By a razor-thin margin, the Senate agreed March 30 to suspend environmental laws in order to expedite salvage logging in national forests. An attempt by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to replace the amendment of her fellow Washington senator, Slade Gorton, R, with a milder one failed 46-48. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., cast the lone Democratic […]
Salvage logging squeaks by Senate
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
Dear friends
Good-bye and welcome Congratulations to former HCN employee Amy Conley and spouse Robert Hayutin on the birth of their daughter Sabina. Amy was a person of all trades in the office, specializing in direct mail and circulation, until Sabina demanded her attention. We will miss Amy, who remained cheerful even when confronted with thousands of […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
Seeking power, a few ski workers go union
(This is a sidebar to an HCN magazine cover story on the New West’s servant economy.) It was a gritty interruption of ski business: At the base of the main lift of the Red Lodge ski area in Montana, on a busy January Saturday, 15 lift operators staged a sit-down strike. Their starting pay was […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
He came to ski and stayed to help
(This is a sidebar to an HCN magazine cover story on the New West’s servant economy.) Roman Catholic Archbishop J. Francis Stafford sprinkled holy water around an apartment complex in the resort town of Silverthorne, Colo., last June. He was blessing the apartments, which the church had helped establish, and he blessed the poverty-stricken families […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
It always comes down to finding a place to live
(This is a sidebar to an HCN magazine cover story on the New West’s servant economy.) Summit County, Colo., the top ski destination in the nation, did more business last season than all the ski areas in Utah. The county’s resorts hosted more than 3 million skier visits. Neighboring Eagle County hosted another 2 million […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
Pedro Lopez, entrepreneur
(This is a sidebar to an HCN magazine cover story on the New West’s servant economy.) Avon, Colorado Pedro Lopez, from Aguascalientes in central Mexico, says he’s lived for three years in esta trailer. It’s a sheet-metal shack roughly next door to the chic Beaver Creek ski resort. Duct tape holds his cracked windows together. […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
Ski bums wrapped in concrete
(This is a sidebar to an HCN magazine cover story on the New West’s servant economy.) Vail, Colorado Jeremy Bernier finished his ski season, working his day job and going home each night to sleep like a troll under a bridge. Instead of postcard scenery, when he woke up each morning he saw a grey […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
The Leadville-Indy 500
(This is a sidebar to an HCN magazine cover story on the New West’s servant economy.) Leadville, Colorado Dead of winter in the highest town in the nation (elevation 10,152 feet), and it’s the kind of morning that requires willpower – at 5:30 a.m., still dark and so cold that the snow squeaks under boots. […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
Working 24 hours straight
(This is a sidebar to an HCN magazine cover story on the New West’s servant economy.) Copper Mountain Ski Resort, Colorado Greg Smith was a 23-year-old ski bum when he drifted into Summit County in 1983 or so. “Now it’s just the opposite,” he says. “I work a lot and don’t get much chance to […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
The New West’s servant economy
(This HCN magazine cover story is accompanied by seven sidebars listed at the end.) Silverthorne, Colorado Struggling with a language that would not be his first or even his second choice, Dabo Pobot tried to explain how he and other Africans have been imported to serve ski country, USA. If I wrote it the way […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
In their footprints
In their footprints When they mysteriously disappeared from the Southwest some 700 years ago, Anasazi Indians left behind intricate ruins and painted or pecked designs on rock as powerful testimony to their civilization. The desert also preserved a more fragile reminder – sandals woven from yucca leaves, in which the footprints of the wearers are […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Love your grandmother
Love your Grandmother A grassroots group called Grandmother’s Friends wants help in barring chainsaws from a roadless area called Grandmother Mountain in northern Idaho’s panhandle. A proposed timber sale would cut 7.8 million board-feet out of the wilderness 50 miles northwest of Moscow. “The area contains some very scenic and diverse habitats that wildlife depend […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Little town blues
Little town blues Does anything good come out of rapid growth? The trend toward urbanization of the rural West is the theme of “Community Values, Change, Growth and Quality of Life,” a May 10 symposium in western Colorado’s Glenwood Springs. Speakers include Daniel Kemmis, mayor of Missoula, Raye Ringholz, author of Little Town Blues – […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Are the feds land-grabbers?
Are the feds land-grabbers? According to a federal report, agencies such as the Forest Service, BLM and National Park Service manage 34 million acres more today than than they did in 1964. But that’s only if you exclude Alaska, where 112 million acres left federal control due to statehood land promises and treaties with native […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Fragmented ecosystems workshop
Doctoring the land A public forum, “Paradigms in Transition: Natural Resources Management in the New Century,” April 11 at Colorado State University will take a multi-disciplinary look at how we manage – and mismanage – natural resources. “We need to educate land stewards like doctors,” says forum coordinator Rick Knight. “They need to be able […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Doctoring the land
Doctoring the land A public forum, “Paradigms in Transition: Natural Resources Management in the New Century,” April 11 at Colorado State University will take a multi-disciplinary look at how we manage – and mismanage – natural resources. “We need to educate land stewards like doctors,” says forum coordinator Rick Knight. “They need to be able […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Writing after Thoreau
WRITING AFTER THOREAU “In the Thoreau Tradition III” brings together writers William Kittredge, Terry Tempest Williams and Linda Hogan in Missoula, Mont., May 4-7. They’ll join 11 others to talk about the nature of the American West and cross-cultural humor, among other topics. Sponsors include Hellgate Writers, the University of Montana, and the Center for […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
BLM accepts eco-challenge
BLM accepts Eco-Challenge While being videotaped from a helicopter, 50 teams of five competitors each will race through the heart of southern Utah’s canyon country this April. Although 85 percent to 90 percent of the 700 comments received opposed the scheme, the Bureau of Land Management recently gave its approval, with conditions, to the Eco-Challenge […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Don’t give up fish for pennies
DON’T GIVE UP FISH FOR PENNIES Dear HCN, In my 40-odd years of fishing for trout, steelhead and salmon, I have always had reason to smile, even on bad days. But this year, Idaho fishermen have nothing to be happy about. We have been sold out for $1.23 per year. The National Marine Fisheries Service […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
Fires make public property walk off
FIRES MAKE PUBLIC PROPERTY WALK OFF Dear HCN, Forest fires do indeed cost a lot of money (HCN, 3/6/95). Although it is a drop in the bucket compared to leasing a heavy helicopter, one simple way to cut costs would be to prevent theft. Last fall, I’m disgusted to say, I was involved with a […]