Prairie potholes When the glaciers retreated from North America, huge chunks of ice left behind made permanent divots in the Northern Plains. These glacial potholes – now prairie wetlands – provide vital habitat for migrating geese. Strategies to protect the rapidly decreasing prairie potholes from increased development and agriculture will be the topic of a […]
Prairie potholes
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Big bad bear
Big bad bear An environmental-art group in Portland, Ore., is putting on a special birthday “roast” for Smokey Bear. On July 15, the creative group called Orlo began presenting Smoke Screen: Smokey Bear at 50, a multimedia exhibit featuring artwork and presentations by three dozen artists. The exhibit seeks to debunk 50 years of Forest […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
House of straw
House of Straw Straw-bale housing construction, known for its flimsy role in the children’s tale The Three Little Pigs, is making a comeback. After a brief period of popularity in the early 1900s, straw bale buildings lost favor in the 1940s. But tastes change, lumber is increasingly expensive and structures built of straw are springing […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
House of Garbage
HOUSE OF GARBAGE Call it the house that Goodwill built. A recently completed home in Missoula, Mont., carries the concept of second-hand construction materials to new levels. Built by the Center for Resourceful Building Technology, the 2,400-square-foot house showcases dozens of innovative products. Recycled newspaper went into its wall panels, shelving and insulation; light bulbs […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Strangelove Park
Strangelove park Tourists on South Dakota’s Interstate 90 may soon visit more than just Mount Rushmore, Prairie Dog Town and the world’s largest drugstore, Wall Drug. Some of the nation’s 1,000 Minuteman missile silos are ripe for historic preservation, says the National Park Service, which is looking at two launch sites adjacent to Badlands National […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Where wolves roamed
Where Wolves Roamed Under the government’s current wolf reintroduction program, wolf populations in the lower 48 states will reach only 5 percent of their historic numbers at best, says Matt Dietz. A graduate student at the University of Montana, Dietz worked with the Bozeman, Mont.-based Predator Project on a 46-page study of wolf reintroduction alternatives. […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Top-down control doesn’t work
Dear HCN, Being an urban dweller, I do not know much personally about grazing, but I do know something about consensus process due to my involvement with co-housing and the Green Party, both of which use consensus process. When it works, its power is inspiring; when it doesn’t, it leads to gridlock. It requires all […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Two fine public servants
Dear HCN, It is a sorry thing to read the denigration of men such as Dean Bibles and Ed Hastey, whose long-time public service has been dedicated to protecting public lands under the complicated and confusing rules governing their actions (HCN, 5/16/94). Dean Bibles should be enshrined in the Green Hall of Fame for his […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
You trashed a fine public servant
Dear HCN, I am amazed to read that you still are hanging on to the totally erroneous concept that you printed several years ago about the land exchanges Dean Bibles did in Arizona (HCN, 5/16/94). One would think that after many savings and loans went bankrupt due to their “paper” values and transactions involving the […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Doubts about Kennecott in Utah
Dear HCN, Thanks for highlighting the long-term, extremely costly damage that hardrock mining has caused to America’s West in “Can Mining Come Clean?” (HCN, 5/30/94). David Mullon, the Mineral Policy Center’s Southwest Circuit Rider at that time, worked together with the Salt Lake County Water Conservancy District to oppose Utah’s sweetheart settlement with Kennecott of […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Elk and playing god
Dear HCN, Fred Wagner’s essay on elk in Yellowstone begs for a response. While I won’t suggest that the Park Service doesn’t occasionally attempt to control what is said or done with regard to park policy, I don’t think they are “destroying” Yellowstone as Wagner or his graduate student, Charles Kay, allege. Wagner’s ideas are […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Twisted science in Yellowstone
Dear HCN, I would like to applaud High Country News for publishing and Frederic H. Wagner for writing the May 30, 1994, article about “natural regulation” policy in Yellowstone National Park. I have worked in and around the park off and on from 1969 to 1985 and continue to visit it periodically. As a soil […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Scientist’s critique was just plain wrong
Dear HCN, We are pleased that High Country News had the good taste to introduce Fred Wagner’s editorial “Scientist says Yellowstone Park is being destroyed” (HCN, 5/30/94) as “opinion,” because there certainly isn’t a lot besides opinion in it. His comments about the Yellowstone grazing issue are specious, riddled with errors, and overloaded with conspiratorial […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Yes, too many elk
Dear HCN, In reference to what should be done about elk overpopulation in Yellowstone Park (HCN, 5/30/94), a study is the time-honored delaying tactic to postpone a decision that is certain to be politically unpopular. The summer of 1991, I took my grandchildren on a visit to the park. As a retired BLM range con, […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
A white male speaks
Dear HCN, I must respond to the article “Home, home on the range where neo-Nazis and skinheads roam” (HCN, 6/27/94). I am a member of the most discriminated against group in this country – the white male. I am 77 years old and served in combat in Europe during WWII. I did not volunteer to […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Neo-Nazis surfaced in Idaho, too
Dear HCN, Todd Wilkinson’s article on neo-Nazis and skinheads (HCN, 6/27/94) resonates in Idaho. This past April, activists from the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) surfaced in Idaho Falls, twice distributing racist leaflets in residential areas of the city. What is interesting about these events is the response of the city, population 45,000, which has tiny […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Let’s get rational
Dear HCN, The issue of grazing on federal lands apparently is no longer a civil debate but, according to Andy Kerr (HCN, 6/13/94), a call to arms, the newest cause of ideological tribalism. The “greens’ versus the “grazers.” Eco-terrorists engaging in actual battle with People For The West. “Us’ against “them,” whoever they are. Polarizing […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Do we really need environmental fundamentalism?
Dear HCN, One gets the impression that Andy Kerr would like us all to join him in his fundamentalism (HCN, 6/13/94). He tells us the world is divided into discrete units for us to hold in contempt: New Yuppie Scum, Elite Welfare Ranchers, and Old Land Abusers. He tells us they are bad, we are […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Navajo archaeologist honored
After 62 years with the National Park Service, Chancey Naboyia, the first known Navajo archaeologist, has retired. Naboyia, 84, was recently honored by colleagues with a lifetime achievement award, reports the Navajo-Hopi Observer. Naboyia worked as an archaeologist at national monuments such as Canyon de Chelly, Ariz., Mesa Verde, Colo., Aztec, N.M., and Chaco Canyon, […]
Posted inJuly 25, 1994: 'Unranchers' reach for West's state lands
Fish benefit from trade
An eastern Oregon rancher recently swapped his water rights in a local stream for a year’s worth of hay. Rancher Rocky Webb will receive $6,600 worth of hay from the Oregon Water Trust in exchange for not irrigating 50 acres of pasture. The result: Steelhead trout will swim in more water, reports The Oregonian, and […]