Bison have made a remarkable recovery from near extinction a century ago, but now the animal’s growing popularity as livestock raises questions about whether it can remain a “wild” animal.
Defending the dunes
Shifting sand dunes might be the fastest-moving thing in the coastal town of Florence, Ore., population 6,200, and some residents would like to see it stay that way. But as the area’s timber and fishing industries die off, a new kind of development is moving in to take their place. In the spring of 1997,…
Recreation: “as bad as clearcutting’
Dear HCN, I just received my April 27 issue of HCN and it’s without a doubt your best issue. I can’t thank you enough for Jon Margolis’ article on the coming threat of industrial recreation. Like Scott Silver, most of my personal life outside of work has been taken over by trying to get the…
Smaller and smaller forests
Humans are cutting Colorado and Wyoming forest into an increasing number of isolated stands that threaten forest health, according to three new videos highlighting a conference devoted to forest fragmentation in the central Rocky Mountains. “Everybody who lives in these states has an opinion about forested public land, but most impressions seem to be based…
A family preserves the West
If not for Tom Wetherill’s deathbed wish, paper wasps might still be nesting in the century-old photo albums collected by his grandfather, one of five brothers who made the modern discoveries of Mesa Verde and other Indian ruins in the Southwest. Though later archaeologists ignored the Wetherills, maligning their work as insufficiently rigorous, the family…
9th Annual South Platte Forum
The 9th Annual South Platte Forum requests abstracts proposing posters for a conference examining the competition for water in the South Platte Basin of Colorado’s Front Range. Send abstracts by Aug. 1 to Laurie Schmidt, Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, 410N University Services Center, Fort Collins, CO 80523-2018 (970/226-0533). This article appeared in the print…
Wild Rockies Rendezvous
Alliance for the Wild Rockies invites conservationists to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the Wild Rockies Rendezvous at the Teller Wildlife Refuge in Corvallis, Mont., Sept. 18-20. Speakers include Peter Kostmayer, executive director of Zero Population Growth, and Michael Frome, author of The Battle for the Wilderness. To register, contact Jamie Lennox, P.O. Box 8731,…
The Wayward West
Politicians in Idaho are talking about doing away with four Snake River dams (HCN, 9/1/97). Robert Huntley, Democratic candidate for governor, called the lower dams “impediments to prosperity,” reports the Idaho Statesman, while a Republican running against Rep. Helen Chenoweth in the primary said his party had to protect endangered species. “Letting species go extinct,…
Ecosystem Restoration: Turning the Tide
The Northwest chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration is sponsoring Ecosystem Restoration: Turning the Tide, Oct. 28-30, in Tacoma, Wash. The conference includes symposia on riparian restoration, exotic species control and agricultural land restoration. Call Washington State University for information at 800/942-4978. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the…
Locals battle military planes
In southern Colorado’s isolated Wet Mountain Valley, a former county commissioner is hoping nearly eight years of effort will keep the area free from more low-flying military planes. “If we’re concerned about our peace and quiet, our lifestyle, our agricultural community and our wildlife, then we’d better stand up and let the military know,” says…
Colorado Fourteeners Initiative
The yearly number of hikers attempting a 14,000-ft. peak has tripled in 10 years, to 200,000, says the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. And that is why the coalition of five nonprofit groups seeks volunteers to restore heavily eroded trails. Those interested in high-altitude work on Huron Peak and Humboldt Peak can contact Kristen Sauer, Colorado Fourteeners…
‘Odd couple’ sues over grazing permits
Although Jon Tate of the Tucson, Ariz.-based Western Gamebird Association wants to get cows off some Arizona grazing allotments, he’s not talking about endangered species or water quality. “The reason we want to save this land is there’s a bunch of little birds there that we want to shoot for fun,” he told the Albuquerque…
Wyoming Dinosaur Center
What’s more exciting for kids than seeing dinosaur bones? Digging them up, of course. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center, 120 miles southeast of Yellowstone National Park, offers kids 8-13 a chance to join scientists and technicians for two-day digs this summer. Already unearthed: sauropod remains (those long-necked veggie-eaters from Jurassic Park) and allosaur teeth and tracks.…
Biologists get the ax
Seven biologists are on the endangered list after a budget cut at New Mexico’s state wildlife agency. In April, Republican Gov. Gary Johnson vetoed $620,000 in state and federal matching funds for the state’s management of all nongame wildlife. The funds were earmarked for staff positions in environmental education and endangered species protection. “Our intent…
1998 Earle A. Chiles Award
The High Desert Museum gives its 1998 Earle A. Chiles Award to people who have enriched the cultural and natural wealth of the high desert. Past winners include photographer and writer Stephen Trimble and biologist Jack Ward Thomas, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Send nominations to the High Desert Museum, 59800 S. Highway…
All’s not Swell
In a surprise move, Utah Rep. Chris Cannon, R, says he wants to see more wilderness in the San Rafael Swell of southern Utah, and he’s written a new bill to prove it. Cannon’s bill would designate as wilderness about 400,000 acres of BLM land in the San Rafael Swell, and it would also set…
Montana Wilderness: More Than Just a Pretty Place
