The revolving door to the Bureau of Land Management director’s office took a spin in November. On the way out was Salt Lake City attorney Pat Shea, who headed the agency for just over a year. Shea has been promoted to acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, where he will help create […]
The Wayward West
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Scientists get a free ride
-We’re not very receptive to charges that the park is “wimping out,” “””says Rocky Mountain National Park spokesman Doug Caldwell. But critics say the park did just that – by permitting a crew of soil scientists to take a helicopter ride in a wilderness study area. Last summer, the park in northeastern Colorado sent a […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Bears flocked to Aspen
ASPEN, Colo. – Celebrity sightings are old news in the place known as “Glitter Gulch.” New this summer and fall were black bear sightings. “The number of nuisance bear calls was the highest it’s been since I moved here 20 years ago,” says Randy Cote, Colorado Department of Wildlife’s Aspen-area district manager, who received more […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Terrorist tactics always undermine progress
“We’re always a little afraid.” That’s what a staunch environmentalist told me shortly after I retired from the Idaho Legislature and left a big-firm law practice to work for the Idaho Conservation League. “Afraid of what?” I asked him. So he patiently explained certain realities of being an environmentalist in an Idaho Panhandle timber town. […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Heard around the West
Northern spotted owls are supposed to be shy and almost invisible in what’s left of our ancient Northwest forests. This was not the case of a “dispersing juvenile” who chose to hang around Everett, Wash., a city of 70,000 close to the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. After spending a day roosting unobtrusively in a tree, […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
A paradise resettled and a community lost
In 1974, when Peter and Deedee Decker bought a rundown, 600-acre ranch six miles from the small, doomed, also rundown town of Ridgway, Colo. (the Bureau of Reclamation planned to bury it under a reservoir, but later relented), it was nowheresville. Despite the San Juan Mountains, which loom up almost as abruptly and beautifully as […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Utah builds a dream trail
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 […]
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 […]