Wyoming’s new governor, Democrat Dave Freudenthal,
may have a chance to turn the stagnant state around economically
and environmentally, by reducing its dependence on energy and
mineral industries.
Also in this
issue: Some residents of Los Lunas, N.M., say the planned
expansion of the wastewater treatment plant is designed to benefit
the mayor, who wants to build a subdivision.
As the dust settles
Asbestos from one of the nation’s worst Superfund sites has killed over 200 in Libby, Mont., and infected hundreds more with lung disease (HCN, 3/13/00: Libby’s dark secret). To outsiders, life in Libby might seem unfathomable. But in the video documentary, Dust to Dust, director Michael Brown shows how residents manage to persevere in the…
Born to be winter wild
For years, the only national organization representing winter recreation required members to embrace the two-stroke engine. But two years ago, a group of backcountry winter-recreation groups in California, Colorado, Idaho and Nevada united to create the Winter Wildlands Alliance to work for “human-powered” winter recreation on public lands. Today, the Boise, Idaho-based Alliance serves as…
Living in harm’s way
Unlike water, denial is in excess supply in California. Half the residents west of the 100th meridian live in that state, and 80 percent of them live in areas that have been rattled by major earthquakes. Northern Californians, for example, straddle 60 miles of the deadly Hayward fault; the late Marc Reisner, author of Cadillac…
Eco-groovy food for skinny wallets
While your favorite organic food brand guarantees a pesticide-free, responsibly grown product, it’s usually fortified with a hefty price tag. There’s relief: The Portland, Ore.-based Food Alliance offers consumers and farmers a label — guaranteeing products grown and harvested in equitable and safe conditions, using sustainable farming practices, and with little or no pesticides —…
Memories of a native river
The Columbia River today is tamed: Dams regulate water for farms and generate electricity. Rapids are a thing of the past. The wild salmon still left in the river have to be barged upstream to spawn. But, if you flip the pages of William D. Layman’s coffee-table book, Native River, and allow yourself to be…
Living in harm’s way
Unlike water, denial is in excess supply in California. Half the residents west of the 100th meridian live in that state, and 80 percent of them live in areas that have been rattled by major earthquakes. Northern Californians, for example, straddle 60 miles of the deadly Hayward fault; the late Marc Reisner, author of Cadillac…
Author says we’ll ‘match the scenery’ whether we like it or not
Wallace Stegner citations are a commonplace in High Country News. Stegner, a writer and historian, is our bard (if we have one), and perhaps most familiar to HCN readers for his call to Westerners to create a “society to match the scenery.” Now comes a Colorado writer who quietly turns this idea on its head.…
Spotted owl back under microscope
The timber industry is celebrating a court decision which forces the federal government to take another look at the most controversial of old-growth forest dwellers: the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet. Timber industry groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to reassess the population and habitat of the birds, as…
Condos or cows? Neither!
Dear HCN, Ranching advocates like Ed Marston and Rick Knight present a faulty argument when they assert that ranching can prevent sprawl (HCN, 1/20/03: THE GREAT RANCHING DEBATE). If we wish to prevent sprawl and its effects — a worthy goal — we need to implement effective land-conservation strategies. Ranching as a land-preservation strategy is…
Loggers got scant help as industry toppled
Loggers and their communities were left out in the cold during the collapse of timber cutting on federal lands in the late 1990s. This is the conclusion of a recent study of the Northwest Economic Initiative, launched in tandem with President Clinton’s Northwest Forest Plan in 1994. The study, produced by a nonprofit California think…
Beyond rangeland conflict
Dear HCN, The debate over cows on public lands (HCN, 1/20/03: THE GREAT RANCHING DEBATE) missed the best book I’ve yet read on the subject. HCN probably reviewed it back in 1995 when it was published, but its emphasis on national dialogue between opposing factions and realistically looking at what actually happens on the ground…
Timber proposal undercuts Quincy Library plan
A plan the Forest Service is touting as “a measurable, science-based assessment” of logging’s impact on California spotted owls and other forest species is raising hackles in California. The proposal, released in December, calls for cutting up to 600 million board-feet of timber — enough to build 60,000 houses — and bulldozing 160 miles of…
Keep questioning the establishment
Dear HCN, Just wanted to let you know what a great article I thought the essay “Fenced out of Bush’s gated empire” by Mary Sojourner was (HCN, 11/11/02: Fenced out of Bush’s gated empire). With so much pressure being put on publishers to only report that which is favorable for the ruling establishment and their political causes,…
The Latest Bounce
Interior Secretary Gale Norton has announced that 70 percent of full-time National Park Service jobs may be farmed out to the private sector — up from the 10 percent predicted last year (HCN, 12/9/02: The push is on to privatize federal jobs). The Interior Department paid CH2MHill, a private company, $5 million to design a…
Build wealth, not walls
Dear HCN, I hope Ed Marston found his confession about his “change of heart” regarding immigration therapeutic (HCN, 2/3/03: The son of immigrants has a change of heart). Rather than wring his hands in public, he should take his ideas to their logical conclusion: a 30-foot border wall and citizenship for immigrants that have their…
Anti-immigration myopia
Dear HCN, Phil Cafaro’s letter “Real environmentalists don’t support immigration” and Ed Marston’s column on a similar topic (HCN, 2/3/03: The son of immigrants has a change of heart) strike me as a tad myopic. Are the lands in the West more worthy of preservation than those in Mexico; does not putting up barriers to…
Where’d you get that cactus, partner?
