Late one afternoon, a trim, bearded University of Utah administrator climbs from a car in a foothill cul-de-sac 10 minutes from the busiest intersection in Salt Lake City. Rick Reese brims with energy as he strides off down a mountain path toward a perch with an astonishing view of the Salt Lake Valley. He stands […]
Utah builds a dream trail
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Power poles make deadly perches
To most people, utility poles and power lines are just another part of the Western landscape. Not to Montana falconer Kirk Hohenberger; he sees power lines as death traps for hawks, eagles and falcons. “I’ve seen four of my own falcons electrocuted,” says Hohenberger. “I reported the poles to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Using tools of destruction to restore redwoods
ARCATA, Calif. – In a dense forest of second-growth redwoods next to a logging road, Bill Weaver bounces on a culvert pipe so rusted it’s ready to collapse. A stagnant pool of water is the only sign of the torrent that will gush through the pipe when autumn rains start. “If this culvert hasn’t already […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Newcomers battle over river resort
MOAB, Utah – Ten years ago, Karen Nelson arrived in southern Utah, drawn by redrock canyons, whitewater and a simpler way of life. A native of California, she moved to Castle Valley, a community of 50 homes nestled above the Colorado River; there, she made a living handcrafting furniture. A stretch of Route 128, called […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Dear Friends
Congratulations Two career Forest Service employees working on ecosystem management have each won $10,000 from the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore., which gives the coveted, annual Earle A. Chiles Award. The winners are Jeff Blackwood, supervisor of the Umatilla National Forest, and Thomas Quigley, a Ph.D. range economist. For the last four years, the […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Colorado: Snow = skiers
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Inches of snowfall per year at selected Colorado ski resorts: More than 300 Number of days of sunshine: More than 300 Acres at Vail, Colorado’s – and North America’s – largest ski area: 4,644 Number of U.S. ski areas in 1967: 1,400 Number in […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Anger on the Web
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Michael Lewinski, writing in the Unofficial Stop SuperVail Website, bcn.boulder.co.us/environment/Vail/, says that after the Oct. 19 arson at Vail, e-mail poured in. “I’ve been called some extremely nasty names,” he writes. – ‘Nazi” seems the most popular so far. “Ours is not the first […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Concerned Coloradans comment
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. J. Francis Stafford Former Catholic Archbishop of Denver, 1994 Pastoral Letter: “The time when the Western Slope could be overlooked as a reserve of empty, if beautiful, solitude, has long since passed. The current explosion of Front Range growth has its parallel in communities […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Note: three sidebar articles accompany this feature story: a variety of concerned Coloradans speak out in their own words about Vail, “Anger on the web,” and an index of interesting facts about Vail and other Colorado ski areas. VAIL, Colo. – Diane Gansauer was on a future-of-skiing panel for activists a year ago when she […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
It’s in the mail
Dear HCN, Stephen Lyons’ essay on our very own Helen Chenoweth was wonderful (HCN, 9/28/98). However, he didn’t answer the question I wanted to ask Helen about God forgiving her. Did she get it in writing? Scott W. Reed Coeur d’Alene, Idaho This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
The flaws of Harry Reid
Dear HCN, The recent cover article in HCN suggested that Sen. Harry Reid was the best Western environmental senator (HCN, 9/28/98). While he is far superior to many of his colleagues, the article failed to mention many of his shortcomings. For example, Sen. Reid is co-sponsor of legislation that would transfer thousands of acres of […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Tom Wolf should check a few facts
Dear HCN, Please may I quibble over a couple of minor points in Tom Wolf’s informative essay about Floyd Dominy and Morrow Point Dam (HCN, 10/26/98). Morrow Point is indeed an elegant engineering marvel, and you have to admire the artful audacity of its designers, but the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a marvel, […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
There’s no excuse for criminal acts
Dear HCN, I found it ironic and disturbing that the same issue containing an article decrying the hate crime in Laramie had a letter cheering the hate crime in Vail and an opinion piece loosely excusing it (HCN, 11/9/98). Whether you like the Vail decision or not, it was shaped by public involvement and scrutiny. […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Hunting: Whose hands are really bloody?
Dear HCN, After reading Stephen Gies’ tirade against hunting (HCN, 10/26/98), I felt compelled to clarify the logic in his ethical position. From his letter, his position can be summed up in two statements: 1) Killing and eating domesticated animals is ethical, and 2) Killing and eating wild animals is unethical. That is, it is […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Hunting? Call it competition
Dear HCN, As an anthropologist with an active interest in primatology, I find Stephen Gies’ letter of response (HCN, 10/26/98) to Ken Wright’s review of David Petersen’s hunting book Elkheart interesting (HCN, 9/28/98). Gies suspects that Petersen’s psychological need to hunt is based on “primordial revitalized manhood.” This is a pretty good intuitive generalization. A […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Amax’s return delayed
The return of a molybdenum mine proposed for Red Lady Bowl near Crested Butte, Colo., has been stalled – temporarily, at least (HCN, 12/8/97). In September, a water court judge postponed a trial to determine whether mining conglomerate Cyprus-Amax can create a reservoir, after the company changed its plans. Cyprus-Amax decided to downsize the mine […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Lake trout linger in Yellowstone
The Park Service pulled 7,000 trout from Yellowstone Lake this year. The fish are lake trout – an exotic first found here four years ago – that scientists blame for ravaging native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Some of these exotic fish are more than 20 years old, and Park Service biologist Dan Mahoney says the fish […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Election day highlights from around the region
WYOMING Republicans continue their lock on Wyoming: They maintained two-thirds majorities in the state Legislature while sweeping state offices, and Barbara Cubin easily held onto her at-large seat in the U.S. House. Leading this year’s windmill-tilting for the Democrats was bar owner, law student and state Sen. John Vinich of Hudson, who took on incumbent […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Split on trapping
California and Utah Split on trapping California voters said no to trapping, banning leghold traps in the state, 3,974,000 to 2,951,000. The debate pitted animal-rights groups and the Sierra Club against the Golden Gate Audubon Society and other groups that claimed trapping predators, such as foxes, is in some instances necessary for the recovery of […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Keep on cutting
OREGON Keep on cutting By a margin of 878,000 to 208,000, voters defeated a ban on clear-cutting forests on public and private lands in Oregon. Popular Gov. John Kitzhaber spoke out against the ban, and mainstream groups such as Oregon Trout Unlimited refused to support the measure’s backer, Oregonians for Labor Intensive Forest Economics. Opposition […]