Community stewardship – the idea that inclusive, local processes can protect ecological integrity while improving economic conditions – has a new home on the Web: www.sonoran.org. The Sonoran Institute has launched this Web site to allow diverse communities from across the United States, including Red Lodge, Mont., and the border region of the Sonoran desert, […]
The Sonoran Institute
Community Efforts on the World Wide Web
Isolated small towns can’t always be quiet about preserving their peace and quiet. In rural Boulder County, Colo., a group called PUMA, which stands for the Preserve Unique Magnolia Association, protects the rural qualities of the Magnolia area by publicizing its community efforts on the World Wide Web. From potlucks to concerns about forest management, […]
Most Endangered Places List
Colorado Preservation Inc. has recently published its Most Endangered Places List. Perched in the number one position are Colorado’s gaming towns of Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek – all threatened by Las Vegas-style casinos. For a copy of the list or more information, contact Colorado Preservation, Inc., 910 16th St., Suite 1100, Denver, […]
Society for Ecological Restoration
The Northwest chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration focuses on broad-based salmon recovery efforts at its Tacoma, Wash., conference Oct. 28-30. Called “Ecosystem Restoration: Turning the Tide,” the gathering includes University of Colorado natural-resources law professor and writer Charles Wilkinson and Ted Strong, executive director of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission. Contact the […]
Conference on Environmental Protection and Growth Management in the West
Ian L. McHarg, author of Design with Nature, will address the first annual Conference on Environmental Protection and Growth Management in the West, to be held Oct. 23 and 24 at the University of Denver. The conference will bring together environmental groups, activists, lawyers planners, and land-use professionals to talk about what is and is […]
Research and Resource Management of Parks and Public Lands
The George Wright Society, a nonprofit association of historians, biologists and public and private managers, is calling for papers for its 10th Research and Resource Management of Parks and Public Lands conference next spring. Abstracts are welcome before Oct. 15 on any topic related to research, resource management and education in protected areas such as […]
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
The Great Old Broads are taking on the Good Ol” Boys in Utah. Organized in 1989 for the 25th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the Great Old Broads for Wilderness is a group of over 70 women dedicated to preserving wild places. Their ninth Wilderness Conference will be held Oct. 10-11 in Grand Staircase-Escalante National […]
The Oregon Natural Desert Association
The Oregon Natural Desert Association holds its annual meeting Sept. 26-27 at the Hancock Field Station near Fossil, Ore. Activities include a slide show by photographer Larry Olson, fossil excavation, a canoe trip and early-morning birding. Contact Gilly at 503/525-0193 or write ONDA, 16 NW Kansas Ave., Bend, OR 97701. This article appeared in the […]
Wilderness Horizons: An Interdisciplinary Wilderness Conference
The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute will celebrate what would be its conservationist namesake’s100th birthday with Wilderness Horizons: An Interdisciplinary Wilderness Conference, Sept. 24-26, 1999, in Ashland, Wis. The Institute is calling now for papers and presentations ranging from the philosophical foundations of wilderness and original wilderness prose, to new ways of managing wilderness. Contact Clayton […]
Snowmobilers see red
Reacting to a ten-fold increase in snowmobile use since the early 1990s, Lolo National Forest wants to ban snowmobiles on 140,000 roadless acres of the Bitterroot Crest straddling the Idaho-Montana border. Applauding the move is John Gatchell, director of the Montana Wilderness Association. He says supervisor Chuck Wildes is finally moving to end a longstanding […]
Researching the big picture
The National Park Service is doing something different at New Mexico’s El Malpais National Monument. This fall, at the 10th anniversary resource stewardship symposium, the agency will plan the future course of scientific research in the monument. “We’re bringing together the people who actually do the research, and asking what they feel is important and […]
Gateways to good growth
A new breed of Western city is sprouting in scenic areas, and the resulting population booms call for new planning methods, say Jim Howe, Ed McMahon and Luther Propst in Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities. In tourist towns like Pigeon Forge, Tenn., low-paying seasonal businesses have overshadowed historical and natural attractions, driving residents […]
Back from the brink
A prehistoric fish that once thrived throughout the Missouri and Mississippi rivers is teetering on the brink of extinction. Only 250 wild pallid sturgeons remain in the upper Missouri River of Montana and North Dakota, and they are growing old. Each of these fish is between 40 and 50 years old. “Most of those are […]
On The Trail: Election 1998
Around the corner from the Cheyenne Club in downtown Cheyenne, Wyo., Democrats are throwing together a campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Geringer. Their man is 48-year-old John Vinich, a 24-year veteran of the state legislature from the town of Hudson who filed for governor just five minutes before the deadline. In the Republican […]
Salvo over salmon
McNary Dam on the Columbia River near Pendleton, Ore., is known for its state-of-the-art fish bypass technology, but that system didn’t prevent a recent fish kill of 145,000 young, palm-sized salmon. Most of the fish were Snake River fall chinook, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Most of the salmon died […]
Proposed land trade riles Crested Butte
When developer Tom Chapman made millions on western Colorado land the Forest Service appraised at just $640,000, agency land exchange specialist Paul Zimmerman admitted, “We may well have missed on this one” (HCN, 1/23/95). Now, residents of Crested Butte, Colo., say the agency didn’t learn much from the experience. “It’s totally bass ackwards,” says Sandy […]
Citizens tackle a mining company
Ann and Mike Tatum won one for the little guy when they convinced a Colorado judge that a coal mining company damaged their second home in Weston, Colo. Last December, Las Animas County District Court ordered Basin Resources to pay the Tatums $160,000 for cracks that appeared in their walls after the company tunneled nearby. […]
The Wayward West
The fastest bird in the world could fly off the endangered species list in the next year, according to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The peregrine falcon nearly died out in the 1970s, after the pesticide DDT and other chemicals caused it to lay thin-shelled eggs. Today, there are 1,600 breeding pairs in the United States […]
Headwaters deal gets tougher
A deal intended to protect the world’s largest stand of privately owned old-growth redwoods, the Northern California grove known as the Headwaters Forest, got a makeover in the California Legislature. On Aug. 31, the state Senate voted to require stricter environmental standards on Pacific Lumber’s surrounding private land. The Headwaters Forest has been at the […]
Between an oil lease and a hard place
The Bureau of Land Management has a dilemma of its own making in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness of northwest New Mexico. First, the agency is writing a draft environmental impact statement for drilling 13 oil wells and building 5.5 miles of road in a federally protected wilderness. Second, nobody really wants to drill there. The problem […]
