Finding a niche has never been a problem for the coyote. The wily predator thrives in dense forests, bone-dry deserts and even cities, despite more than a century of human persecution. Taking a cue from the coyote, a scrappy coalition of conservationists, biologists, entrepreneurs and ranchers in Montana is trying to claw its way into […]
Can sheep and coyote ever coexist?
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
Economist discovers what a free river is worth
If the two aging dams on the Elwha River in Washington state come tumbling down, salmon will return to 70 miles of the river for the first time since 1911. What’s that worth in dollars and cents? You can’t put a price tag on Mother Earth – or can you? John Loomis, an economist at […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
The USDA flexes its antitrust muscle
The Farmer’s Union is not the only organization concerned about the concentration of a few companies in the meatpacking industry. The Department of Agriculture recently charged IBP Inc., one of the nation’s largest meatpackers, with breaking antitrust laws by guaranteeing higher prices to one group of Kansas feedlot operators. The same agreement was never offered […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
Out of a Hispanic valley: kosher beef
For the Valdez family, ranching in Conejos County – a poor, rural, largely Hispanic and Catholic area of southern Colorado – hasn’t changed much since their ancestors settled there five generations ago. Except that Olive and Demetrio Valdez are now reading a book on Judaism that explains the Kashrut, the Jewish rules governing a kosher […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
Dear friends
On to Wyoming As hunters in camouflage toting bows and muzzleloaders converged on western Colorado in early September, the HCN staff worked overtime preparing for the 25th anniversary of the paper, in Lander, Wyo. We’ll have a report in the next issue on the celebration and Western conversation. Meanwhile, to readers that included rancher Jake […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
The West’s fisheries spin out of control
It’s gotten to the point that even car dealers sell trout fishing. Their customers tool around the Rockies in four-wheel-drives named after a famous flyrod – the Jeep Cherokee special Orvis edition. Sticker price $33,000. All the fishing shops, from Bozeman to Taos, offer the latest gear: microporous miracle waders whose fibers somehow breathe underwater, […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
The public was railroaded
THE PUBLIC WAS RAILROADED Railroads and Clearcuts: Legacy of Congress’s 1864 Northern Pacific Land Grant Derrick Johnson and George Draffan with John Osborn. Inland Empire Public Lands Council, Box 2147, Spokane, WA 99210, 1995, $15. 198 pages, paper. Review by Ken Olsen The Northern Pacific Railroad snookered us out of ground it wasn’t entitled to, […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Write-em cowboys
WRITE-EM COWBOYS England may have spawned the Sex Pistols band, but in southern Oregon it’s the Tex-Pistols who headline the Rogue River Roundup Sept. 22-24, the Northwest’s first-ever cowboy poetry gathering. The event features poets and artists in Medford, Ore., as well as a Western art, craft and gear show. Tickets are available through the […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Start spreading the news
START SPREADING THE NEWS For environmentalists eager to get their message across but not sure where to start, a couple of grassroots communication guides have hit the bookstores. Getting the Word Out in the Fight to Save the Earth, by Richard Beamish, tells how to publicize and promote an environmental cause. Beamish, who has plenty […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Jobs for the environment
JOBS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT A proposed bill to protect the Northern Rockies ecosystem would create thousands of new jobs, according to an economic study released by an environmental group, Alliance for the Wild Rockies. The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, recently introduced by New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, would designate 20 million acres of wilderness […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Just burn it
JUST BURN IT A year after the Storm King fire in Glenwood Springs, Colo., claimed the lives of l4 firefighters, the Clinton administration announced that it wants to fight fire with fire. The administration’s new policy, which advocates the use of more controlled and prescribed burning, results from reviews of federal firefighting efforts that began […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Bart goes to bat
BART GOES TO BAT Inspired by a veteran Hollywood actor named Bart who happens to be a 1,500-pound grizzly bear, the recently expanded Vital Ground Foundation in Montana aims to protect grizzly bear habitat through conservation easements, land acquisition, and public education. “Our vision from the beginning was to do something worthwhile for the environment […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Hazardous burning plan snuffed
With years of citizen opposition and a zoning ordinance looming over them, a cement company has announced it no longer wants a permit to burn hazardous waste in its Montana City cement kiln. Local environmental groups that fought the project say it’s been a long, hard fight. “They have been absolute hard-core corporate bulldogs about […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Burns would shear wolf funding
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., wants to kill one federal environmental program to fund another. His amendment to the recently passed Interior appropriations bill would cut wolf reintroduction budgets and give the money to whirling disease research. Burns told The Billings Gazette that “whirling disease represents a real threat to Montana’s economy and environment, while wolf […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Colorado learns bear facts
As encounters between bears and people – in cars, campgrounds and backyards – increase around Colorado’s burgeoning mountain communities, the state’s Division of Wildlife is conducting ground-breaking studies on the wily bruin. Veteran researcher Tom Beck has captured 42 bears so far near Kremmling, Colo., and is tagging and radio-collaring them as part of a […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Taking aim at the Forest Service
Somebody in Nevada doesn’t like Toiyabe Forest Ranger Guy Pence, and to show it they’ve bombed both his office (HCN, 4/17/95) and a van parked at his Carson City home; the latter attack occurred Aug. 4. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., blames the attacks on “the ugly underbelly of the county supremacy movement in Nevada.” When […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Owl shuts down the Southwest
In a ruling reminiscent of the Northwest spotted owl conflict, federal Judge Carl Muecke ordered the 11 national forests of Arizona and New Mexico to halt all logging until their forest plans adequately protect the Mexican spotted owl. The Aug. 24 temporary injunction, which immediately stopped all timber operations, came in response to a lawsuit […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Pay-for-wolf play
Tourists who fail to catch a glimpse of wild wolves restored to Yellowstone National Park can troop to the nearby Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Mont. For an undisclosed price, the privately owned center recently purchased a 10-member pack from a Montana breeder and unveiled the animals to the public Aug. 7. Director Gale […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Right-of-way or give-away?
When Congress reconvenes after Labor Day, the House is expected to mark up a new bill that could allow states and counties to bulldoze roads across national parks and wilderness areas. The legislation, introduced July 20 by Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, attempts to preserve rural rights-of-way that might not be recognized under recently proposed Interior […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Navajo Nation bails out timber mill
The Navajo Nation has fired the remaining workers at its defunct sawmill and paid $500,000 from general funds to bail out Navajo Forest Products Industry, the business it created in Navajo, N.M. Tribal leaders say they had no alternative: Defaulting on the company’s loan would have damaged the tribe’s credit rating and lost the mill […]