Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, The Southwest’s last real river: Will it flow on? Sandy Anderson, 41, with her husband, Alvin, owns the Gray Hawk Ranch, a popular birdwatching retreat along the San Pedro River a few miles east of Sierra Vista. They bought the property in 1984. Her […]
Sandy Anderson
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
The Southwest’s last real river: Will it flow on?
SAN PEDRO RIVER RIPARIAN NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA, Ariz. – For 40 miles after flowing across the Mexican border into Arizona, the San Pedro River looks like a strip of rain forest marooned in the desert. Announced by its bright green cottonwood and willow trees, the river winds northward from headwaters in the Sierra Madre through […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Cohabiting in Yellowstone
Cohabiting in Yellowstone While wolves dominate the news, another predator takes top billing at the Yellowstone Grizzly Foundation’s annual summit June 2-3 in Jackson, Wyo. Participants at the conference Bears and Ecosystems: A Period of Transition will discuss ongoing research and how grizzlies are adapting to the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park. Speakers […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Save wild connections
SAVE WILD CONNECTIONS “In every biotic community, there are story lines which fiction writers would give their eyeteeth for: Desert tortoises with allegiances to place that have lasted upward of 40,000 years, dwarfing any dynasty in Yoknapatawpha County. Fidelities between hummingbird and montane penstemon that make the fidelities of Port William, Kentucky, seem like puppy […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Give “em an award
GIVE “EM AN AWARD Do you know a group or individual who deserves recognition for efforts to protect the environment? If so, send a nomination to the National Wildlife Federation by June 15 for the federation’s 1995 national conservation achievement awards, which range from communications and corporate leadership to an outstanding affiliate. The group will […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Rivers in jeopardy
RIVERS IN JEOPARDY It sounds like an honor, but it’s not. This year, the West contains four of the nation’s 10 most endangered rivers, chosen annually by American Rivers, a river conservation group. Because of a proposed gold mine near Yellowstone Park in Montana, the group voted the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River the […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Booming in ski country
BOOMING IN SKI COUNTRY They may disagree on many issues but ski resort operators, environmentalists and real estate developers have one thing in common: They are often unable to manage the problems of employee housing and traffic congestion caused by rapid growth. A conference at Colorado’s Keystone Ski Resort June 7-10 aims to resolve those […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Water and the West
WATER AND THE WEST In the face of rapid development, how will the West maintain and manage its water? A conference on Sustainable Use of the West’s Water will address the problems of water rights, June 12-14 at the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder. Twenty-six speakers are on tap, including Molly Harriss […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Wonder hemp
Wonder hemp “Make the most of hemp seed and sow it everywhere.” * George Washington, 1794 Did you know that canvas was named for cannabis, the Latin term for hemp, because Renaissance artists used hemp cloth for their paintings? Or that our founding fathers wrote the first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence on […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
New rules, less protection?
New rules, LESS PROTECTION? The Forest Service says its revamped regulations under the National Forest Management Act will streamline planning for recreation, logging, grazing and other activities and better integrate ecosystem management. Critics say the new rules, published April 13 in the Federal Register, strike a blow at environmental protection. One requirement, to maintain “viable” […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Bessie and Smokey are sweethearts
Dear HCN: Your story about the Forest Service’s demonization of fire (HCN, 3/6/95) was a fascinating account but failed to mention the well-documented but little publicized role of domestic livestock in the suppression of fire throughout the West. By removing grasses, especially in ponderosa pine forests, livestock have removed the fine fuels that enable fires. […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Quintessential Westerner
Dear HCN, One item in Ed Marston’s piece on Bruce Babbitt (HCN, 5/1/95) cries out for correction. It wasn’t Easterners who presided over setting aside “huge tracts of Alaska as natural.” It was Congressman Morris King Udall, born in Arizona, descendent of Mormon pioneers, quintessential Westerner and ultimate pragmatist. As we listen to the ranting […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Stand up for reason in rural Utah
Dear HCN, I couldn’t agree more with you that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt was perceptive enough to know he was taking on a no-win challenge as secretary of Interior (HCN, 5/1/95). In that regard, I would like to address a misconception about rural politics in Utah. It is easy to point toward county governing bodies […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
HCN doesn’t cover the real issue
Dear HCN, After years of subscribing to HCN, I have decided to drop my subscription and will instead give to population groups. The United States is the third most populous nation behind China and India and 13th fastest-growing nation on Earth. The West is growing as fast as the fastest-growing areas in the world. Yet, […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Change at the top is just a beginning
Dear HCN, Marc Reisner’s recent story explained that some things have changed dramatically at the Bureau of Reclamation. Commissioner Dan Beard has little in common with his dam-building predecessors such as Floyd Dominy. Reisner portrayed Beard – accurately, I think – as someone firmly committed to making Reclamation more responsible to the environment and the […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Wyoming refuses to join rebels
When the Wyoming Outdoor Council heard that state officials planned to meet with representatives from Nevada’s rebellious Nye County, the environmental group decided that people needed to know what Wyoming was up to. Nye County, Nev., gained notoriety when Commissioner Dick Carver bulldozed his way onto federal land and the justice department filed suit against […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Forest forestalls squatters
The housing crunch in Jackson, Wyo., is expected to get even tighter this summer. Bridger-Teton National Forest officials announced in April that camping on forest land in the Jackson district this summer will be limited to five days, cut from 16. This worries the Jackson Hole chamber of commerce, since 1,200 seasonal workers usually move […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Grazing settlement favors ranchers
After intensive negotiations, environmentalists, ranchers and the Forest Service settled a lawsuit over cattle grazing on Montana’s Beaverhead National Forest. But compared to an earlier agreement, ranchers gained the upper hand. The dispute began when the National Wildlife Federation sued the Forest Service for failing to assess grazing impacts on the forest, streams and wildlife […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
A royal cover-up
A New Mexico-based oil company has shortchanged the government a possible $22 million a year in lost taxes and royalties. Meridian Oil Inc., the country’s largest independent oil company with 1,073 public-land leases in the San Juan Basin, has consistently under-reported production amounts since 1989, according to a Bureau of Land Management investigation. Two years […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Booming county looks for trust
Fremont County, Idaho, is booming, and Grant Chandler doesn’t like what he sees on the horizon. “To tell you the truth, I’m not interested in seeing another 50,000 people move in – or even another 10,000,” says Chandler, current chairman of the county commission. But he acknowledges that he can’t stop a development boom in […]