Civil disobedience and protest slowdown ‘lawless logging’
Last line of defense
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Recreation fee startles locals
In July, radio talk show hosts in Tucson, Ariz., went after an unlikely target: forest ranger Tom Quinn. “They roasted me for a week,” said Quinn, who works on the Coronado National Forest. The reason for the fuss? The Forest Service wants to charge an entrance fee for the popular Mount Lemmon recreation area just […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
The Republicans weren’t dull by a long shot
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – As you no doubt noticed, some of the reporters covering the Republican National Convention here were so bored they wanted to go home. Indeed, one of them did. Ted Koppel of ABC’s Nightline imperiously announced he was leaving before the party ended. Ted missed a good story. Come to think of […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
A “bizarre” alliance fights logging
The southern Colorado town of San Luis, population 850, is predominantly rural, Hispanic and Catholic. Everyone here knows everyone else. But at a special sunrise service on June 10, the local priest welcomed some new faces from environmental groups such as Ancient Forest Rescue, Greenpeace and Earth First! Afterwards, the motley congregation drove to the […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Politics in cyberspace
What happens when a computer whiz with a penchant for the outdoors decides to tackle politics? Brad Udall, creator of one of the first on-line political action committees, hopes he can influence the composition of the next Congress. Following in the footsteps of his father, former Arizona Rep. Morris Udall, and his uncle, former Secretary […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Radioactive waste is hot issue in Idaho
BOISE, Idaho – Nuclear waste critics have taken on Idaho Gov. Phil Batt with a bang. In 10 weeks they collected 52,000 valid signatures – some 10,000 more than were needed – to get a “Stop the Shipments” initiative on the November ballot. If voters say yes Nov. 3, not only will Batt’s agreement to […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Dear friends
Fires – again First, you read about the 700 new fires breaking out in Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Washington and Wyoming – most started by lightning. Then, if you live in Colorado or Nevada, where fires are already burning, you notice the intense salmon colors of dawns and sunsets. Suddenly, it seems, the West […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Park Service preys on lake trout
At Yellowstone Lake, there’s a new fishing regulation: No matter how many lake trout you catch, you can keep them. In fact, you have to. The compulsory open season is part of a desperate attempt by the Park Service to curb lake trout, a species dumped illegally in the lake (HCN, 9/19/94). Lake trout are […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
A tree did it
On July 2, a blackout in the West left 2 million people without electricity. The culprit, it turns out, was a cottonwood tree in southeastern Idaho. Or perhaps it was the maintenance folks who allowed this lone tree to grow so close to a power line that electricity jumped to it. When this “flashover” occurred […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Endangered salmon leave rafters dry
In Idaho’s Sawtooth National Recreation Area, rafters are butting heads with the U.S. Forest Service over regulations meant to protect endangered chinook salmon. This summer, four rafting companies filed an appeal to a plan that would keep boats away from spawning grounds in the upper Salmon River after late August. They said the Forest Service […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Crane hunt is contested
Idaho approved a sandhill crane hunt last month to appease farmers who are losing barley and potatoes to the birds. The state plans to distribute 20 permits to shoot the lanky, long-necked cranes this September, but it is not yet clear who will do the killing. State officials would like to use the permits to […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Marvel wins a round
Anti-ranching activist Jon Marvel has won a favorable decision from the Idaho Supreme Court on the first state grazing lease that he challenged three years ago. On June 20, Idaho’s highest court ruled that the state Land Board violated the state constitution by awarding a 640-acre grazing lease to a Challis rancher, even though the […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Yellowstone mine a goner
A year after President Clinton announced his opposition to a proposed gold mine just outside Yellowstone National Park, he delivered the goods. At an Aug. 12 press conference in the park, Clinton announced that Crown Butte Mine Inc. had agreed to give up its mine project in exchange for unspecified real estate valued at no […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Recyclers challenge Big Steel
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories: Junkyard Rancher: Automotive wrangler scraps for a living “Minimills” that recycle steel are an environmentalist’s dream. A fraction of the size of conventional steel mills, the first mills started disassembling discarded Chryslers and Cuisinarts 25 years ago. Arriving cars and appliances get beaten […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Junkyard Rancher: Automotive wrangler scraps for a living
“Well buddy when I die, throw my body in the back, and drive me to the junkyard in my Cadillac.” – Bruce Springsteen CARBONDALE, Colo. – Three phones are ringing in the office of the J-Y Ranch. A woman follows me in the door. “Have you got a window motor for a Jeep Cherokee?” she’s […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Advice for visitors to Rock Springs
(Note: this article was printed in a broken-line poetic format; this online version does not preserve that format.) If you stop at the diner on the outskirts of town, skip the soup full of dust from Indian graves, the rinds of bad winters bobbing in a mean meat broth. Avoid the acid coffee & too […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Wallowing the flies away
Ouch! A fly bit me in the soft spot under the lobe of my ear. Gripped with insights about trees and rocks, I’d stopped moving for too long. While even the sheep slept that I’d come to herd, I walked back to stand in the opening of the tent. My brother mumbled inside and the […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Why Juan Valdez doesn’t haul coffee beans on a llama
Recently I read a story in an outdoor-sports magazine about how “superior” llamas are to horses, burros and mules for backcountry packing. It caused me to spit green grass juice. Over the last decade, I have trained, cared for and packed with burros, horses and llamas. I’ve even gone so far as to enter a […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
What is a Navajo taco?
The sign at Ambassador Auto’s used-car lot in Moscow, Idaho, is advertising a 1993 Mazda Navaho (sic) in stock for $18,487. Seems like a lot of cash, but then I remember the glossy magazine ads: “Navajo: It knows the land.” Just down the street, Taco Time has launched their new “Navajo Taco,” for only 99 […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Sowing the red suns of August
This was my dream: I wanted vines obscenely thick with tomatoes, a constellation of what my friend John calls his “red suns of August.” Early Girls and Romas; don’t forget peppers and some cucumbers snaking around my feet as well, and a long hedge of basil. I wanted to walk into the garden, maybe barefoot […]