Along with watching birds on my long bicycle trips between several Western states and California, I developed a fascination with roadside signs. Among the most common were the hand-painted advertisements posted in many a rural driveway. People were selling rabbits, nightcrawlers, boxer pups, Fuller brushes, RV repairs, stud service, plants, dolls, mattresses – you name […]
The West may not be literary, but it’s littered with reading matter
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Babbitt brings in new brass
In one fell swoop, the president and the Interior secretary have ushered in a new Interior Department. New directors of the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Surface Mining and National Park Service were sworn into office Aug. 4, after easily surviving Senate confirmation hearings. All four face major challenges […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
A timber town yells for help
Town officials in Forks, Wash., have been pressing state and federal governments to make good on promises to bail out timber towns. They say money promised under President Clinton’s 1993 Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative, which helped timber-dependent towns with federal funds, hasn’t reached the communities that need it most. Now, Forks has convinced the state, […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
At Tahoe forum, a tribe wins a deal
LAKE TAHOE, Nev. – Washoe tribal chairman Brian Wallace says he feels “bittersweet” when he looks at what has happened to Lake Tahoe. The tribe’s name for itself – “Wa Shi Shiw” – means “the people from here.” But the Washoe haven’t felt at home at Lake Tahoe for a long time. During the California […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Navajo tribe embarks on a long-term cleanup
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Since taking office in 1995, Navajo Nation President Albert Hale says, he got upset every time he flew in or out of the airport here. Beside the airstrip was an illegal trash dump that has been growing for at least 50 years. Hale vowed to clean up the dump, and did. […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Dear friends
The contrary West We won’t regale you with old saws about weather, such as the one that goes, “If you don’t like the weather here, just wait a minute – it’ll change.” But we’d like to, because here and in some places like eastern Idaho, where it’s been so damp there are fears of a […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
The West that was, and the West that can be
On Jan. 24, 1855, Henry David Thoreau sat down to his journal to reflect on all the ways his homeland had changed since the first English colonists had arrived on the shores of Massachusetts two centuries earlier. For several days, Thoreau had been reading the accounts of some of the earliest settlers. Compared to the […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
A great analysis
Dear HCN, Thanks for the extraordinary stories on Wyoming (HCN, 7/7/97). The response from those I have talked with has been elation for a great analysis and critique of Wyoming; hopefully, those responsible for making public policy will learn from the picture Paul Krza put together. Tom Throop Lander, Wyoming The writer is executive director […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Trucks: Take a brake
Dear HCN, If letter-writer George Burns (HCN, 6/9/97) wants to have the whole west rim of Hells Canyon open to him and his buddies in their trucks, he ought to just say so. Even though we still wouldn’t agree, those of us who desperately cling to the last 12 miles of nonmotorized rim could respect […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
‘Change is hard, change is scary’
Dear HCN, Katherine and Michael McCoy lament the lack of entrepreneurial spirit of the folks of rural Utah and chastise Westerners in general for a lack of excitement about the changes sweeping through the economies and landscapes of the West (HCN, 6/23/97). The McCoys seem to suggest that we in the rural West should put […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Don’t give up on Boulder, Utah
Editor’s Note: In a letter to the editor on June 23, Katherine and Michael McCoy of Buena Vista, Colo., expressed dismay about the lack of entrepreneurial zeal in the town of Boulder, near Utah’s new monument. This was one response to their complaint: Dear Mr. and Mrs. McCoy: We are sorry you were unable to […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
You’re picking on ranchers
Dear HCN, I read in stunned amazement your story June 23 that was not only totally off-base on the premise but factually incorrect as well. When the reporter called me, I told him for the record that if he wrote a story based on the false premise that big, bad ranchers were behind the firing […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
A cheatgrass antidote – maybe
The federal Bureau of Land Management wants to send the message that cheaters never win, and that goes for cheatgrass, too. The agency’s weapon of choice is Oust, a controversial DuPont herbicide. Last fall, BLM range specialists with the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Idaho found that in early tests, Oust […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
A do-over in Telluride
Environmental activists may get a second shot at containing the ski industry in Telluride, Colo. Supervisor Robert Storch of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests has reversed his approval of a ski area expansion onto public land. “In the interest of fairness,” Storch wrote the regional forester on June 30, “I have agreed […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
What’s his are mines
Some people think controversial developer Tom Chapman may have made a costly mistake. The Colorado native recently acquired two patented mining claims within the Spanish Peaks wilderness study area in southwestern Colorado, but his critics say the price he paid for 30 acres was high and the potential for mining or other development low. “This […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Jaguar limps onto the list
Activists sporting jaguar costumes and picket signs outside the Tucson office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received some welcome news in July. After 18 years and two lawsuits from environmentalists, the agency added the jaguar to the endangered species list. “The Fish and Wildlife Service has been dragged screaming and kicking through this […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Prairie dogs beat the bullet
In Colorado, prairie dogs and other small mammals are safe from large-scale massacre in the name of sport. The Colorado Wildlife Commission voted unanimously July 10 to restrict contest shoots of small game, including coyotes and prairie dogs. Environmental and animal rights groups have expressed outrage over contests like the Top Dog World Championship Prairie […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Co-existence criticized
If five environmental groups have their way in Wyoming, grizzly bears won’t have their territory invaded by oil and gas exploration teams on 2,000 acres of Shoshone National Forest. The groups fear that the exploration will lead to road building and drilling. The leases sought are in the Brent Creek and Lava Mountain/Sheridan Pass areas, […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
No-show lets roads roll
For the second time in two years, the House of Representatives has shied away from a proposal to make timber companies pay for their logging roads in national forests (HCN, 6/9/97). In July, representatives voted 211-209 against an amendment that would have slashed $41.5 million in roads funding. “We clearly had the votes to win,” […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Judge clubs Sierra donor
A San Francisco Superior Court judge has found that Ray Graham III maliciously prosecuted the Sierra Club Foundation and owes the organization $2.8 million. The judgment, made in mid-July, is the latest wrinkle in the long-standing feud between Graham, an heir to the Firestone fortune, and the foundation over a $100,000 donation he made back […]