Book Reviews

City at the end of its rope
In Albuquerque: A City at the End of the World, V. B. Price looks at the promise and the perils of a desert city that is still in search of an identity
Laura Paskus Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Calendar
Staff Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Water law for dummies
The Citizen’s Guide to Colorado Water Law by the nonprofit Colorado Foundation for Water Education gives a clear and simple overview of water in the state
Joshua Zaffos Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Living in two worlds
In her biography, Viola Martinez, California Paiute: Living in Two Worlds, Diana Meyers Bahr shares the life story of a remarkable American Indian woman
Sierra Standish Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition

Writers on the Range

Hell’s fires burn in the Northern Rockies
A Montana pilot flies a fire spotter over the western part of the state in one of the worst fire seasons she’s ever known
Wendy Beye Essay Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Extinction – by the clock
Montana’s two varieties of sturgeon, the white and the pallid, have just been given an expiration date, and human beings should be paying more attention to this extinction
Ben Long Essay Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition

Heard Around the West

Heard Around the West
Trouble at Burning Man; take your prostate to the County Fair; spotted knapweed kills its rivals; what happens to "liberated" mink; what to do when a bear attacks you; exploding pigs; "scratch ‘n’ sniff" for city folks
Betsy Marston Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition

Dear Friends

Dear Friends
New interns Pua Mench and Josh Garrett-Davis; Redlodge Clearinghouse; Visitors from afar
Matt Jenkins, Pua Mench, Josh Garrett-Davis and RayRing Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition

News

Who’s at the helm?
While Congress debates whether Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt should take over the Environmental Protection Agency, the agency itself plows ahead in an anti-environmental direction
Laura Paskus Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Follow-up
Sandpoint, Idaho, business owners oppose Cabinet Mountains copper mine; Wyo. Gov. Dave Freudenthal jumps on coalbed methane bandwagon; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tells agencies to police themselves; and Columbia River dredging delayed again
Laura Paskus Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Timber companies borrow a tool from environmentalists
In Idaho’s Panhandle region, the Potlatch Corp. is negotiating conservation easements on as much as 600,000 acres of forest, but not all conservationists are thrilled at the prospect
Mark Matthews Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Reckless rancher cuts sweet deal in D.C.
The Bush administration cuts a deal with Wyoming rancher Harvey Frank Robbins Jr., and orders the Worland BLM office to back off on enforcing grazing regulations
Brodie Farquhar Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Reweaving the river
Local ranchers and farmers in southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley are working to restore the Alamosa River, site of the infamous Summitville mine cyanide spill
Hal Clifford Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition

Letters

Good gear or good luck
Dick Scar Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Keep fire wild
Bill Baker Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Enough partisan divisiveness
Bob Long Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
Too little land, too many people
James Swanson Sept. 29, 2003 From the print edition
High Country News Classifieds