LAS VEGAS, Nev. – An opinionated scientist and a vocal group of senior citizens are trying to stop the juggernaut of growth here. So far, they haven’t had much effect. Las Vegas keeps on booming. But they’ve raised the specter that the city may be fouling its water supply. Larry Paulson is a biology professor […]
Las Vegas may shoot craps with its water
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
Did agency get in bed with loggers?
Last month, when environmentalists began digging through federal documents about logging in Idaho’s Payette National Forest, they thought they’d found evidence of a Forest Service-timber industry conspiracy. Members of the Neighbors of Cuddy Mountain and the Idaho Sporting Congress discovered records of a 300-year-old grove of fir and pine trees that the Forest Service denied […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
What to do about a nasty fish
When California fisheries biologists discovered northern pike in Lake Davis, 70 miles north of Lake Tahoe, they had a fix: 26,000 gallons of poison. Killing all the fish in the Plumas County lake would prevent the voracious, non-native pike from migrating down the Feather River to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where they could destroy the […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
Did ranchers fire a university president?
When New Mexico State University’s president, J. Michael Orenduff, was fired last month, the university’s Board of Regents said it was because he had pushed the school’s athletic program $1 million in the red. Now it appears his removal may have been punishment for offending the state’s traditional ranching interests. The story is rooted in […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
Politics here consists of hating the East
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the leaders of the world’s great powers prepared to meet in the American West last weekend, events of great import, perchance even of historic significance, were occurring in some nations’ capitals. But not in this one. Western civilization may be at a turning point, but Washington doesn’t care. Washington is sex-obsessed. […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
New plan draws hisses, boos
What do you get when two government agencies spend three-and-a-half years and $36 million on a mega-conservation plan covering all or part of seven states? That’s the question environmentalists, Indian tribes, ranchers, loggers and others in the Northwest are pondering following the release last month of the Clinton administration’s draft plan of the Interior Columbia […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
Tribes say count us out
Efforts to restore salmon populations in the Columbia and Snake rivers just lost valuable support. Four Native American tribes have withdrawn from a collaboration with the federal government and three Western states, charging that the process favors hydropower, not fish. The tribes, members of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, had been participants in a […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
Proposed ski resort does a face plant
After a 25-year battle, opponents of a proposed ski resort in Eagle County, Colo., have reason to celebrate. The brainchild of developer Fred Kummer, Adam’s Rib ski resort was slated for Forest Service land halfway between Vail and Aspen (HCN, 2/19/96). But after a two-year review, the agency frowned on Kummer’s plans for condos, restaurants […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
Dear Friends
Word from Gretchen Circulation manager Gretchen Nicholoff is in the business of increasing HCN’s subscription rolls, so she was horrified to learn that some subscribers thought a letter she wrote threatened to cut them off. It is the Postal Service that is threatening HCN with non-delivery unless we get subscriber addresses right. Gretchen is grateful […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
A mine turns two landowners into activists
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. LISBON VALLEY, Utah – All Kay Howe and Claudia Akers wanted was to buy some land where it was cheaper than in Moab – on Three Step Mesa in Lisbon Valley, some of San Juan County’s rare private land. As the realtor showed them […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
Blasting from the past: the 1872 Mining Law
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. 1872 Mining Law – Enacted to lure settlers westward with the promise of access to the nation’s minerals, this law grants hardrock (not coal, gravel, or oil and gas) miners free and open access to all public lands not expressly withdrawn from mining, and […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
A fruit-grower opposes mining – and tourism
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. TAOS, N.M. – Over the din of a Taos sports bar where tourists are watching the NBA playoffs and drinking Coronas, orchardist Estevan Arellano is trying to explain the idea of querencia. It means, loosely, a love of home, an anchor to the ground. […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
On the trail of mining’s corporate nomads
PICURIS PUEBLO, N.M. – Gerald Nailor pulls up in his huge pickup truck looking very cool. He removes his Janis Joplin shades and motions for me to climb in. It is an unseasonably warm March day and the former tribal governor of the Picuris Pueblo is taking us to the top of Copper Hill, about […]
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
Wanted: More road on the rim
Dear HCN, I doubt if you will print this, but I must object strongly to Scott Stouder’s story on the Hells Canyon Rim, a terribly distorted and prejudiced piece (HCN, 4/14/97). The truth of the matter is easy to discern if one merely reads the act creating the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Wilderness […]
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
This land is our land
Dear HCN, I am offended by Louise Liston’s statement, “I love the land, and it’s different from an environmentalist’s love. We have a deep, abiding love; they have a weekend love affair …” (HCN, 4/14/97). It is presumptuous to assume that other people’s enjoyment of the nation’s public lands is any less legitimate than one’s […]
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
Rising From Tradition
The work of nine Native American artists from Idaho, Oregon and Washington will be on display at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore., for the next nine months. The show, called Rising From Tradition: Contemporary Native Art from the Plateau, features traditional work such as coiled baskets and woven cornhusk belts and pouches, but […]
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
Summer Wilderness Conference
From Missoula, Mont., comes a double celebration as Wilderness Watch’s Summer Wilderness Conference and the annual gathering of the Association of Literature and the Environment (ASLE) converge on the town July 17-20. Poet Gary Snyder will read to a crowd of conference-goers from both camps. Wilderness Watch hosts environmentalist Stewart Udall, who will highlight discussion […]
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
Solstice Institute
The summer solstice is a time to join in harmony with natural forces – and boogie. The nonprofit Solstice Institute holds a first-day-of summer celebration June 21 in Boulder, Colo., featuring singing, drumming and some dancing in the street. Ben Lippman, who founded the institute in 1995 to promote cooperative housing, hopes the get-together will […]
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
Threatened Rivers
The West continues to hold its own in the competition for the nation’s most at-risk rivers. Five of this year’s top 10 endangered rivers are in the West, according to American Rivers’ annual report, North America’s Most Endangered and Threatened Rivers of 1997. This year’s 45-page report focuses on threats more subtle than the untreated […]
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
The road to no sprawl
It’s going to take more than a few isolated individuals to put the squeeze on suburban sprawl, according to Colorado Commons, a nonprofit think tank based in Longmont. With that in mind, the group brings together policymakers, environmentalists, developers and academics to address the state’s urban growth problems. They recently sent the first issue of […]