Magazine
March 21, 2005
Rampant growth in the Phoenix area and a severe drought on the Colorado River challenge the sustainability of the Central Arizona Project. Also in this issue: A groundbreaking settlement between New Mexico environmentalists and the city of Albuquerque may keep water in the Middle Rio Grande and help both farmers and endangered silvery minnows.
Feature
Rampant growth in the Phoenix area and a severe drought on
the Colorado River challenge Arizona's water
sustainability.
Editor's Note
It’s high time Arizona realized it’s a desert,
and has to share the Colorado River with six other dry Western
states
Uncommon Westerners
David and Kay James are doing a good business raising
"grass-finished" beef on their ranch near Durango, Colo.
Essays
Old Westerners and New Westerners are equally hypocritical
when it comes to caricaturing each other and not looking at
themselves
Dear Friends
Sculptor and newspaperman Bob Wick; congrats to Paul
Koberstein, Alex Pasquariello, Michelle Nijhuis, and Ed and Betsy
Marston; correction
News
A groundbreaking settlement between New Mexico
environmentalists and the city of Albuquerque may keep water in the
Middle Rio Grande and help both farmers and endangered silvery
minnows
Arizona Snowball ski area can make snow from treated
wastewater; California battles Forest Service over logging sequoia;
Bush nominates Steve Johnson to head EPA; Sen. Pete Domenici,
R-N.M., goes after southwestern willow flycatcher’s
habitat
The Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act is making
money from auctioning off the Las Vegas valley desert – and
the Bush administration would like to get its hands on that
money
The Lincoln County Lands Bill, modeled after the Southern
Nevada Public Land Management Act, is already selling off land,
although an environmental assessment ordered by a judge was never
carried out
Diesel fuel – leaking from a massive railroad
refueling depot –slips into a major drinking water aquifer on
the Idaho-Washington border.
The Nisqually Tribe will share management of recently
purchased land in Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in Washington
with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
A Biosafety Level 4 lab is being added to the National
Institutes of Health Rocky Mountain Laboratories campus in
Hamilton, Mont.
The Tillamook County Creamery Association in Oregon votes
to uphold its ban on the use of the artificial growth hormone
Posilac in its dairy cows
Following a controversial study, the Environmental
Protection Agency decides to raise the drinking water standards for
perchlorate to a dosage environmentalists say is dangerously
high
Book Reviews
Silver Fox of the Rockies by Daniel
Tyler tells the story of Delphus E. Carpenter, who sought peaceful
resolutions to Western water problems, and helped create the 1922
Colorado River Compact
Annie Proulx’s new collection of short stories,
Bad Dirt, celebrates and skewers the colorful
characters of rural Wyoming
Seeds of Deception by Jeffrey M. Smith
takes a chilling look at "Frankenstein foods," explaining that new,
genetically modified foods are not as safe as their corporate
creators claim
In State of the World 2005, the
Worldwatch Institute takes a hard look at important issues from
nuclear weapons proliferation to renewable energy
In UFOs Over Galisteo, New Mexico
historian Robert J. Torrez creates vivid vignettes of his
state’s fascinating past
Heard Around the West
Remembering Hunter S. Thompson; out-of-doors Internet;
Brian Schweitzer takes on D.C.; more realtors than realty in Vail,
Colo.; Top 10 things about being a small-town teen; and Koko the
talking ape gets nasty
Letters
Related Stories
Ten years ago, Ben Harding created a worst-case drought
scenario for a U.S. Geological Survey study, but the current
drought on the Colorado River may be even worse than he
imagined
