An unusual grassroots coalition of citizen activists stops
a coal-fired merchant power plant from being built in Idaho’s
Magic Valley
Magazine
May 1, 2006
An unusual grassroots coalition of citizen activists stops a coal-fired merchant power plant from being built in Idaho’s Magic Valley. Also in this issue: Despite the promises of the Healthy Forests Act, the Bush administration has proposed sweeping cuts to community fire programs in the West.
Feature
Sidebar
In their own words, some of the Magic Valley citizens who
fought the Sempra coal plant describe the uprising and how they got
involved in it
Led by California, Western states are encouraging the
energy industry to move toward cleaner coal technology
Editor's Note
California has a lot to teach the Interior West –
particularly about clean energy and water conservation
Uncommon Westerners
Astronomer Perry Walker uses his stargazing tools and
skills to work with the oil and gas industry to prevent air
pollution in Wyoming
Essays
A long solitary hike through an empty, pristine desert is
interrupted by a close encounter with an F-16 fighter
plane
Book Reviews
Live! From Death Valley is John
Soennichsen’s "love letter to an ill-tempered mistress,"
California’s Death Valley
In Chasing Spring: An American Journey Through a
Changing Season, nature writer Bruce Stutz follows spring
from New York to Alaska, examining the surprising changes that
global warming is bringing
In Preserving Western History, editor
Andrew Gulliford has put together "the first college reader to
address public history in the American West."
Perspective
The Set America Free Coalition is a new organization that
brings together liberals and conservatives to try to reduce
America’s dependency on imported fossil fuels
Heard Around the West
Composting roadkill in Montana; Army mules for Afghanistan
in Wyoming; obsolete Earth First! Bumper stickers; 100-year-old
retiree dies; Butte’s new tourist attraction is a
pit
Dear Friends
Katie Lee and other visitors; where do you get your news?
farewell, Philip Hyde; notes from readers; missing pages in
HCN?
News
Despite the promises of the Healthy Forests Act, the Bush
administration has proposed sweeping cuts to community fire
programs in the West
Mining company allowed to dump waste into Alaskan lake;
Colorado split-estate bill unravels; Arizona’s Oak Flat may
become a copper mine
In Montana, the American Prairie Foundation and the World
Wildlife Fund are working together to create a genuinely wild bison
herd, one free of cattle genes
Amateur gold prospectors are invading the West’s
publicly owned streams, and environmentalists say the hobby’s
popularity threatens fish and the environment
Elko County, Nev., has made an agreement with the Forest
Service to end the long-running fight over a dirt road in Jarbidge
Canyon on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
Executives from six of the nation’s largest energy
companies have asked federal lawmakers to set mandatory caps on
greenhouse gas emissions
The United Farm Workers has signed a contract with
agricultural labor-supply company Global Horizons protecting the
rights of guest farmworkers
Letters
Featured stories
-
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR We are a Santa Fe-based nonprofit that builds resilience on arid working lands. We foster ecological, economic, and social health through education, innovation, and collaboration....
-
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER Come work alongside everyday Montanans to project our clean air, water, and build thriving communities! Competitive salary, health insurance, pension, generous vacation time and sabbatical....
-
CAMPAIGN MANAGER Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA), a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to protecting, defending and restoring Oregon's high desert, seeks a Campaign Manager to works as...
-
HECHO DEPUTY DIRECTOR Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO) was created in 2013 to help fulfill our duty to conserve and protect our public lands for...
-
REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE, COLUMBIA CASCADES The Regional Representative serves as PCTA's primary staff on the ground along the trail working closely with staff, volunteers, and nonprofit and agency partners. This...
-
FINANCE AND OPERATIONS DIRECTOR 
The Montana Land Reliance (MLR) seeks a full-time Finance and Operations Director to manage the internal functions of MLR and its nonprofit affiliates. Key areas...
-
DIRECTOR OF CONSERVATION
The Nature Conservancy is recruiting for a Director of Conservation. Provides strategic leadership and support for all of the Conservancy's conservation work in Arizona. The...
-
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Amargosa Conservancy (AC), a conservation nonprofit dedicated to standing up for water and biodiversity in the Death Valley region, seeks an executive director to...
-
BIG BASIN SENIOR PROJECT PLANNER - CLIMATE ADAPTATION & RESILIENCE Parks California Big Basin Senior Project Planner - Climate Adaptation & Resilience ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND Parks California is a new organization working to ensure that our...
-
CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSISTANT - (PART-TIME) High Country News, an award-winning media organization covering the communities and environment of the Western United States, seeks a part-time Customer Service Assistant, based at...
-
SCIENCE PROJECT MANAGER About Long Live the Kings (LLTK) Our mission is to restore wild salmon and steelhead and support sustainable fishing in the Pacific Northwest. Since 1986,...
-
HUMAN RESOURCES GENERALIST Honor the Earth is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on identity. Indigenous people, people of color, Two-Spirit or LGBTQA+ people,...
-
DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Colorado Trout Unlimited seeks an individual with successful development experience, strong interpersonal skills, and a deep commitment to coldwater conservation to serve as the organization's...
-
NEW BOOK BY AWARD-WINNING WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST, BRUCE SMITH In a perilous place at the roof of the world, an orphaned mountain goat is rescued from certain death by a mysterious raven.This middle-grade novel,...
-
DESCHUTES LAND TRUST VOLUNTEER PROGRAM MANAGER The Deschutes Land Trust is seeking an experienced Volunteer Program Manager to join its dedicated team! Deschutes Land Trust conserves and cares for the lands...
-
PROGRAM DIRECTOR Now hiring a full-time, remote Program Director for the Society for Wilderness Stewardship! Come help us promote excellence in the professional practice of wilderness stewardship,...
-
WYOMING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS COORDINATOR The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is seeking Coordinator to implement public education and advocacy campaigns in the Cowboy State to unite and amplify hunter, angler,...
-
MOUNTAIN LOTS FOR SALE
Multiple lots in gated community only 5 miles from Great Sand Dunes National Park. Seasonal flowing streams. Year round road maintenance.
-
RURAL ACREAGE OUTSIDE SILVER CITY, NM Country living just minutes from town! 20 acres with great views makes a perfect spot for your custom home. Nice oaks and juniper. Cassie Carver,...
-
A FIVE STAR FOREST SETTING WITH SECLUSION AND SEPARATENESS This home is for a discerning buyer in search of a forest setting of premier seclusion & separateness. Surrounded on all sides by USFS land...
