Oregon’s Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber had high hopes that his plan for saving coastal coho salmon from extinction could stave off listing the fish as endangered, and set an example of stewardship for other Western states. The “Oregon Plan” featured collaboration among private landowners, who own 65 percent of the salmon’s habitat, the local timber […]
Judge nixes salmon plan
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Editor’s note
Note: this front-page editor’s note introduces this issue’s feature story. In the 1960s, revolutions in Indian country were political, and the media swarmed in to cover sit-ins, demonstrations and fiery speeches. When the sit-ins and occasional violence ended, the media left and people on the reservations found little had changed. Today, Indian country is in […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Heard around the West
You’re in a car when a thunderstorm boils out of the West and rain pelts down. What do you do? Nothing, of course, since the National Lightning Safety Institute says cars are one of the safest places to be during lightning strikes – relatively speaking. Two teenagers in a ’92 Subaru near Jackson, Wyo., found […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
At Tahoe, it’s agreed: old growth gets to stay
The residents of the Lake Tahoe Basin want their old-growth trees, dead or alive. A regulation that took effect last month all but prohibits the harvest of trees over 30 inches in diameter, whether they are on public or private land. Because it applies to both green and standing dead trees, the Tahoe ordinance expands […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
No fences make bad neighbors in Montana
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Warren McMillan steers his Chevy Blazer past a wooden sign that advertises residential lots for sale, many of them 20 acres in size with stunning views of the eastern face of the Bridger Mountains. He is wearing a straw cowboy hat, black cowboy boots, cowboy-cut Levis and a cowboy shirt. He passes […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Congress drags its feet on Baca Ranch deal
If there is one property that ought to be bought and preserved as public land for all Americans, say Forest Service officials, it’s the 95,000-acre Baca Ranch – most of the Valles Caldera – a place almost completely surrounded by the Santa Fe National Forest. So this summer, Forest Service staffer Denise McCaig has been […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Extinct volcano is up for grabs
From space, northern New Mexico’s Valles Caldera, also known as the Baca Ranch, looks vaguely like the cast of a bear paw print. Small lava-formed mountains rise like inverted claw marks in front of massive Redondo Peak, all nestled within the rim of the world’s largest extinct volcano. From the ground, what most impresses visitors […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Utah finds 3 million more wild acres
Equipped with an old Jeep Cherokee 4×4 and a stack of large-scale topographical maps, Kevin Walker spent two years combing southern Utah. He was looking for wild, unprotected tracts of Bureau of Land Management land that might have been left out of a coalition’s wilderness proposal. His team – Walker helped lead the citizens’ inventory […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Dear Friends
Call for water If you called the Paonia office in mid-July to order five copies of HCN’s collection of water articles, Water in the West, please call again. We have the soft-bound collection of articles and the back issues you also asked for all packed. But we don’t have your name and address. We apologize […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
A banker battles to hold the government accountable
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. BROWNING, Mont. – Until recently, Browning, a dusty settlement on the Blackfeet Indian reservation in northern Montana, was known more for its bar fights than its financial enterprise. But thanks to the small town’s banker, Elouise Cobell, Browning is becoming known for something else. […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Note: A front-page editor’s note and a sidebar titled “A banker battles to hold the government accountable” accompany this feature story. FORT HALL, Idaho – The councilman’s voice drones through the microphone, echoing off walls lined with nickel slots and joker poker games. The Shoshone and Bannock people file into the bingo hall slowly, some […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Backlash
Dear HCN, I often wonder how anyone can be anti-environmentalist, and there are sure a lot of folks who feel that way, especially here in Idaho. To me, being anti-environmentalist is being anti-life, anti-happiness, anti-future. But when I see statements like those attributed to mystery writer Nevada Barr (HCN, 5/25/98), in which she suggests it […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Can the Forest Service change?
Dear HCN, It seems nearly every issue of High Country News has some article dealing with the decline and fall of the U.S. Forest Service. This strikes near and dear to my heart since I spent over 27 years with the agency. The agency is not the same one I started working for in 1970. […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
No, it’s habitat fragmentation, stupid
Dear HCN, Ranching historian Tom Sheridan’s statement that the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity’s Endangered Species Act lawsuits are bad for rural landscapes because they make life tougher for ranchers is a bit off (HCN, 6/8/98). In his letter, Tom paraphrases James Carville, saying, “It’s land fragmentation, stupid.” In fact, it’s habitat fragmentation we should […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Bye, bye, Idaho
Dear HCN, I read with amusement the “ranting and raving” of W.M. Martin from Arizona (HCN, 5/25/98) about the Californians moving to his state, complaining about everything, but not moving. Now it’s my turn to rant. I sneaked into Idaho from Pennsylvania a few years back and have complained about Idaho in the same way […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Another view of poisoning a lake
Dear HCN, I was somewhat surprised at High Country News’ article, “How California Poisoned a Small Town,” since it only provided one side of the issue – and a locally biased one at that (HCN, 5/25/98). While I believe that the removal of the predatory pike from Lake Davis was fully justified, both biologically and […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Give that photo a rest
Dear HCN, Just when I begin to believe that you guys are presenting a fair picture of what’s happening on the environmental front in the West, you dash my hopes once again. In the recent issue, in the Hotline section (HCN, 6/8/98), you have the famous John Horning overgrazing picture that’s been used to death […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
All tamarisk isn’t the same
Dear HCN, “Tackling Tamarisk” (HCN, 5/25/98) lifts the lid on a nasty can of worms, namely the invasion of Western wildlands by alien plants – those dreaded weeds. Paul Larmer credits tamarisks with spreading into “virtually every river system in the West.” Could be, depending on the definition of “river system.” More to the point […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Of “stump pimps’ and “wolf pimps’
Dear HCN, Criticize Alex Cockburn if you must, and he certainly gives one plenty of opportunity (HCN, 5/11/98). No one ever accused him of keeping his opinions to himself. And, no one would ever accuse him of infallibility – remember, he thinks Lee Oswald was a lone Socialist hero! But, claiming that environmental groups use […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
When Will the Joy Ride End?
Remember the oil crisis? It’s only just begun, according to the petroleum primer When Will the Joy Ride End? published by an Aspen, Colo., nonprofit, the Community Office for Resource Efficiency. With catchy phrases, hard facts and many graphs, authors Randy Udall and Steve Andrews stress that when global oil production peaks, it may already […]