With maps and histories, the free 18-page Montana Wilderness: More Than Just A Pretty Place, by the Montana Wilderness Association, makes the case for protecting public wildlands, from semi-arid river breaks to alpine peaks. Contact the Montana Wilderness Association, P.O. Box 635, Helena, MT 59624 (406/443-7350) or e-mail MWA at mwa@desktop.org. This article appeared in…
Most favor the grizzly
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued a summary of 24,000 public comments on its plan to bring back grizzly bears to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana. Of the 21,000 responses that were petition signatures, 77 percent favored reintroduction, while 23 percent opposed it. The summary drew criticism from Alliance for the…
Capulin Volcano National Monument
How should a “recent extinct volcano” greet visitors in the future? The National Park Service invites the public to help plan the management of Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeast New Mexico. To comment or to receive a newsletter, contact the National Park Service, Capulin Volcano National Monument, P.O. Box 40, Capulin, NM 88414 (505/278-2201…
Lyons answers his critics
It’s difficult to respond to such off-issue, personal attacks and the chest-thumpings of Idaho nationalism as Peterson’s (HCN, 5/25/98) and Medberry’s (HCN, 4/13/98) – weak and flaccid as they are, full of red herrings and other beneath-the-belt cow droppings – but my point remains: Idaho doesn’t work for the poor, for persons of color, or…
What’s better for Arizona
Dear HCN, For the past year I’ve been part of a group including ranchers, environmentalists and scientists exploring ways to find common ground over public-lands policy in Arizona and the West. Early on we found our mantra by paraphrasing James Carville: It’s land fragmentation, stupid! But no matter how much progress we make, we keep…
Lagged not logged
Climbed Delodo Tree. Had a bad feeling, so dry and hot. Storm last night brought plenty of lightning, little rain. Spotted smoke to south, blowing northeast and picking up … Caught hobbled mare and saddled up. Rode to Little Nelson Lake Tree, saw smoke again. Looks like a big fire … May need extra folks…
Margolis is just envious
Dear HCN, “A treatise on columnist Alexander Cockburn,” (HCN, 5/11/98), seems to be Jon Margolis’ search for a journalistic Viagra. So envious is Margolis that he lashes out the gawky bewailment: “Cockburn has been abusing reality for decades …” That’s bad? I hope someone has, or will, say the same about me. Margolis’ gripes range…
Bringing a ghost town to life
By 1935, recurring flash floods had washed everyone out of Grafton, Utah, except vandals and an occasional Hollywood producer. Then this April, those living near the ghost town staged a fund raiser to repair the combined school and church that dates from the town’s Mormon settlement 139 years ago. “The buildings are in advanced stages…
Article didn’t cover the real immigration issues
Dear HCN, I have been an avid reader of High Country News for several years and have enjoyed its insightful take on the issues shaping the West as we head into the 21st century. I am, however, deeply disturbed by your recent coverage of the Sierra Club ballot question, “Give me your tired, your poor,…
Don’t fence me in
Are bison becoming just another cow with a hump?
Bison comeback meets resistance on the ground
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. MEDORA, N.D. – Though bison graze on a national park and some ranches here, they aren’t catching on in Medora, where for generations the industry has been cattle. Some see it as just another of the get-rich-quick schemes that periodically sweep through agriculture. Everyone…
Dear Friends
Celebrating the high life Mountain men had their rendezvous; today’s lovers of adventure in wild country have the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival. Film is the draw, but many come for the company available at this most intimate of festivals. Mountaineer legends and environmental heroes like Paul Watson, Bradford and Barbara Washburn, Paul Petzoldt and Galen Rowell…
Navajos may say no to nuclear waste
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – As Congress wrangles over what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, opponents in the Southwest continue to create roadblocks to keep it out. Bills that would allow the Department of Energy to ship nuclear waste to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain by 2003 have passed in both the House and…
Feds sue a Utah county for building a road in a national park
Garfield County in Utah has yet to prove historical use of the Burr Trail road through Capitol Reef National Park, a federal judge said in April. With the ruling, U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins rejected the county’s motion for summary judgment, and now a trial will likely begin this summer. An attorney defending Garfield County…
Heard Around the West
Old myths die hard, especially when perpetrated by Hollywood. On the Flathead Reservation in western Montana, tourists regularly want to know: “Where are the flat heads?” reports the Great Falls Tribune. And some people visiting the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning, Mont., expect Native Americans to live in tepees and to wear feathered…
Thirty days left for politics, petulance
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The year is almost over. If you’re computing the time between now and Dec. 31, broaden your horizons. We are talking here about the legislative year, which ends on Oct. 2, liberating congresspersons to return home to campaign. Even subtracting weekends, this would leave almost 100 days for Congress its wonders to…
Waste Land: Meditations on a Ravaged Landscape
Preface by Wendell Berry It is unfortunately supposable that some people will account for these photographic images as “abstract art,” or will see them as “beautiful shapes.” But anybody who troubles to identify in these pictures the things that are readily identifiable (trees, buildings, roads, vehicles, etc.) will see that nothing in them is abstract…