High Country News February 21, 2005
Feature
Where were the environmentalists when Libby needed them most?
The story of Libby, Montana, where hundreds have died from mining pollution, raises questions about the environmental movement itself.
Editor's Note
An identity crisis, a decade or two late
The recent controversy over "The Death of Environmentalism" illustrates the importance of reaching across the rural West’s cultural divide
Dear Friends
Dear friends
Fighting the good fight in Wyoming; remembering Jeff Limerick, Beth Williams, Tom Thorne and Ellen Meloy; good-bye to Wild Earth magazine; corrections
Uncommon Westerners
Nun calls the faithful to an 'ecological ministry'
Sister Joan Brown of Albuquerque, a Franciscan, believes Christianity needs to go beyond the doors of the church and into the natural world
News
A bold, if impractical, new plan for Yellowstone bison
New Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has a wildly ambitious plan to solve Yellowstone’s problems with wandering bison and the brucellosis threat
Follow-up
Court orders the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department to comply with Endangered Species Act; Office of Inspector General finds EPA’s new mercury emissions standard to be "compromised"; J. Steven Griles leaves Interior Department for lobbyist job
Texas water case is 'takings' on steroids
Invoking NAFTA, a group of Texas farmers and irrigation districts sues Mexico over the Rio Grande’s water
Resort homes threaten scenic Mono Lake
An inholding in California’s Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area may soon be the site of a resort-home development
Snowmaking on sacred slopes stirs controversy
The Arizona Snowbowl ski area wants to use Flagstaff’s treated wastewater for snowmaking, but 13 American Indian tribes, who regard the San Francisco Peaks as sacred, are fighting the plan
State sues over Sierra forest plan
The state of California is suing the U.S. Forest Service for approving a new management plan that more than triples logging in the Sierra Nevada
Coal company takes refuge in a blind spot
Environmentalists on both sides of the border are up in arms over a Canadian coal company’s plans for an open-pit mine north of Montana’s Glacier National Park
Rancher wins big in libel suit against enviros
Arizona rancher and investment banker Jim Chilton wins a $600,000 judgment for libel against The Center for Biological Diversity
Book Reviews
From folk singer to fierce activist — the life of Katie Lee
In Sandstone Seduction: Rivers and Lovers, Canyons and Friends, Katie Lee takes readers on a breathless boat ride through her exhilarating life
You, too, can be in the know about California's H2O
David Carle’s Introduction to California Water is an ambitious field guide to the incredibly complicated world of California water
The Basket Maker
The Basket Maker by Kate Niles is a searing novel of incest and compassion set in the modern Southwest
The Meat You Eat: Corporate Farming and the Decline of the American Diet
In The Meat You Eat, Ken Midkiff reveals the ugly underbelly of industrialized meat production
Of Chiles, Cacti, and Fighting Cocks: Notes on the American West
Of Chiles, Cacti, and Fighting Cocks: Notes on the American West is a fine collection of Frederick Turner’s deft essays on the region
Essays
Let's not ram more boats through the Grand Canyon
Even though the river is their livelihood, most river guides oppose the Park Service’s plan to increase the number of boats allowed in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon
Evolution of a timber family
A Northwestern family finds itself in the midst of heated controversy over ecology and economics when it has to decide how to manage its timber farm
Heard Around the West
Heard around the West
Avalanches galore in the San Juan Mountains; a monstrous monster home in Jackson; "inattention blindness" on the highway; nice millionaires join the Yellowstone Club; exotic career day advice in Albuquerque; dog survives eagle snatching
Opinion
A Lively Exchange with the Interior Department
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of the Interior and HCN's Editors enjoy a lively exchange
Related Stories
Buildup to disaster: A Libby timeline
A timeline traces the decline of logging, the rise of environmentalism, and the slow asbestos poisoning of Libby, Montana, by its vermiculite mine
