Environmentalists in northern New Mexico have a chance to show their better side. Having brought things to a halt in the recent, unnecessary crisis over firewood on Carson National Forest (HCN, 12/25/95), they might now show they can start things that need to get started. The crisis resulted from a lawsuit over the Mexican spotted […]
Separating sense from nonsense in New Mexico’s forests
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
Heard around the West
A man living near Red Lodge, Mont., not that far from Yellowstone National Park, was heading home with a “Road Kill” hot pizza loaded with plenty of extra meat and cheese when he saw what looked like a wolf. So he did what anyone would do: stopped and fed the animal a few slices of […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
One man’s good move
My father is impeccably urban. Except for a stint at boarding school in New England and a few summer jobs in the country – he was fired from one for accidentally hoeing the heads off a half-mile-long row of cabbage – he remained in New York almost his entire life. His tastes, his habits of […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
The thing about the West is that every jerk is figuring out how to rip up the landscape, and the laws in the West let him
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe’s boom goes flat. “The thing about the West is that every jerk is figuring out how to rip up the landscape, and the laws in the West let him.” – Retired East Coast businessman It took several years for […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
Lack of enchantment
Santa Fe’s boom goes flat
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Public Rangelands Grazing Workshop
Learn how to protect public lands from livestock abuse during a Feb. 3-4 program at Arizona State University in Tempe. Writer and grazing critic Steve Johnson begins the Public Rangelands Grazing Workshop by detailing grazing’s effects on ecosystems; the program concludes with a BLM-conducted field trip to examine rangeland health near Phoenix. Registration costs $10 […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Whirling Disease – Where Do We Go From Here?
Whirling disease experts from around the world will gather in Denver Feb. 6-8 to discuss solutions to what has become a problem worldwide. The Colorado Division of Wildlife and other state and national organizations are sponsoring the event, called Whirling Disease – Where Do We Go from Here? Registration costs $100. Contact Beverly Cline or […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Headwaters
Environmental activists convene Feb. 1-4 at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Ore., for the annual winter Headwaters conference. Registration is $60-$100, on a sliding scale, and academic credit is available. For more information, contact Chant Thomas, P.O. Box 729, Ashland, OR 97520 (541/899-1712). This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Beyond the Rangeland Conflict: The Future of the West
Northeastern Nevada’s Elko County has been torn apart by conflict between ranchers and the Forest Service (HCN, 10/30/95). But there are efforts under way to create some common ground by weaving together environmental values and sustainable grazing practices. The Great Basin College in Elko wants to be part of that change. During the Cowboy Poetry […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Survival of a trickster
SURVIVAL OF A TRICKSTER The coyote has never gotten much respect. For the past two centuries, ranchers, farmers and federal agents have ruthlessly gunned and poisoned the tawny predator. Yet unlike its larger cousin, the wolf, the coyote has thrived, and expanded its range into virtually every ecosystem in North America. How the legendary trickster […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
The Northwest’s new economy
THE NORTHWEST’S NEW ECONOMY When the Pacific Northwest’s timber and aerospace industries started declining, some people predicted the region would become the next Appalachia. Instead, the region is thriving, says University of Montana economist Tom Power, whose conclusion is endorsed by 34 other Northwest economists. Growth in earnings, employment and population in Idaho, Montana, Oregon […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
States and tribes
States and tribes Now that many tribes are aggressively asserting their sovereignty on issues ranging from water rights to Indian gambling, cooperation between tribal and state governments has become crucial. That’s the conclusion of States and Tribes: Building New Traditions, a recent publication of the National Conference of State Legislators. The report outlines some major […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
One forest, two studies
ONE FOREST, TWO STUDIES In the old West, arguments may have been settled by a gunfight on Main Street, but in the battle over Southwest forests there is a new kind of showdown – dueling studies. A recent Forest Service report claims that the number of larger trees in the region has decreased little over […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Let’s keep talking
LET’S KEEP TALKING The Navajo word for newspaper means “the paper that gossips,” according to a new booklet on the history of Native American journalism, Pictures of Our Nobler Selves. The author, Shoshone-Bannock journalist and Salt Lake Tribune editor Mark Trahant, says that to create an accurate portrait of Native communities, it’s crucial for Native […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Fish for your wall
FISH FOR YOUR WALL A new Trout Unlimited poster tells a few good fish stories. The Apache trout and greenback cutthroat trout are both on the road to recovery since being listed as endangered species in 1973. But the poster, Threatened and Endangered Trout and Salmon of North America also shares less cheery tales of […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Big shoes empty in Oregon
Big shoes empty in Oregon After 28 years, the door to both of Oregon’s senate seats has swung wide open. The race to replace Republican powerhouses Mark Hatfield, who has announced his retirement after November, and Bob Packwood, forced to resign, begins with the Jan. 30 election for Packwood’s spot. Because many see the race […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Welcome back (with a bang)
After 21 days of leave with uncertain pay due to the federal budget impasse, Forest Service workers in Espaûola, N.M., returned to work Jan. 8 to find their office had been bombed. “What a welcome back,” says Sam Mott, a spokesman for the Santa Fe National Forest. “We’d feel better if we knew why. It’s […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Can a salvage sale save the trees?
For the first time in the history of the Forest Service, the high bidder of a timber sale has no intention of felling the trees. The Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, a nonprofit conservation organization based in Bellingham, Wash., bid $29,000 for the Thunder Mountain salvage sale, a 275-acre roadless tract in Washington’s Okanogan National Forest. But […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Foundation’s help was invaluable
Dear HCN, Mike Medberry’s report on big foundations, national conservation coalitions and grassroots conservation was thoughtful and respectful of the subject’s complexities (HCN, 10/16/95). The Pew Charitable Trusts was featured in Mike’s piece. Many conservationists are not wild about Pew. I have experience of Pew as an employee of a grantee and as steering committee […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Not a good old boy
Dear HCN, Jon Christensen was prophetic when he wrote that the Forest Service would not replace Kevin Atchley with a “good old boy” (HCN, 10/30/95). (Christensen’s Great Basin story told of Atchley’s transfer within Nevada, following hostile incidents toward Forest Service personnel.) I’m living proof: the “new range con.” I’ve found if you deal with […]