Democratic candidates in the rural Northwest who want to moderate logging, mining and ranching usually don’t get too far. But recent miscues by some of their opponents could change the usual dynamic. Take, for example, Rep. Wes Cooley, R-Ore., who is best known for his bill to allow jet boats to blast through Hells Canyon, […]
The Northwest gets theatrical
Posted inMay 13, 1996: Howdy, neighbor!
Mt. Graham telescope rides through Congress
The setting was as apocalyptic as a Gothic novel: While President Clinton was signing the bill April 26 approving the University of Arizona’s construction of a third telescope on Mount Graham, fire raced through the Coronado National Forest, up the base of the mountain, into red squirrel habitat and toward the two telescopes already pointed […]
Posted inMay 13, 1996: Howdy, neighbor!
Dear Friends
Going with the flow Locally, things are hopping. A cold snap wiped out up to half the fruit crop, and police say a “little old lady” mistook where the reverse gear was and plowed into the Paonia Post Office, demolishing three newspaper stands and a concrete wall. Both events were not novel. Fruitgrowers have always […]
Posted inMay 13, 1996: Howdy, neighbor!
Howdy, neighbor!
As a last resort, Westerners start talking to each other
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
The West’s new prospectors seek microbes
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, A park boss goes to bat for the land. Karl O. Stetter and his team ignore the fresh tracks of a grizzly on their way to hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. Once there, an electronic monitor reveals the pH of the soil is […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Talking Gourds Retreat
Poets and performing artists are invited to join author Dolores LaChapelle for the 1996 Talking Gourds Retreat, an artists’ workshop on “deep ecology,” hosted by the Telluride Writer’s Guild and the Ah Haa School for the Arts. The gathering, held June 28-30 at the Faraway Ranch near Telluride, Colo., includes performances and drumming. Call Judy […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
MountainFilm Festival
Telluride, Colo., hosts the 18th annual MountainFilm Festival May 24-27, featuring over 40 films plus seminars and discussions with the film makers. Speakers include Dick Durrance, captain of the first U.S. Olympic skiing team in 1936, and Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. For more information and tickets, contact MountainFilm at 970/728-4123. […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Wildlife and Trail Recreation
Can mountain bikers and wildlife coexist? Find out at a conference on Wildlife and Trail Recreation: Integrating Demands in the Wild/Urban Interface, hosted by the San Juan National Forest Association, May 10-11 in Durango, Colo. John Mumma, director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, will give the keynote address. To register, call the San Juan […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Pennies on the Railroad
The annual Wild Idaho! conference at Redfish Lake on May 17-19 is called Pennies On The Railroad, in reference to the flattened condition of Idaho environmentalism this year. Panel discussion will focus on the dysfunctional management of the Endangered Species Act and the effects of salvage logging on streams and wildlife. Louisa Willcox of the […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Hands across the water
More than 30 Japanese volunteers who built a boardwalk and overlook at Washington’s Mount Rainier National Park are coming back this summer to revegetate trampled meadows. While Japan is not known for environmentalism, these teachers, engineers, nurses and other professionals have formed a Tokyo-based group, Japan Volunteers in Parks Association. They responded to a letter […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Healing a dirty town
Chip Ward, an environmental activist from Grantsville, Utah, started the West Desert Healthy Environment Alliance (HEAL) because citizens noticed abnormally high rates of illness in town. But when the group approached the state Bureau of Epidemiology for information, the agency said that though cancer rates were high, its research showed no discernible pattern among the […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Wild Rockies Online
If you’re hungry for more environmental resources on the Internet, there’s a new World Wide Web site that’s sure to keep you connected – in more ways than one. The Wild Rockies Slate, launched into cyberspace last December, features up-to-date information on the issues, organizations and ecology of the northern Rocky Mountains. A project of […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Burning down the house
Under a new federal policy, fire managers will be allowed to put protection of natural resources ahead of property when they battle blazes on public lands. That policy is the major contribution of a new report issued jointly by the departments of Interior and Agriculture. “In the past people expected their homes to take priority,” […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Yard Sale
The Uintah Mountain Club in Vernal, Utah, is a small but active group, and it produces one of the best newsletters we get to see. The April issue annouces that members Denise and Jon Hughes will have a “yard sale, literally,” on May 5 at 2554 South 500 East. Bring a shovel and $2 per […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Navajo role model
The group responsible for monitoring environmental issues on the Navajo Reservation, Diné CARE, has chosen Christine Benally as its new director. Benally earned a doctorate in environmental health from Colorado State University and has been involved with Diné CARE, an acronym for Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, since 1991. The group’s first project was to […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Dam destruction moves closer
The Elwha River in Washington was once home to the largest salmon in the continental United States. But when the Bureau of Reclamation built two dams in 1914 and 1927, 100-pound chinook were unable to make the downstream passage and disappeared. Now that the Clinton administration has allotted $111 million of its proposed 1997 budget […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Santa Fe residents win ski area fight
The Big Tesuque, a mountain basin above Santa Fe, N.M., may yet be saved from ski area development. Expansion of the Santa Fe Ski Area into the basin had seemed like a sure bet. Despite vocal opposition from Santa Fe locals, Santa Fe Forest Supervisor Al Defler approved the plan last December (HCN, 2/19/96). But […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Fish kill doesn’t sway the EPA
For years, the EPA has agreed with mining officials that toxic sediments stuck behind the Milltown Dam on the Clark Fork River near Missoula, Mont., were best left alone. But when polluted waters escaped from the dam in February, they killed fish and energized activists, who renewed their call for the agency to remove the […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Back with a bang
Humans have killed five of the wolves restored to Yellowstone National Park last year, and a wolf pregnant with six pups died when she fell into a thermal pool; but biologists say at least 30 more pups are on the way. Mike Phillips, leader of the Yellowstone Wolf Recovery Team, is so impressed with the […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Phoenix will try to save desert wash
Arizona has told the city of Phoenix that if it wants to save a state-owned desert wash teeming with wildlife, it must buy the land for $25 million. A citizens’ group hopes to persuade state officials that the historic, biological and recreational value of Cave Creek Wash makes it worth the money. But state staffers […]