Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Twenty minutes south of San Luis, Colo., large road signs tell you Wild Horse Mesa is nearby. Evan Melby is the owner of 25,000 acres here; his billboards announce you can buy a five-acre lot for $4,990, or $750 down and monthly payments of […]
The last undiscovered place in Colorado
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
‘I saved Jack Taylor’s life’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Among other things, the mayor of San Luis, Colo., runs a bar he named after himself. Joe Espinoza: “Did you know I am the oldest mayor in Colorado and this is the oldest town in the state … how old do you think I […]
Posted inJune 9, 1997: Chaos comes to Costilla County
Chaos comes to Costilla County
SAN LUIS, Colo. – For now, the mornings are quiet again in this oldest of Colorado towns. The air is clear, and the jagged Sangre de Cristo Mountains seem to leap from the 8,000-foot valley floor. But just a few weeks ago, this isolated small town, which boasts three restaurants, a gas station, church, bar […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Agency wants to shoot down gun club
TUCSON, Ariz. – Forest Service officials have long dreamed of shutting down the Tucson Rod and Gun Club’s shooting range, but when they tried to silence the gunfire in March, they found themselves in the club’s crosshairs. The shooting range, which the gun club has leased from the Forest Service since the early 1950s, skirts […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Western governors’ annual meeting
Teddy Roosevelt would be proud. That’s the mood Western governors want at their annual meeting this June in Medora, in North Dakota’s Badlands, where Roosevelt hunted, ranched and fell in love with the West. Representing 18 Western states, the governors will meet June 22-24 to discuss the theme, Common Interests: Commanding Our Own Destiny. The […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Forest Guardians
Should commercial logging on public lands become a thing of the past? Some environmentalists think so, and their “zero cut” campaign is making waves around the West. This is just one of the topics of the Forest Guardians’ first annual conference, to be held at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, N.M., June 20-22. The conference will […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Youth Conservation Workshop
Today’s students are tomorrow’s land stewards, and for those interested in land management and conservation, the Colorado branch of the Society for Range Management is taking applications for four scholarships to its annual Youth Conservation Workshop, July 6-12. This national organization of ranchers, farmers, academics and employees of federal and state agencies sponsors the summer […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
The Colorado Trail Foundation
You can learn more about Colorado’s alpine environment by experiencing it this summer. The Colorado Trail Foundation offers three classes: “Alpine Wildflowers,” July 20-26, taught by botanist John Sowell; “Watercolor and Ornithology,” July 27-Aug. 2, taught by painter Marge Barge, and “Geology of the San Juans,” Aug. 3-9, taught by geologist Jack Campbell. Classes take […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
For urban dropouts
John Clayton, who lived in the Boston area before moving to rural Montana, has written a no-nonsense book that could help disgruntled urbanites make an informed decision before hitting the highway. The title says it all: Small Town Bound: Your guide to small-town living, from determining if life in the country lane is for you, […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
A negligent bureau?
What is the Bureau of Land Management doing in the woods? Not much good, says Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a national organization of resource management employees. The watchdog group’s latest project, a Comprehensive Study of the Public Domain Forestry Program of the Bureau of Land Management, details what it calls rampant negligence within the […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Let’s talk
Bitter disputes over public-land use and property rights in the West may increasingly be resolved through dialogue and cooperation, according to panelists at a conference on environmental conflict resolution held recently in Tucson, Ariz. There were 70 speakers and 260 participants at the conference, sponsored by the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Eco-ranching – really?
Is ecologically sensitive ranching possible? The Sierra Club’s Santa Fe, N.M., chapter and the Quivira Coalition think it is, and on June 14 they will host a free workshop to show that a ranch can be both a successful livestock business and a landscape of healthy native grasses, riparian zones, streams and wildlife. “The goal,” […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Yellowstone at 125
Yellowstone National Park turns 125 this year, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition wants to re-examine not only the park’s mission but the national park ideal worldwide. The GYC holds its 14th annual meeting at Montana State University in Bozeman, May 29-June 1, under the theme: The National Park Idea: Where have we been? Where are […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Free-range ferrets
Black-footed ferrets could inhabit northwestern Colorado’s Moffat County and Utah’s Uintah County as soon as this fall, if a federal proposal wins approval. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chose each county because it had public lands populated by plenty of prairie dogs, the preferred prey of ferrets. Ferrets would be released into the Little […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
A Republican wins it
For the first time, a Republican will represent ethnically diverse northern New Mexico in Congress. Bill Redmond won the May 13 special election to replace Rep. Bill Richardson, who left office to become this country’s ambassador to the United Nations. Democrat Richardson had represented this district since its inception in 1982. Redmond, a minister, credits […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Watch for fish-friendly foods
Salmon-friendly agricultural products are leaping right onto grocery store shelves this month. In the first attempt to market produce made with the Pacific Northwest’s dwindling salmon population in mind, the nonprofit Pacific Rivers Council has introduced a “Salmon-Safe” program. Twenty-four producers, ranging from wineries and vegetable growers to apple orchards and rice farms, have been […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Mount Zirkel’s acid trip
Two Colorado power plants are cleaning up their act, but it may be a case of too little too late. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey studying the Mount Zirkel Wilderness near Steamboat Springs, Colo., have found that air pollution from coal-burning power plants in the towns of Hayden and Craig harms wildlife. The plants […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Pressure builds for Yucca Mountain
Pressure builds for Yucca Mountain If the U.S. Senate has its way, more than 30,000 tons of some of the worst stuff on earth will be temporarily stored at Yucca Mountain, Nev. In April the Senate voted 65-34 to amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, thereby designating southwestern Nevada as the temporary resting […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
Just don’t do it
Just don’t do it Oregon’s logging codes might aim to protect fish, wildlife and water quality, but they can’t always protect people. A Coos Bay company recently defied a request from the state Forestry Department that loggers voluntarily stop clear-cutting slide-prone slopes above highways and homes. The state’s request came in response to last winter’s […]
Posted inMay 26, 1997: The sacred and profane collide in the West
The wayward West
Ranchers and farmers in New Mexico are urging New Mexico State University to turn down “tainted” money from the Ted Turner Foundation because the group also funds environmentalists, reports the Associated Press. Russ Miller, general manager of Turner’s ranches, reminds the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Board that Turner is a rancher, too. In fact, […]