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 […]
A family preserves the West
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 […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Biologists get the ax
Seven biologists are on the endangered list after a budget cut at New Mexico’s state wildlife agency. In April, Republican Gov. Gary Johnson vetoed $620,000 in state and federal matching funds for the state’s management of all nongame wildlife. The funds were earmarked for staff positions in environmental education and endangered species protection. “Our intent […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
‘Odd couple’ sues over grazing permits
Although Jon Tate of the Tucson, Ariz.-based Western Gamebird Association wants to get cows off some Arizona grazing allotments, he’s not talking about endangered species or water quality. “The reason we want to save this land is there’s a bunch of little birds there that we want to shoot for fun,” he told the Albuquerque […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Locals battle military planes
In southern Colorado’s isolated Wet Mountain Valley, a former county commissioner is hoping nearly eight years of effort will keep the area free from more low-flying military planes. “If we’re concerned about our peace and quiet, our lifestyle, our agricultural community and our wildlife, then we’d better stand up and let the military know,” says […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
The Wayward West
Politicians in Idaho are talking about doing away with four Snake River dams (HCN, 9/1/97). Robert Huntley, Democratic candidate for governor, called the lower dams “impediments to prosperity,” reports the Idaho Statesman, while a Republican running against Rep. Helen Chenoweth in the primary said his party had to protect endangered species. “Letting species go extinct, […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Heard Around the West
Old myths die hard, especially when perpetrated by Hollywood. On the Flathead Reservation in western Montana, tourists regularly want to know: “Where are the flat heads?” reports the Great Falls Tribune. And some people visiting the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning, Mont., expect Native Americans to live in tepees and to wear feathered […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Waste Land: Meditations on a Ravaged Landscape
Preface by Wendell Berry It is unfortunately supposable that some people will account for these photographic images as “abstract art,” or will see them as “beautiful shapes.” But anybody who troubles to identify in these pictures the things that are readily identifiable (trees, buildings, roads, vehicles, etc.) will see that nothing in them is abstract […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Thirty days left for politics, petulance
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The year is almost over. If you’re computing the time between now and Dec. 31, broaden your horizons. We are talking here about the legislative year, which ends on Oct. 2, liberating congresspersons to return home to campaign. Even subtracting weekends, this would leave almost 100 days for Congress its wonders to […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Feds sue a Utah county for building a road in a national park
Garfield County in Utah has yet to prove historical use of the Burr Trail road through Capitol Reef National Park, a federal judge said in April. With the ruling, U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins rejected the county’s motion for summary judgment, and now a trial will likely begin this summer. An attorney defending Garfield County […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Navajos may say no to nuclear waste
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – As Congress wrangles over what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, opponents in the Southwest continue to create roadblocks to keep it out. Bills that would allow the Department of Energy to ship nuclear waste to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain by 2003 have passed in both the House and […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Dear Friends
Celebrating the high life Mountain men had their rendezvous; today’s lovers of adventure in wild country have the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival. Film is the draw, but many come for the company available at this most intimate of festivals. Mountaineer legends and environmental heroes like Paul Watson, Bradford and Barbara Washburn, Paul Petzoldt and Galen Rowell […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Bison comeback meets resistance on the ground
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. MEDORA, N.D. – Though bison graze on a national park and some ranches here, they aren’t catching on in Medora, where for generations the industry has been cattle. Some see it as just another of the get-rich-quick schemes that periodically sweep through agriculture. Everyone […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Don’t fence me in
Are bison becoming just another cow with a hump?
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Summer Fishtrap Gathering and Workshops
Eastern Oregon’s 11th annual Summer Fishtrap Gathering and Workshops July 6-12 will explore the nature of work in an age of increasing automation and the ways that people write about it. Stephanie Coontz, award-winning author of The Social Origins of Private Life: A History of American Families, will deliver a keynote; for more information write […]