Dear HCN, I just received my April 27 issue of HCN and it’s without a doubt your best issue. I can’t thank you enough for Jon Margolis’ article on the coming threat of industrial recreation. Like Scott Silver, most of my personal life outside of work has been taken over by trying to get the […]
Recreation: “as bad as clearcutting’
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Article didn’t cover the real immigration issues
Dear HCN, I have been an avid reader of High Country News for several years and have enjoyed its insightful take on the issues shaping the West as we head into the 21st century. I am, however, deeply disturbed by your recent coverage of the Sierra Club ballot question, “Give me your tired, your poor, […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Margolis is just envious
Dear HCN, “A treatise on columnist Alexander Cockburn,” (HCN, 5/11/98), seems to be Jon Margolis’ search for a journalistic Viagra. So envious is Margolis that he lashes out the gawky bewailment: “Cockburn has been abusing reality for decades …” That’s bad? I hope someone has, or will, say the same about me. Margolis’ gripes range […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
What’s better for Arizona
Dear HCN, For the past year I’ve been part of a group including ranchers, environmentalists and scientists exploring ways to find common ground over public-lands policy in Arizona and the West. Early on we found our mantra by paraphrasing James Carville: It’s land fragmentation, stupid! But no matter how much progress we make, we keep […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Lyons answers his critics
It’s difficult to respond to such off-issue, personal attacks and the chest-thumpings of Idaho nationalism as Peterson’s (HCN, 5/25/98) and Medberry’s (HCN, 4/13/98) – weak and flaccid as they are, full of red herrings and other beneath-the-belt cow droppings – but my point remains: Idaho doesn’t work for the poor, for persons of color, or […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Capulin Volcano National Monument
How should a “recent extinct volcano” greet visitors in the future? The National Park Service invites the public to help plan the management of Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeast New Mexico. To comment or to receive a newsletter, contact the National Park Service, Capulin Volcano National Monument, P.O. Box 40, Capulin, NM 88414 (505/278-2201 […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Montana Wilderness: More Than Just a Pretty Place
With maps and histories, the free 18-page Montana Wilderness: More Than Just A Pretty Place, by the Montana Wilderness Association, makes the case for protecting public wildlands, from semi-arid river breaks to alpine peaks. Contact the Montana Wilderness Association, P.O. Box 635, Helena, MT 59624 (406/443-7350) or e-mail MWA at mwa@desktop.org. This article appeared in […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
1998 Earle A. Chiles Award
The High Desert Museum gives its 1998 Earle A. Chiles Award to people who have enriched the cultural and natural wealth of the high desert. Past winners include photographer and writer Stephen Trimble and biologist Jack Ward Thomas, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Send nominations to the High Desert Museum, 59800 S. Highway […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Wyoming Dinosaur Center
What’s more exciting for kids than seeing dinosaur bones? Digging them up, of course. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center, 120 miles southeast of Yellowstone National Park, offers kids 8-13 a chance to join scientists and technicians for two-day digs this summer. Already unearthed: sauropod remains (those long-necked veggie-eaters from Jurassic Park) and allosaur teeth and tracks. […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Colorado Fourteeners Initiative
The yearly number of hikers attempting a 14,000-ft. peak has tripled in 10 years, to 200,000, says the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. And that is why the coalition of five nonprofit groups seeks volunteers to restore heavily eroded trails. Those interested in high-altitude work on Huron Peak and Humboldt Peak can contact Kristen Sauer, Colorado Fourteeners […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Ecosystem Restoration: Turning the Tide
The Northwest chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration is sponsoring Ecosystem Restoration: Turning the Tide, Oct. 28-30, in Tacoma, Wash. The conference includes symposia on riparian restoration, exotic species control and agricultural land restoration. Call Washington State University for information at 800/942-4978. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Wild Rockies Rendezvous
Alliance for the Wild Rockies invites conservationists to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the Wild Rockies Rendezvous at the Teller Wildlife Refuge in Corvallis, Mont., Sept. 18-20. Speakers include Peter Kostmayer, executive director of Zero Population Growth, and Michael Frome, author of The Battle for the Wilderness. To register, contact Jamie Lennox, P.O. Box 8731, […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
9th Annual South Platte Forum
The 9th Annual South Platte Forum requests abstracts proposing posters for a conference examining the competition for water in the South Platte Basin of Colorado’s Front Range. Send abstracts by Aug. 1 to Laurie Schmidt, Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, 410N University Services Center, Fort Collins, CO 80523-2018 (970/226-0533). This article appeared in the print […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
A family preserves the West
If not for Tom Wetherill’s deathbed wish, paper wasps might still be nesting in the century-old photo albums collected by his grandfather, one of five brothers who made the modern discoveries of Mesa Verde and other Indian ruins in the Southwest. Though later archaeologists ignored the Wetherills, maligning their work as insufficiently rigorous, the family […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Smaller and smaller forests
Humans are cutting Colorado and Wyoming forest into an increasing number of isolated stands that threaten forest health, according to three new videos highlighting a conference devoted to forest fragmentation in the central Rocky Mountains. “Everybody who lives in these states has an opinion about forested public land, but most impressions seem to be based […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Defending the dunes
Shifting sand dunes might be the fastest-moving thing in the coastal town of Florence, Ore., population 6,200, and some residents would like to see it stay that way. But as the area’s timber and fishing industries die off, a new kind of development is moving in to take their place. In the spring of 1997, […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Bringing a ghost town to life
By 1935, recurring flash floods had washed everyone out of Grafton, Utah, except vandals and an occasional Hollywood producer. Then this April, those living near the ghost town staged a fund raiser to repair the combined school and church that dates from the town’s Mormon settlement 139 years ago. “The buildings are in advanced stages […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Lagged not logged
Climbed Delodo Tree. Had a bad feeling, so dry and hot. Storm last night brought plenty of lightning, little rain. Spotted smoke to south, blowing northeast and picking up … Caught hobbled mare and saddled up. Rode to Little Nelson Lake Tree, saw smoke again. Looks like a big fire … May need extra folks […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Most favor the grizzly
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued a summary of 24,000 public comments on its plan to bring back grizzly bears to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana. Of the 21,000 responses that were petition signatures, 77 percent favored reintroduction, while 23 percent opposed it. The summary drew criticism from Alliance for the […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
All’s not Swell
In a surprise move, Utah Rep. Chris Cannon, R, says he wants to see more wilderness in the San Rafael Swell of southern Utah, and he’s written a new bill to prove it. Cannon’s bill would designate as wilderness about 400,000 acres of BLM land in the San Rafael Swell, and it would also set […]