Magazine
July 24, 2006
The Western states are home to a stealth campaign by libertarians who – under the guise of reforming eminent domain – are out to destroy all land-use planning through "takings" ballot initiatives. Also in this issue: Even as Western states debate the best way to look after their roadless areas, logging, drilling and mining are already happening on some formerly protected lands.
Feature
The Western states are home to a stealth campaign by
libertarians who – under the guise of reforming eminent
domain – are out to destroy all land-use planning through
"takings" ballot initiatives
Editor's Note
Ray Ring’s cover story on the libertarian stealth
campaign to put "takings" initiatives on Western ballots is the
biggest untold political story of the year
Uncommon Westerners
Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva loves fighting for
old-fashioned liberal causes like immigration rights, the
environment, unions and strong social programs
Essays
The Democratic bloggers on the netroots seem to be prone
to wildly optimistic self-delusion – and then again, maybe
they’re not so crazy after all
The experience of watching a mountain lion is utterly
transformed when the watcher realizes he is the one being
watched
Dear Friends
Summer editorial retreat, global warming booklet is here,
lots of summer visitors
News
Western states debate the best way to look after their
roadless areas even as logging, drilling and mining move in on
formerly protected lands
New Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne junks Gale
Norton’s controversial Park Service proposal; New
Mexico’s Nantac Mexican wolf pack killed; Justice Department
removes Judge Royce Lamberth from Indian trust case
Even as raising sturgeon for caviar takes off in the San
Francisco Bay-Delta area, the region's wild sturgeon are in serious
trouble, along with the rest of the Bay-Delta’s
ecology
In Missoula, Mont., and other Western communities,
activists search for the winning formula to pass new open-space
bonds in November
Endangered aplomado falcons already in New Mexico may lose
protection under a controversial Fish and Wildlife Service plan to
release captive-bred birds as a "nonessential experimental
population."
Farmers and conservationists have reached a settlement
that allows water to flow in California’s San Joaquin River,
home to the Friant Dam
Book Reviews
In Blithe Tomato, Mike Madison writes
engagingly about working the land on a small farm in
California’s Central Valley
In Ogallala Blue: Water and Life on the Great
Plains, William Ashworth examines the effects of
groundwater dependency in a dry land
In his new book, The Worst Hard Time,
Tim Egan interviews survivors to tell the story of the great
American Dust Bowl on the southern Great Plains in the
1930s
Heard Around the West
"Pit bulls with flippers" in Newport Beach; mountain lion
problems; Lewis the Cat; don’t try this on the highway;
Fighting Sioux fight for sports team name
Letters
Related Stories
Dorothy English weighs in on the pros – and cons
– of Oregon’s Measure 37
Bill Roses weigh in on the pros – and cons –
of Oregon’s Measure 37
Ted Schroeder weighs in on the pros – and cons
– of Oregon’s Measure 37
A detailed graph sums up the status of the current
"takings’ initiative campaigns in six Western
states
Jim Miller weighs in on the pros – and cons –
of Oregon’s Measure 37
Renee Ross weighs in on the pros – and cons –
of Oregon’s Measure 37
