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 […]
No, it’s habitat fragmentation, stupid
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 […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Whitewater boating groups
Whitewater boating groups are invited to eddy out in July and apply for a $500 to $2,500 grant to promote river access or conservation projects. Nonprofit groups within the Rocky Mountain region may apply by July 15. Contact the Colorado Whitewater Association Grant Committee, c/o Jay P.K. Kenney, 1675 Larimer St., Suite 725, Denver, CO […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Waterton Glacier International Writers’ Workshop
At the third annual Waterton-Glacier International Writer’s Workshop in Glacier Park, Mont., Sept. 24-26, nature, environmental and travel writers come together with editors and publishers from both the United States and Canada. Writing and publishing workshops will be offered, with story opportunities emerging from field trips throughout the Glacier area. To register, contact Joan Baucus, […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Defining a scientific movement
Review by Michelle Nijhuis Janine Benyus’ Biomimicry is a book about science. One of its many unexpected pleasures, however, is that it is also about scientists. Benyus’ fondness and respect for researchers is evident in every chapter, even as she gently pokes fun at their peculiar obsessions. Here, for example, is her description of biochemist […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Colorado curmudgeon defends the rural West
Review by Ken Wright Ed Quillen isn’t exactly a voice crying in the wilderness; he’s more like that guy with a beer and a Camel Straight in his hand, yelling from the sagging porch of the house down the street – the one with all the weeds and the 1975 Jeep Cherokee on blocks in […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
The San Pedro River
The San Pedro River in Arizona’s southeastern corner is famous for the diversity of its birdlife, but groundwater pumping by surrounding communities and the Fort Huachuca military base in Sierra Vista, Ariz., is draining the desert refuge. Now, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a Montreal-based group established by NAFTA, has released a report entitled “Sustaining […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Wild Mushrooms/Telluride
Bring your mushroom hat to Wild Mushrooms/Telluride Aug. 27-30 in Telluride, Colo., where, in addition to a mushroom costume parade, a conference features field excursions, a mushroom cook and taste party, and talks by Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing. Contact Fungophile, Inc., P.O. Box 480503, Denver, CO 80248-0503 (303/296-9359). Or check out the Website: […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Colorado Water Workshop
The 23rd annual Colorado Water Workshop will be held July 29-31 at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., with Floyd Dominy, former commissioner and dam-builder of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the keynote speaker. This year’s theme: World Water Lessons for a Changing West. Registration is $225 before July 20. For more information, call 970/641-6215 […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Still on the hit list
When the Wilderness Society released a list of the 10 most endangered wild places in the U.S. last year, it hoped media attention would slow down the development threatening these unique areas. But this year’s list has been expanded to 15 sites, and only one area dropped off the list because of increased protection. The […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Takings clarified
-If I tell my daughter that she cannot play with her ball in the house, she has lost something of value – the right to play with the ball in the house. I have regulated what she can do with the ball, but I haven’t “taken” it. She is still free to play with it […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Justice for the cutthroat
When it listed bulltrout as a threatened species recently (HCN, 6/22/98), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also announced that westslope cutthroat trout deserved study for possible protection. The move was pushed by six conservation groups – American Wildlands, Madison Gallatin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Idaho Watersheds Project, Montana Environmental Information Center, Clearwater Biodiversity Project […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
In the footsteps of Muir
Would John Muir recognize the Yosemite of today? What would he think of his beloved “hospitable, Godful wilderness,” where he roamed freely, built campfires anywhere he pleased and traveled with his unleashed dog, Carlo? To explore questions like that, writer Geraldine Vale and geographer Thomas Vale retraced the route that Muir described over a century […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
The illustrated adventures of bison
What weighs 4 pounds, boasts stunning watercolor illustrations of wildlife, and purports to regulate brucellosis in free-ranging bison? The new 400-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Interagency Bison Management Plan for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park, of course. The statement, a collaboration by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Ordering chicken for a whole town
The city of Artesia, N.M., could get more than it asked for when NUCHIK Inc. builds one of the biggest chicken processing plants in the West in the year 2000. The plant will slaughter 1.25 million chickens a week and create 900 new jobs in the town of 12,000. NUCHIK supporters hope the chicken plant […]