WASHINGTON, D.C. – Well, so much for the Revolution. It was decimated on the Pacific Coast, demolished in the Northeast, even damaged in the South. And it never amounted to much in the Midwest. So after four short years, it has been expunged, this much-discussed political sea change, often called the Gingrich Revolution, gone and […]
The West of the ’90s is the South of the ’60s
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Wildlife crossings cut down on roadkill
MISSOULA, Mont. – A radio-collared Canada lynx cautiously approaches the Trans-Canada Highway in Alberta’s Bow River Valley. A large recreation vehicle rumbles into view. The cat hesitates, then nervously skitters back into the brush. About 50 yards from the roadside, it lies down for about a half hour before rising to make another attempt to […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Dear Friends
First snow It was like getting hit in the face with a cream pie: A wet snow dumped on much of western Colorado early this month. Trees, still laden with leaves, bent low, some breaking, some perilously stretching power lines, and until the mist cleared, all seemed heavy and ominous. Then the sun chased the […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
Ecosystem management hits ‘Ice Bump’ in the road
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Other regions, such as the Sierra Nevada and the interior Columbia Basin, have attempted to develop ecosystem management plans. In the interior Columbia Basin, the attempt is not going well. The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (the initials ICBEMP inevitably became “Ice-bump’) is […]
Posted inNovember 23, 1998: A patchwork peace unravels
A patchwork peace unravels
Renewed controversy threatens the truce of Clinton’s Northwest Forest Plan
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Three cheers for the arsonists at Vail
Dear HCN, In its single-minded pursuit of ever-increasing profits and greater market share, it seems Vail has finally stirred some resistance from folks not overly concerned with such niceties as the legality of their actions, and who exhibit a downright healthy disdain for the property of large corporations. Well, God bless the Earth Liberation Front! […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Bull Trout Workshop
The mysteries of the bull trout, recently listed as threatened on the Blackfoot River, will be revealed Nov. 16-17 at a Bull Trout Workshop hosted by the American Fisheries Society’s North Pacific-International Chapter. To be held in Nelson, B.C., a three-hour drive due north from Spokane, Wash., the symposium will explore recovery and management techniques. […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Renewable Energy Policy Project
The Washington, D.C.-based Renewable Energy Policy Project’s August Research Report suggests a way to boost the small market for water heaters powered by the sun. Instead of relying on public subsidies to stimulate sales, the report says, manufacturers could borrow techniques from the insurance industry, giving salespeople a commission on every heater they sell. The […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
From Watersheds to Watertaps
Community activists from the Rocky Mountain states and the Dakotas are invited to attend From Watersheds to Watertaps, a workshop Jan. 9 in Denver on the new Safe Drinking Water Act. The workshop will combine strategies for protecting both watersheds and safe drinking water. Contact Carmi McLean at 303/839-9866 or denvercwa@cleanwtsaer.org. This article appeared in […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
9th Headwaters Conference, “Relationships Between Learning and Locality’
The collision between rural society and academia is the subject of the 9th Headwaters Conference, “Relationships Between Learning and Locality,” at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., Nov. 13-14. Presentations include a one-man docudrama about philosopher John Dewey and a role-playing exercise about “fractious mountain valleys.” For information contact George Sibley, Western State College, Gunnison, […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Big Sky or Big Sprawl?
As cities swallow countyside, two upcoming conferences will consider ways to protect open and agricultural land from urban growth. Montanans meet in Helena Nov. 20-21 for Big Sky or Big Sprawl? Montana at the Crossroads: Montana’s First Statewide Summit on Growth. Call or write AERO, 25 S. Ewing, Suite 214, Helena, MT 59601 (406/443-7272), or […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Endangered Mexico
Living in Mexico City – a place that has already suffered a kind of ecological collapse – has convinced me that the most crucial environmental struggle in the coming decades will be providing water, food and clean air, and ensuring basic human health in a world where resources are more and more limited. The most […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Spotted owls vs. jobs?
Does environmental protection really cause timber workers to lose their jobs? An article by University of Wisconsin sociologist Bill Freudenburg says no. His peer-reviewed study tracks employment numbers through three flashpoints of the modern environmental movement: 1964, when the Wilderness Act became law; the advent of Earth Day in 1970; and the northern spotted owl […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Trading up to salmon power
The Emerald People’s Utility District near Eugene, Ore., says it will provide “green power” to its customers. The district has agreed to pay 75 percent more to a new partnership between the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and a trio of environmental groups formed to encourage energy production that doesn’t harm air quality or salmon. The […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Picturing Native American Culture
If you watched any television in the 1970s, you’ll recall the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign featuring Iron Eyes Cody – the Indian actor whose image, with a tear rolling down his wrinkled cheek, persuaded us to put litter in its place. His teary eye taught our society more than was ever intended – it helped […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
The lynx: To list or not to list?
You may be seeing more of the elusive Canada lynx if conservationists have their way. Groups such as the Biodiversity Legal Foundation have long argued that this cousin of the bobcat needs protection under the Endangered Species Act. Last spring, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the lynx. The […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Erosion danger fans flames
In Washington state, Patricia Hoffman’s community group, Save Our Summers, successfully led the fight to end bluegrass-field burning that was choking the city of Spokane (HCN, 12/22/97). Now she’s launched another air-clearing campaign, this time against wheat-stubble burning. “This is the first year that we haven’t had plumes rising in Spokane County,” Hoffman says. “What […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Lynx stops timber sale
The Canada lynx – proposed but not yet listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act – has stopped a controversial timber sale in southern Wyoming’s Medicine Bow National Forest. Deputy Regional Forester Tom Thompson overturned an earlier decision to allow the 1,473-acre Tie Camp timber sale within a dense forest of lodgepole pine, spruce […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Subdivisions loom over the Sawtooths
The Forest Service has spent about $50 million over the last 25 years to protect the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in central Idaho from the spread of subdivisions. Its work is about 90 percent complete – conservation easements protect most private land – but unless the Forest Service can work out a last-minute deal, rancher […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
The 105th Congress didn’t come completely clean
At the last minute, out of the quagmire of the 105th Congress came word that the federal government is plunking down a $40 million down payment on the sprawling Baca Ranch in New Mexico (HCN, 8/3/98). In a Congress with few environmental victories, environmentalists were happy to put this one in the win column: “A […]