Environmentalists battle to save urban wetlands in Los Angeles, an obscure legal provision becomes a new Sagebrush Rebellion tactic, and labor victories in Western cities.

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L.A.’s wild side

In mid-April, one of Southern California’s most reclusive celebrities found himself, quite literally, in a very tight spot. P-22, a mountain lion that lives in Griffith Park — 4,000 acres of green space in the heart of Los Angeles — was discovered in the crawlspace of a home in a hip neighborhood flanking the park.…

by Cally Carswell

Old Egregious

The April 13 issue includes a photo that shows a young woman standing in front of Old Faithful geyser on the dirt and off the constructed boardwalk (“On the road with America’s sightseers”). It is a well-publicized fact that it is illegal to be off trail at Old Faithful or, in fact, in any of…

by T. Scott Bryan

Our land

I grow tired of hearing news bites about people or industries “standing up to the government” regarding land use without accurate information (“Checking in on Cliven Bundy,” HCN, 4/27/15). Cliven Bundy is nothing but a mooch and a thief. The public lands are owned by every American citizen, and we pay to have government representatives…

by Mary McBee

Rebel-rousers

Articles and editorials about the threat to public access are springing up in outdoor and conservation magazines with regularity now (“Westerners need to stand up for public lands,” HCN, 4/27/15). Americans are beginning to get it: The threat is real. Do we want the European model, where private ownership of the woods and waters prevails, or do…

by George Alotrico

Short on Klamath reporting

“Plague on the Klamath” (HCN, 4/27/15) was good so far as it went. It did not, however, give readers a full view of salmon disease on the Klamath River, nor of water management and pollution issues related to disease outbreaks. Not mentioned, for example, is that most of the young salmon born in Klamath River…

by Felice Pace

A lost classic made new

Review of “The Story of My Heart by Richard Jefferies: As Rediscovered by Terry Tempest Williams and Brooke Williams.”

by Charles Finn

The view from 31,000 feet: A philosopher looks at fracking

I was flying the red-eye home to Portland, when the pilot spoke over the intercom. “We are currently over North Dakota. Below us are the famous Bakken shale-oil fracking fields.” I looked down into the night. As far as I could see toward every horizon, the plain was studded with flames — oil rigs flaring…

by Kathleen Dean Moore

Crowded hours

“The West In 72 Hours” (HCN, 4/13/15), light-heartedly written, exposes a nationwide tragedy in progress. There is nothing humorous in the ongoing ruination of our national parks. It doesn’t matter whether the hordes of visitors are Asian, European or American. They are destroying the very thing they profess to love. I’ve lived in Zion Park’s…

by Marcel Rodriguez