After torrential rains in northern Idaho triggered widespread landslides in national forests last November, some Idaho Fish and Game officials are urging the Forest Service not to repair damaged roads. They want the roads either re-engineered or obliterated. “We want them to fix the problem, so those roads aren’t just time bombs waiting to go […]
A call to uproot roads
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Disease threatens bighorn restoration
For decades, wildlife officials from Idaho, Washington and Oregon have worked hard to restore bighorn sheep to the Hells Canyon area. But in December, they feverishly tried to remove them after a deadly outbreak of pneumonia-like pasteurella. Hoping to contain the disease, officials netted 72 sick sheep and transported them by helicopters and trucks to […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
BuRec gets a new leader
The Bureau of Reclamation, slimmer now after former chief Dan Beard cut 1,500 from its workforce and $107 million from a $911 million budget, has a new boss. “I don’t have any agendas,” says Commissioner Eluid Martinez, who worked as New Mexico’s state engineer for four years. “I just want to do a good job […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Politics imperil Mexican wolf comeback
As public hearings on ranching issues go, the Socorro, N.M., session on the endangered Mexican wolf last fall was a rare breed. Hundreds of green-capped environmentalists easily outnumbered ranchers, who more often fill the crowd with a sea of black and white cowboy hats. Environmentalists came dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Bad hunters meet good old boys
In Montana, out-of-towners pay a higher price for their hunting and fishing violations, even though locals commit most of the wildlife crimes. Non-residents who illegally killed fish or other wildlife in 1994 spent three times as long in jail as Montanans, according to an Associated Press analysis. They also lost their licenses for an average […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
For seven days, it will flood
For one week this spring, the Colorado River will rage through the Grand Canyon much as it did before Glen Canyon Dam tamed its flow. The remedy for the canyon’s eroding beaches and silted backwaters was recommended in the 1995 Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement. “The ecosystem of the Grand Canyon is based on […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Wyden squeaks in
Wyden squeaks in Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden eked out an 18,000-vote victory over State Sen. Gordon Smith in the Jan. 30 election to replace Sen. Bob Packwood. With the national media noting that environmental issues took center stage in the race, environmentalists have been quick to tout Wyden’s victory as part of a backlash against […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Let’s get real in New Mexico
Dear HCN: Your article on firewood cutting in New Mexico’s Carson National Forest (HCN, 12/25/95) correctly states that the Mexican spotted owl has only been found in one remote area of the forest. If we are to protect habitat for species that are not there, let’s start at the beginning: Protect the fragile dinosaur habitat. […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
City hogs
Dear HCN: Your comment about accident rates among four-wheel drives (Heard around the West, HCN, 12/25/95) was pretty amusing – especially so for us (liberal) East Coasters who rarely see any snow in the city of Baltimore. So many yuppies have succumbed to the need to buy these big gas hogs after being influenced by […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Hunting attracts weak egos
Dear HCN: One does not have to look very far or deep to discover that hunting is a sport for insecure egos and has nothing to do with sound biology, ecology or science (HCN, 12/11/95). Our game and fish agencies are for hunters by hunters and their feet have to be held to the fire […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
We get it, does Fergus?
Dear HCN, Jim Fergus could’ve just typed something like: “Stupid, citified yuppies just don’t understand hunting. They never will, and they shouldn’t even try because hunters don’t care what they think.” (HCN, 1/22/96). Perhaps what non-hunters don’t get is how shooting the life out of a living creature can be such a positive experience. But […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Thoreau outgrew meat
Dear HCN, In “Unarmed but dangerous critics close in on hunting” (HCN, 12/11/95), a Sports Afield columnist quotes Henry David Thoreau in support of hunting. To finish the conveniently incomplete quote, “This was my answer with respect to those youths who were bent on this pursuit, trusting that they would soon outgrow it. No humane […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Don’t stereotype us
Dear HCN, The “Hunting: Get Used to it” essay by Jim Fergus (HCN, 1/22/96) was exquisite – but Fergus shouldn’t be so hasty to stereotype HCN’s readership. Today I am a card-carrying environmentalist, but I am farm/ranch raised and hunting/fishing educated. I cut both my baby teeth and wisdom teeth on Outdoor Life. I believe […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
The other side of Cove-Mallard protests
Dear HCN, Your articles describing the Cove-Mallard Coalition fall far short of your usual in-depth reporting. They also imply support of their activities (to halt logging of old-growth trees, HCN, 2/5/96). While the coalition’s goal may be worthwhile, their methods stink. The Cove-Mallard sale may or may not be perfect but the Forest Service has […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Budget impasse leaves BLM scrambling
From under a blanket of snow, the Miles City, Mont., Bureau of Land Management office should be preparing for spring. Ranchers need permits to send their sheep into pasture. Roads that have decayed over winter need repairs. Outfitters need permits for spring river trips, and mining companies want their environmental assessments completed. But the BLM […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Biologists to Yellowstone: Feed the grizzlies
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – Feeding the grizzly bears here may not be such a bad idea; in fact, it may be the only way to ensure their survival into the next century, according to a new book, The Grizzly Bears of Yellowstone: Their Ecology in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, 1959-1992. A trio of biologists sees […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Christians preach environmental gospel
God’s handiwork can only be destroyed by its maker, Wisconsin Evangelical Calvin DeWitt recently told National Public Radio. “If you didn’t make it, you’d better keep your hands off,” he warned, buttressing his argument with a verse from Revelation that says those who destroy the Earth will be destroyed. Evangelical Christians are only one source […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Colorado ski area dumps all over trout stream
WINTER PARK, Colo. – When a snow-grooming machine swept downhill at Colorado’s Winter Park ski area in late January, it did more than groom a wider ski run. It packed a section of Little Vasquez Creek with snow, possibly wiping out the stream’s population of cutthroat trout. Winter Park and the Forest Service are at […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Dear friends
A man of words From a cabin in Wyoming, C.L. Rawlins has served as the (mostly) unpaid poetry editor for this paper for 14 years. Now, he wants to call it quits since “editing for non-publication doesn’t appeal.” It’s true we have printed far less poetry than, say, a decade ago, mainly because we tend […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Federal negligence turns ordinary Montanans hostile
NOXON, Mont. – Until last spring, few people had heard of Noxon, Mont., a sleepy town in the morning shadows of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness. That changed after the Oklahoma City bombing and the media frenzy around citizen militias, including the Militia of Montana (MOM) based in Noxon. Now, most folks who have heard of […]