Restoring grizzly bears to Washington’s North Cascades and Idaho’s Selway-Bitterroot ecosystems won’t interfere with hunters, hikers or horseback riders, says a conservation group in Bellingham, Wash. The group, Greater Ecosystem Alliance, examined closures of trails and campgrounds caused by grizzlies in 11 national forests and two national parks. All had little effect on recreation. Blocked […]
Hikers can bear grizzlies
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Water planning in the desert
Residents of the driest state in the nation use more water per person than almost anyone else in the country. But change may be forced on Nevada by sustained drought and record population growth. The State Division of Water Planning is drafting a new policy to guide water-planning decisions for the next 20 years. The […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
… As park poacher holds on to trophies
A professional bowhunter who admitted poaching protected elk in Yellowstone National Park for nine years may get to keep his spoils. Federal prosecutors say they will not press Donald E. Lewis to hand over his illegal animal trophies to the government, as mandated by a plea bargain Lewis and his hunting partner, Arthur Sims, agreed […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Yellowstone makes bragging hazardous …
Poachers may want to avoid Yellowstone National Park this fall. Rangers have begun photographing the park’s most spectacular wildlife so that pictures are available if the animals are killed and their heads mounted as trophies. “This way, if we find that poachers have gotten one of these animals, we know exactly what to look for […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Mining reform: dead or alive?
As Congress prepares to adjourn for the year, chances that it will pass legislation reforming the 1872 Mining Law grow slimmer by the day. Sen. Harry Reid, D, who emerged as a key negotiator for the Western Democrats, says the Senate would have approved a draft put forth by a House-Senate conference committee in early […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Mike Synar loses
Oklahoma Rep. Mike Synar, D, one of Congress’ leading advocates for federal grazing reform, lost a Democratic primary runoff Sept. 20 to a little-known retired school principal. Virgil Cooper defeated the eight-term congressman 52 percent to 48 percent. Ranchers cheered the defeat of the outspoken critic of “welfare cowboys’ using public lands in the West, […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Inspector commits “career suicide’
Steve Jones’ 20-year career in federal safety inspection may be over. He was fired Sept. 14 by the contractor that is building and operating a chemical weapons incinerator at Utah’s Tooele Army Depot. Jones says he’s spent a frustrating three months trying to track down safety violations there. Now Jones is commiting what he calls […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
The Southwest’s writers are terrified liars
One of the best modern novels about the real Southwest is in technicolor. It takes place in Prescott, Ariz.: A rodeo performer returns to his hometown, finds out that his brother is bulldozing the home ranch and slicing it up into ranchettes and subdivisions, that his dad is about to hit the road for prospecting […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Burning nerve gas makes me ‘volatile’
For the past two years, I have actively opposed the construction of massive chemical weapons incinerators, both in Tooele County, Utah, where I live and at seven other sites across the nation where chemical weapons are stockpiled. As common folks like me (I’m a librarian) who get involved in controversial issues often say, “It’s been […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
An agency icon at 50
CAPITAN, N.M. – Dear Boys and Girls: I’m writing this letter in a beautiful forest where Smokey Bear was born. I came because I’d read that he turned 50 years old in August, and I wanted to see his old stomping grounds. You won’t believe what I found. First of all, everything is named after […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Forest Service accomplishes appeal-proof timber sales
The Forest Service says it has improved the procedure by which citizens can appeal timber sales, but in the agency’s Northern Region, citizens have reason to suspect the opposite. Since the Forest Service revised its procedures in January, 23 citizen appeals have been filed against timber sales in the region. Only one has been upheld. […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Ranchers arrested at wildlife refuge
The arrest of rancher Dwight Hammond for running cattle on a wildlife refuge provokes a wise-use backlash in Oregon.
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Parental care for uranium tailings only goes so far
A couple of miles from Moab, Utah, and just 300 feet from the Colorado River sprawls a rare deposit: uranium tailings that haven’t yet been orphaned. The parent of the pile, Atlas Minerals Co., is the first uranium developer that can be held responsible for cleaning up its own mess. Typically in the West, nuclear-weapons […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Judge rocks Montana’s open-pit mines
Montana’s hard-rock mining industry has enjoyed smooth sailing through state courts and regulatory agencies. But now a district court judge in Helena has rocked the boat, ruling that reclamation at open-pit mines must include the pit itself. Mining in Montana may never be the same. On Sept. 1, Judge Thomas Honzel ruled that the state […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Dear friends
Rockin’ and rollin’ The rural inland West is going out of its way to make Californians feel welcome. First we had summer fires that blanketed the area in smog. After the fires came the mud flows, including one that blocked Interstate 70 west of Glenwood Springs, Colo. Then on Sept. 13, moments after midnight, western […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
TUCSON, Ariz. – Plumber Neale Allen likes to tell the story about driving down a strip where builders were bulldozing cacti for homes and shopping centers, and getting tough questions from his 7-year-old daughter Sarah. “She asked me why they had to scrape everything and kill plants and animals,” recalls Allen, who is 42. “It’s […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Hawk sees opportunity, snatches it
Taking a nap on the rocky banks of the Flathead River in Montana can be dangerous, especially if a snake has the same idea. When hiker Bill Gustafson, 17, of Columbia Falls took a break to snooze in the sun July 5, he fell asleep bare-chested. A non-poisonous garter snake then slithered onto his warm […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Green buzzword
The Grand Canyon Trust and the National Park Service will hold a three-day symposium to explore the untested concept of ecosystem management as it applies to public and private lands in the West. “Ecosystem Management: Buzzword of the “90s,” which runs Oct. 6-8 in Flagstaff, Ariz., features National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy; Ray Rasker, […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Save a river
Have you ever wanted to save a river from a dam or pollution but felt frustrated by not knowing how to begin? David M. Bolling effectively channels this passion in his book How to Save a River: A Handbook for Citizen Action. Full of case studies from successful fights to stop dams on rivers such […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Return of Compound 1080?
One of the most lethal poisons ever used in the West’s war on predators may be staging a comeback. President Richard Nixon banned Compound 1080 in 1972 following its widespread misuse and the death of untold numbers of birds, animals and even humans. Now the Texas Department of Agriculture wants the EPA to allow its […]