Dead deer come to town Hunting season has begun with a bang, so to speak, in the mountains that surround Paonia. Staffers have had to compete for parking on Grand Avenue with vehicles festooned by dead deer, and out one office window which faces a very busy meat packing plant, we can see a procession […]
Dear friends
Posted inOctober 31, 1994: Water for the taking
Who’s who in water spreading
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Water for the taking. WaterWatch, based in Portland, is one of the nation’s first statewide groups focused solely on water quantity, rather than water quality. It has filed legal challenges to Oregon’s system of issuing water-use permits, which, says founder Tom Simmons, has turned […]
Posted inOctober 31, 1994: Water for the taking
For the full scolding
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Water for the taking. The Bureau of Reclamation has a new role in the West, and it’s high time the agency focused on management, not development, concludes an Interior Department audit on the unauthorized diversion of water. The July 1994 audit, Irrigation of Ineligible […]
Posted inOctober 31, 1994: Water for the taking
Water for the taking
Some irrigators get loose with the law
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
The battle isn’t over
Dear HCN: Ed Marston may have been right in his Aug. 22 opinion article that environmentalists have won and there has been an amazing conversion at the Forest Service and BLM and the beasts of contention can now lie down together on Mr. Babbitt’s holy middle ground. But where is the evidence? Has he listened […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Extremism is on the rise in Whatcom County, Washington
Dear HCN, I am writing to clarify some statements in the article from your 9/15/94 edition re “Rural residents defy Washington law.” I am a Whatcom County resident, a former candidate for public office (County Council, 1993), and the current co-president of the Washington Environmental Council. As a co-founder of Whatcom Watch, a citizens’ networking […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Ranchers, not ranchettes
Dear HCN: One topic not dealt with in your recent special issue on development in the West: the transformation of the private-land component of public-lands ranches to ranchettes. The proliferation of 10- to 40-acre ranchettes with their accompanying traffic, paving, fences, sewer systems, dogs and horses decimates winter range, degrades groundwater quality, accelerates runoff and […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Tell the whole population story
Dear HCN: Thanks for the excellent issue on growth in the West (HCN, 9/5/94). In his essay, Dick Lamm fails to divulge the underlying cause of the population growth and immigration: poverty. It seems that Lamm advocates closing the borders to immigration. Although our borders are lined with 10-foot fences and armed guards and bodies […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Nevada Water Forum
University of Nevada professor Jean Ford has published the findings of a series of Nevada Water Forums held around the state last spring. The forums asked: “How should we manage and allocate water to help create the Nevada we want over the next 20 years?” Participants considered maintaining the current system of water allocation under […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Home on the electric range
-How would you like it if you lost your jobs, your home and communities just because of an animal no one’s even heard of? Is that what America’s really about?” Tammy Jo asked every five minutes, every day, until she was unplugged. She is a member of the life-sized robotic ranching family that enthralled visitors […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Pay to play
The Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association believes mountain bikers should pay to use trails on public lands. The group wants Idaho to enact a $10 annual fee to maintain trails, create new ones and develop trail-etiquette education. Cyclists, who would register any bike that they ride off-road, could influence how funds are spent through advisory […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Celebrate the West
Growth, politics and the future of the region will come under scrutiny at a “Celebrate the West” conference in Jackson, Wyo., Nov. 5-7. The conference honors Western historian and author Alvin M. Josephy Jr., who has helped Indians establish their voice in the telling of Western history. The gathering at the National Wildlife Art Museum […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Witness
-Each species is a masterpiece,” says biologist and writer E.O. Wilson in his introduction to Witness: Endangered Species of North America, a large-format book of 200 stunning black-and-white and color portraits. Photographers Susan Middleton and David Littschwager collaborated with the California Academy of Sciences and Chronicle Books to produce this collection, to try to focus […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Come into the forest
-Nature is not only more complex than we think; it is even more complex than we can think,” said biologist Frank Egler, whose observation is one of dozens of quotations gracing a new, permanent exhibit at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore. Called The Changing Forest, the exhibit features ceiling-high trees and indoor and […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Uncontrollable coyote
For Wayne Grady, it was on a cold, clear night in eastern Ontario, Canada, when he heard coyotes howling: “The sounds seemed to tremble on the verge of language, to be, almost literally, the voice of the wilderness.” This recollection introduces The World of the Coyote, a glossy book about the canine’s habits and history. […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Wilderness Act at 30
Is there a difference between a wilderness in a national park and a wilderness in a national forest? Why are cows and sheep allowed to graze in wilderness? Are airports permitted? The Wilderness Act Handbook, reissued by The Wilderness Society, aims to answer these and other questions about this country’s 96 million acre National Wilderness […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Green Classifieds
If you’re a conservationist – budding, seasoned amateur or salaried professional – you may want to check out Earth Work, published 11 times a year by the Student Conservation Association. Every other issue is labeled JobScan and contains nationwide environmental job listings ranging from seasonal internships to career opportunities. Other issues contain interviews with conservation […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Timber industry takes a stand
Stung by the Sierra’s Club’s book, Clearcut, the timber industry has struck back with a glossy 28-page rebuttal. Closer Look: An On-the-Ground Investigation of the Sierra Club’s Book, Clearcut, makes the case that clearcutting can improve forest health. The Sierra Club’s 1993 book presented aerial photographs of nearly 100 denuded sites to represent the industry’s […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Organizing citizens for the next 20 years
-Where do citizen activists go from here?” asks the 20th anniversary issue of The Workbook, published by the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center. Varying answers come from 19 veteran activists whose essays appear in this special 47-page issue. In New Mexico, Maria Varela says empowering land-based communities to develop their economies is the answer […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Salmon win again (in court)
Although endangered Snake River salmon appear to be losing their battle with extinction, they continue to win in court. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 9 that the Northwest Power Planning Council’s plan for restoring Snake River salmon gives too much to industrial interests and too little to tribal and state biologists, reports […]