Hanford’s full of holes Whistleblowers at the Hanford nuclear reservation in central Washington now have the federal General Accounting Office on their side. Although nearly a million gallons of waste are seeping from Hanford’s underground storage tanks toward the Columbia River, the Department of Energy has long downplayed the problem, assuring critics that the soil […]
Hanford’s full of holes
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Cows get eviction notice
In what the Forest Guardians’ John Horning calls “evidence of an agency that’s finally getting it,” the Forest Service has agreed to begin removing cattle from 230 miles of Southwestern streams. The Tucson, Ariz.-based Southwest Center for Biological Diversity and the Santa Fe, N.M.-based Forest Guardians filed separate lawsuits against the Forest Service last year, […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Smart Growth
Smart Growth Regional Partnerships, a new grant and assistance program in Colorado, gives grants of up to $75,000 to towns and counties to help address a host of growth-related issues, including rural and urban sprawl, and loss of open space, agricultural land and habitat for wildlife. To apply, write Smart Growth Regional Partnerships Program, 1313 […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Philosophy, History and Ethics of the Hunt
Orion: The Hunter’s Institute and Montana State University will host a Philosophy, History and Ethics of the Hunt conference July 25-Aug. 1 in Bozeman, Mont. Writers Mary Stange and Ted Kerasote are among those who will lead workshops on the role of hunters and hunting in the modern conservation movement. For more information, call 406/994-6683. […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Green and Gold
The University of California at Santa Cruz will host Green and Gold, July 31-Aug. 2, a conference to commemorate both the 150th anniversary of the 1848 discovery of gold and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. For information call Carolyn Merchant at 510/642-0326, or check the conference Web site at www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/. This article […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation likes to recognize young people, educators, the occasional legislator and others who contribute significantly to protecting the natural world. The process is not complicated; contact the group’s Communications Dept. at 8925 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA 22184-0001 (703/790-4085). The deadline for nominations is July 10. This article appeared in the print edition […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Sheep is Life
A celebration of Shepherds and Weavers: Sheep is Life (Dibe-Diné bi½ iina½ in Navajo) invites those interested in Navajo-Churro sheep, wool processing and weaving techniques to spend June 25-28 at San Juan College in Farmington, N.M. Speakers include Lyle and Nancy McNeal, directors of the Navajo Sheep Project, and ecologist Gary Paul Nabhan, from the […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
A Culture to Sustain Us: Creating a Center that Holds
The Island Institute, located in the town of Sitka on Alaska’s Baranof Island, will host its 15th annual symposium on human values and the written word, June 18-24 , this time devoted to A Culture to Sustain Us: Creating a Center that Holds. Speakers include Cecilia Martz, a bilingual Cup’ik Eskimo educator, and Ray Rasker, […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Uniting Communities Concerned About Nuclear Contamination
Being neighbor to a nuclear lab or waste dump isn’t easy; Fight Back! Uniting Communities Concerned About Nuclear Contamination aims to bring activists together with scientists and radiation health professionals in Roswell, N.M., June 5-7. For details, write Center for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD), 144 Harvard SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106 (505/266-2663). This article appeared […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Southwest Citizen Mining Activist Conference
Is your community fighting the 1872 Mining Law? Grassroots activists will get together at the Southwest Citizen Mining Activist Conference in Durango, Colo., May 29-31, to share war stories and talk about community organizing, national networking and technical mining issues. The conference is free to activists, and some travel scholarships are available. Call Aimee Boulanger […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Wilderness Walks
The Montana Wilderness Association will lead 93 hikes on public lands during its 36th annual Wilderness Walks program from May through September. There’s a frog safari, a wildflower walk and even a hike led by a backcountry cooking expert – samples included. Group size is limited; advance reservations are required. For more information, call the […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
No nuclear jeopardy in Wyoming
Will a nuclear waste dump be Wyoming’s economic salvation? No way, says the Wyoming Outdoor Council. Its new report, Nuclear Jeopardy: A Citizen’s Guide to Understanding High Level Radioactive Waste in Wyoming, spells out the group’s opposition to a proposed private dump site. Not only would the Owl Creek Energy Project damage the state’s tourism […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Program gets a C
When the 1993 Northwest Forest Plan reduced timber production in California, Washington and Oregon, the Clinton administration began the “Jobs in the Woods’ program to retrain timber workers. It sounded like a great idea: Former loggers would work with the Forest Service and other agencies to close abandoned roads and restore streams for native fish, […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
New in the watershed
When the nonprofit Western Ancient Forest Campaign (WAFC) sent Brian Vincent to California to set up a new office, he had a lot of terrain to choose from. He settled on Nevada City, Calif., one evening during a Watershed Council meeting, impressed by the sight of local Sierra Club and Earth First! members coming together […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Buffering buffalo
BUFFERING BUFFALO Don’t expect brucellosis to disappear from the Yellowstone area anytime soon, says a draft report issued by the National Academy of Sciences. The disease, common among bison and elk, led the state of Montana to shoot or slaughter nearly one-third of the Yellowstone bison herd last winter when the animals moved outside park […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Lingering stereotypes spoken here
“God gives the heavy loads to the big horses,” says Rick Swart. He should know – he’s got a heavy load. Today, at the age of 40, Richard W. Swart may be the most embattled journalist in Oregon. As editor of the Wallowa County Chieftain, a 114-year-old weekly that has been in his family for […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
On April 25, Carlos Menendez posed in front of an audience of the press and the Sierra Club leadership and joined the club. The former executive director of EDGE, a now-defunct advocacy group for immigrants, had refused to become a member for years. But Sierra Club president Adam Werbach had just announced that members rejected […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
A treatise on columnist Alexander Cockburn
WASHINGTON, D.C. – “Question Authority,” reads the bumper sticker slogan, and good advice it is. But so is this: Question the questioners of authority, who may have their own agenda, perhaps their own racket. Outrageousness sells these days, and as any viewer of “Crossfire” can attest, it sells better unencumbered by prudence or knowledge. Which […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
El Nino sweeps across the West
El Nino’s wrath hit sporadically around the West this winter, leaving more headlines than it did snow or rain. But where it hit, it hit hard, and punches are still being thrown. Last fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted El Nino would force the global jet streams north, causing warmer and drier weather […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Dear Friends
Busting out When High Country News moved into its new quarters in early 1992 (New Year’s Day, to be exact), we assumed the 3,600 square-foot building would serve us forever. After all, we had come out of 1,000 square feet. But when the architect who designed the building happened to be in Paonia, we asked […]