Magazine
August 19, 1996
A collection of essays explores the quirky, the mundane and the surreal of our unique West, from coffee-hauling llamas to Navajo tacos and more.
Feature
Contemporary Montana artists create protest art as they try to depict the real Montana.
A writer watches muskrats in Utah's Logan Canyon as she
tries to come to terms with her father's approaching
death.
A hot summer spent inspecting the dry range in an Idaho
valley brings a close encounter with a coyote.
The writer describes a summer as a "human mule" surveying
the Arizona desert, where only the vultures move in the
heat.
Even when the tomatoes freeze and the deer trespass,
gardening serves its own high purpose.
Curiosity leads a writer to research the origins of Taco
Time's "Navajo Taco."
A pack-burro outfitter humorously lambastes the trendy
llama.
The writer and his brother try to cope with a plague of
flies in the Wyoming outdoors.
At his Carbondale, Colo., "Cadillac ranch," Alan Morris
recycles automotive junk.
Dear Friends
Celebration of essayists; visitors; deaths of Seth Diamond
and Paul Shepard; corrections.
News
The Crown Butte Mine Co. agrees to give up its mine
project near Yellowstone in exchange for unspecified land
elsewhere.
The Idaho Supreme Court rules that the State Land Board
erred in granting a grazing lease to a Challis rancher who had been
outbid by anti-grazing activist Jon Marvel.
Idaho approves a sandhill crane hunt to appease farmers
who are losing crops to the birds.
The Clinton administration's attempt to increase
flight-free zones in Grand Canyon upsets air-tour operators and
conservationists who say the new rules aren't tough
enough.
Studies by fish biologist Bob Bilby highlight the
important role that dead salmon play in Northwestern river
ecosystems.
Environmentalist Robin Silver of Phoenix makes a bid for
the Republican slot for Arizona's 4th Congressional
District.
National parks feeling the budget squeeze look for
corporate financial help.
Yellowstone Park Superintendent Mike Finley's closure of
campgrounds and museums because of budget problems leads to irate
responses from Wyoming politicians.
The strange history of a controversial parks bill
demonstrates that Washington politics often have little to do with
actual legislation.
Idaho rafting companies challenge a Forest Service plan to
keep boats off the upper Salmon River while salmon are
spawning.
Two summer power blackouts in the West are caused by
wayward trees.
Yellowstone Park begins an open season on the
proliferating lake trout, in an attempt to aid threatened cutthroat
trout.
Heard Around the West
Geology lessons in Grand Teton National Park, 13-year-old
Buddhist lama in Wyoming, camouflage lingerie, California theme
parks, Moab's sarcastic police blotter, abduction by aliens in
Arizona, close encounters with bears and porcupines.
Sidebar
Montana artist Dana Boussard in her own words on the duty
of artists to grapple with the changing West.
"Minimills" that recycle steel help the environment - and
make money.
- Larry Bullock on Ranch Diaries: A New Mexico cattle company is born
- Kent Schoberle on Ranch Diaries: A New Mexico cattle company is born
- Larry Bullock on Ranch Diaries: A New Mexico cattle company is born
- Kent Schoberle on Ranch Diaries: A New Mexico cattle company is born
- Jim Turner on Ranch Diaries: Why we manage our cattle horseback
