After lagging for decades, solar power is booming; its growth rate of 16 percent per year from 1990-1997 ranks it as the world’s second fastest-growing energy source after wind power. Worldwatch Institute attributes the boom to declining manufacturing costs and subsidies. Japan, Europe and the United States, for example, have instituted programs to encourage use […]
Solar power is booming
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Trails and the American Spirit
Tucson, Ariz., plays host to this year’s National Trails Symposium, Nov. 13-17. “Trails and the American Spirit,” sponsored by American Trails, features keynote speakers Royal Robbins, the adventurer and outdoor clothing baron, and Tom Whittaker, the first disabled person to summit Everest. Contact American Trails at 520/632-1140 or visit www.outdoorlink.com/amtrails. This article appeared in the […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
World Oil Forum
The World Oil Forum in Denver, Oct. 30, considers the future of the world supply of petroleum. Experts from advocacy groups, industry and government will discuss the timing and consequences of oil production’s impending decline. Contact the Community Office for Resource Efficiency, P.O. Box 9707, Aspen, CO 81612 (970/544-9808). This article appeared in the print […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Avoiding the shaft
-Few citizens, however well intentioned, can cope with the array of industry experts and lawyers that they will face when opposing a mine,” says Sue McIntosh of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. That’s why McIntosh has written a handbook for mining activists called Avoiding the Shaft: The New Mexico Citizen’s Mining Manual. […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Holding the line
For a diligent review of environmental issues facing Arctic and interior Alaska, you might look to the 27-year-old Northern Alaska Environmental Center and its 20-page, quarterly newsletter, The Northern Line. The title recalls a Gary Snyder poem, “Behind is a forest that goes to the Arctic … and here we must draw our line.” Supported […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Seeing parks with 20/20 vision
Some fast-moving congressional legislation is aiming to change how the National Park Service does business. The bill would make visitors continue to “pay to play” and also would require Hollywood to cough up some cash before filming scenic park vistas. But critics say private park concessionaires would continue to take the Park Service for a […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Broadway, mountain-style
Bitter environmental conflict inspires demonstrations, op-ed pieces, sometimes violence. In the Mattole Valley of Northern California, fights over logging and salmon have generated something else entirely: musical comedy. Activist David Simpson and his choreographer wife, Jane Lapiner, both San Francisco Mime Troupe veterans, launched a theater group, Human Nature, to try to ease tensions between […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
They left only footprints
When storms hit central Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin, dry washes turn to muddy streams, scouring the limestone bedrock. In one gully near the Red Gulch/Alkali Backcountry Byway, the yearly floods uncovered more than 2,000 dinosaur tracks from the Middle Jurassic period. “There were thousands and thousands of small- to medium-sized meat-eating dinosaurs scurrying around here,” explains […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Water, the feds, and Mormons, too
Dear HCN, In your coverage of the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission’s report (HCN, 6/22/98) I was struck by a quote attributed to Denise Fort, chairman of the Advisory Commission: “The traditional control of Western water has largely been federal because the federal government has had such a major role in the construction of […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Exotics not a threat? Don’t believe it
Dear HCN, Robert Nold’s dismissal of the threat posed by non-native species is a classic case of denial (HCN, 8/3/98). By his own admission, he has “grown about 2,000 species of plants … and few have shown any “irreversible” tendencies to invade native habitats.” Observation has shown me that “a few” is all it takes. […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Fees and bureaucratic babble
Dear HCN, Shame on you for printing the bureaucratic babble Fees Please Visitors … without giving equal time to Scott Silver (Bulletin Board, HCN, 6/22/98). I worked for the Park Service, BLM and Forest Service for a quarter of a century. I know self-serving government propaganda when I see it. Even if their new fee […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Essayist Steve Lyons goes too far
Dear HCN, Normally, I try to respect everyone and their opinion. I might not agree with them. I might even feel forced to oppose them if they take action I feel is in error. But I respect their opinions, nevertheless. But I draw the line at the unmitigated and ridiculous arrogance of Stephen Lyons in […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
A bridge to disaster?
There’s a traffic jam in West Yellowstone, Mont., and the Gallatin National Forest wants to do something about it. Snowmobilers who buzz across Cougar Creek on a crowded highway bridge need an alternative route, says the agency, because they’re creating a safety problem for themselves and other drivers. But environmentalists contend that an agency plan […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
A county writes strict logging rules
A pro-logging northern New Mexico county has passed a far-reaching law that mandates watershed-friendly logging practices on private land. “There’s nothing else like this (in the U.S.),” said attorney David Gomez of the Western Environmental Law Center in Taos, N.M., who helped draft the ordinance. The three-man Rio Arriba County Commission passed the ordinance unanimously […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Wolves develop an appetite for beef
In Montana, ranchers and government officials remain baffled by the Ninemile wolves’ appetite for beef. Since April, the wolf pack, originally made famous in Rick Bass’s book, The Ninemile Wolves, has been responsible for killing four calves and one 600-pound yearling. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in turn, has been responsible for killing four […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
A familiar name returns to Western politics
Some say the West has its own version of the Kennedy clan – the Udalls. A generation of Westerners has heard of Morris Udall, the former Arizona congressman, and Stewart, his brother, former secretary of the Interior. These days it’s their sons who are in the news. Morris’ son Mark, now a Colorado state legislator, […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
An activist dies in the forest
Logging spokesmen say the death of an Earth First! activist should serve to get protesters out of the woods; Earth First! says: Not a chance. David Chain, 24, of Austin, Texas, was killed when he was struck in the head by a falling tree Sept. 17. He’d been trying to stop logging on land owned […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
The Wayward West
Poet Gary Snyder won’t be talking to prospective foresters at Oregon State University’s School of Forestry. Because his talk was scheduled to occur just before election day – when Oregonians will vote on a clear-cutting ban – forestry dean George Brown canceled Snyder’s visit (HCN, 9/14/98). “I did not want to put Gary … in […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
A lifetime of service on the North Dakota plains
A slide show: Old pictures narrated in a yell by his daughter. Joe Sorkness is turning 97, and is deaf. He still lives in Jamestown, N.D., where he spends time piled in a chair, squinting at the Wall Street Journal through coke-bottle glasses that make his eyes look as big as eggs. “Here we are […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Heard around the West
In Salt Lake City, a fat pig must find a permanent home, says the Humane Society of Utah. The tusked animal is called Elvis, and like the singer at the end of his life, he has puffed up, weighing in at 175 pounds and still putting on the pork. But the potbellied crossbreed is said […]