A WILDERNESS PROPOSAL FOR COLORADO Forty-nine conservation groups ranging from the Sierra Club to the Sheep Mountain Alliance have proposed the creation of 1.3 million acres of additional wilderness in Colorado. Instead of high-elevation rock and ice, these lands are primarily desert and canyon country managed by the Bureau of Land Management. In a recently […]
A wilderness proposal for Colorado
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Wild watching in Nevada
WILD WATCHING IN NEVADA Nevada has joined the “watchable wildlife” program that is spreading across the West. A new Nevada Wildlife Viewing Guide, written by Jeanne Clark, describes viewing spots around the state that recently have been posted with the binocular symbol of the “watchable wildlife” program. Guidebooks in this series list viewing areas by […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Otters bite swimmers
Move aside, grizzly bears and mountain lions. River otters in Whitehall, east of Butte, Mont., attacked four people swimming in the Jefferson River July 11, and the victims have wounds and a 21-day series of rabies shots to prove it. Mike Hannegan of San Francisco, Calif., said he was attacked by an otter 12 times […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Rancher finds fame expensive
If you seek publicity, you might just find it. Just ask rancher Marcus Rudnick, who was declared a “limited public figure” by an appeals court judge in Ventura, Calif., on June 13. The controversy began in San Luis Obispo County in 1991, when Rudnick put up for lease 75,000 acres he had owned and grazed […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Surprise!
Bloody encounters between grizzly bears and people at Yellowstone National Park this summer weren’t really attacks or maulings, says park public affairs officer Marsha Karle. They were more like surprises, she says. In June, Glen Lacey, a park maintenance employee, startled a bear which then punctured his shoulder with its teeth. When park concessionaire Randy […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Salmon spiral down as allies challenge barging
Only an estimated 1,500 wild Snake River spring and summer chinook salmon returned to Idaho to spawn this summer, the lowest count on record. That compares to a 10-year average of 10,000 returning adults. “We’re going rapidly down the track to zip,” says Dexter Pittman of the Idaho Fish and Game Department. Meanwhile, the U.S. […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
‘Takings’ takes a hit
The state can block development that threatens Native American burial mounds, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled. The court rejected an argument that to block such developments would weaken property rights, reports AP. The dispute began when developers bought a 59-acre tract in rural Story County, Iowa, to develop a pricey subdivision. When developers sold […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Cattle kicked off salmon range
To protect spawning salmon, cattle on four allotments in Oregon’s Wallowa-Whitman National Forest have been shifted away from streams. The Forest Service reacted to a federal appeals court injunction that banned all grazing, logging and road building in parts of the Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla national forests. The appeals court had found that the Forest Service […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Ranchers face competition
In a break with precedent around the West, conservationists in Oregon will now be allowed to bid against ranchers for leases on state-owned land (HCN, 7/25/94). By a 2-1 vote, the Oregon Land Board gave the okay July 29 to competitive bidding and specified that state land can be leased for “conservation use.” Some parcels […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
A man of integrity
Dear HCN, It was with considerable personal interest I read the article “Forest Service dunked by its own witch hunt” (HCN, 8/8/94) as the mention of Paul Senteney provided a personal link to the national story. As a wildlife biologist for the San Juan National Forest in 1971, Senteney was one of the initial people […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
We aimed for Russia and hit the West
Former Arizona congressman Stewart Udall served as Interior Department Secretary during the 1960s when landmark bills such as the Wilderness Act and Endangered Species Act became law. When Udall returned to Arizona, however, he took on a cause that would change his life. With a team that included members of his family, Udall investigated what […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Bruce Babbitt in the lion’s den
Elsewhere in this issue (page 4), writer Michael Riley describes how Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt attended a ranchers’ barbecue. At the barbecue, as Babbitt knew they would, speaker after speaker tore into him. Throughout the talks, Riley reports, Babbitt chatted quietly with ranchers and local officials. Babbitt’s visit to the barbecue was another example of […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Mothering a good forest fire isn’t easy
MEEKER, COLO. – The helicopter flew us toward the smoke. Even in the air, we wore heavy leather boots, jumpsuits and gloves made of Nomex – nothing that would ignite or melt easily. We had to be prepared in case of a forced landing. The Nomex felt surprisingly lightweight: thin protection. We topped the ridge, […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
‘Poor man’s legacy’ may be preserved in Jackson Hole
It is perhaps one of Jackson Hole’s most photographed scenes: A weathered barn in a green meadow rises up against the Tetons. “They say it has angles that correspond with the mountains,” Clark Moulton says of the barn his father started building in 1913. For 81 years, Clark has lived in sight of the Tetons […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
EPA hands off Superfund tailings to Idaho
BOISE, Idaho – In a deal hailed as a first nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to let Idaho environmental authorities take the lead in cleaning up old mine tailings in Triumph, near Sun Valley. The question is, will the state be any more successful than the EPA in devising a cleanup plan for […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Ex-rancher heads Wilderness Society
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Wilderness Society’s new president says he knows firsthand about life in a small rural community, which is why he opposes Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s consensus approach to grazing reform. Babbitt’s advisory councils “lend themselves to responding too much to local biases,” Jon Roush said in an interview last month. “I’ve lived […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Babbitt thrives in crossfire of industry, environmentalists
CASPER, Wyo. – After Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt testified before a U.S. Senate field hearing here on July 15, Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., invited him to attend a lunchtime barbecue and rally lambasting Interior’s grazing policy. Wallop added jokingly, “We’ve reserved a spit for you.” Perhaps to Wallop’s surprise, the Clinton administration’s top public-lands manager […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Oregon paper clearcuts a tough reporter
When newsroom staffers at the Portland Oregonian arrived at work Aug. 8, they found the empty desk of Kathie Durbin, the paper’s lead environmental reporter since 1989. The only thing remaining on her desk was the new book Clearcut, which Durbin left behind as a cryptic metaphor to what happened to her. Durbin had resigned, […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Wildlife among the victims of drought
From New Mexico to the eastern slopes of the Cascades, the West is suffering from a sixth year of drought. Various combinations of thin snowpack, hot weather in spring and summer causing premature runoff, and scant summer rain are to blame. The drought is a contributing factor to wildfires which have burned over 2 million […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Dear friends
Energy efficient The U.S. Department of Energy has decided that High Country News walks its talk. HCN is one of seven recipients of the agency’s National Energy Awards. The newspaper was selected because its retrofitted building – once a feed and auto parts store – demonstrated admirable energy efficiency. The building was designed by architect […]