Not only do southern Arizona cities get water from Colorado, Utah and Wyoming; now, they’re importing cacti from Texas. Prickly Trade, a new study from the World Wildlife Fund, reveals that cities such as Tucson and Phoenix are importing much of their drought-tolerant landscaping from west Texas. Between 1998 and 2001, almost 100,000 succulent plants…
It wasn’t environmental racism
Dear HCN, A recent High Country News article about the Northern Cheyenne tribe’s battles over coal (HCN, 1/20/03: A breath of fresh air) includes an allegation by Gail Small that the settlement of the New World Mine battle near Yellowstone National Park several years ago was an example of “environmental racism” because the conservation groups…
Canada lays down the law on endangered species
After 10 years of debate, Canada has become the last country in North America to pass an endangered species law. The Species at Risk Act (SARA) passed Parliament in December, and goes into effect later in 2003. Unlike the U.S. Endangered Species Act, SARA protects only “federal species,” such as fish, migratory birds, and plants…
Short Takes
Bruce Babbitt will be the keynote speaker at the 26th Annual Public Lands and Resources Law Review Conference. “Public Lands, Private Gains” will be held at the University of Montana-Missoula on March 13-15. For more information, visit www.umt.edu/ publicland/26conf.htm. To register, call 406/243-6568. Head to Sacramento for the Water Education Foundation’s 20th Annual Executive Briefing…
On the road with Cactus Ed
One day early in the 1970s, Ed Abbey and I were cruising along a southern Utah highway in a forest-green Chevy that had rolled off the assembly line some 20 years before. Ed had given a friend $100 for it in the spring and we were both pleased that it was still running now, early…
Wyoming at a crossroads
Can a new governor bust the Cowboy State out of its stagnant economic corral?
It’s time for a new law of the river
On New Year’s Eve, the normally placid pumping station of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California at Lake Havasu felt tense. Armed security guards on the scene since 9/11 seemed grim, and tourists seeking bird-watching information were turned away. It recalled those old black-and-white pictures from when Owens Valley farmers blew up the original…
Dear Friends
The defrost cycle First, a little follow-up to Jeffrey Lockwood’s cover story in the last issue, (HCN, 2/3/03: The death of the Super Hopper). Locusts aren’t the only things being disgorged by glaciers as global warming takes its toll on the West’s alpine ice. The Los Angeles Times reported in January that scientists are scouring…
Villagers rebel against sprawl
Farmers and environmentalists team up along the Rio Grande
Conservation pays off in a desert town
A plan to purchase state land could save open space — and make money for schools
The life of an energy colony
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Wyoming at a crossroads.” 1869: Wyoming is formed as an official territory for one purpose only: advancing the cause of the Union Pacific Railroad. The railroad wants access to southwest Wyoming’s coal fields on its transcontinental journey to the West Coast. Gov. John Campbell…
Excerpts from Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s inaugural speech Jan. 6, as he took office
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Wyoming at a crossroads.” “For too many decades, we have dreamed of a day when the government of these United States would transfer the ownership of its lands to state or private hands. While this dream may occupy our hearts, it cannot be the…
Heard Around The West
President George Bush, reputed to create pet names for just about everybody, has one for environmentalists: They are “green, green lima beans,” according to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. If you’re one of those green beans, you might think twice about getting a divorce. A new study in the journal Nature says splitting the…