GLACIER PARK, Mont. – Another bit of the Old West became history last month when Glacier National Park’s 12 law enforcement rangers hung up their six-shooters and strapped on semiautomatic handguns. The new handguns hold more bullets than the six-shooters, and with more and more criminals packing automatic weapons, rangers don’t want to be outgunned. […]
At Glacier: Keep off the grass, or else
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Environmentalists strike out in Idaho
BOISE, Idaho – Environmentalists took a thrashing in the 1994 Idaho legislative session, which ended on April Fool’s Day. With conservative Republicans running the House and Senate, the legislature passed laws that enhanced industry at the expense of the environment. “When it suited them, the powers that be shut us out,” said Mexlinda Harm, lobbyist […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Montana ghost towns are haunted by vandals
BOZEMAN, Mont. – If you want to upset John DeHaas, strip the doorknobs and wood from an abandoned building in a Montana ghost town. Then go a step further and sell them to tourists. The retired architecture professor might not call you a thief to your face, but if someone else does, he won’t object. […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Regional wilderness bill gets a hearing
Advocates of a wilderness bill covering 20 million acres in five states finally got a chance to make their case before a congressional subcommittee. The contentious dialogue April 12 at the first public hearing of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) pitted Western lawmakers against the bill’s sponsor, New York Rep. Carolyn Mulroney, D. […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Colorado told to stop stealing water
A special water master appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court handed Colorado a stunning defeat in February. He ruled that the state has stolen hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water from Kansas since 1949. Judge Arthur Littleworth’s decision concludes an eight-year legal battle over the Arkansas River, and will likely force Colorado farmers to […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
The Forest Service sells out
As the West’s economy shifts from traditional extractive industries to real estate and recreation, the region’s largest landowner is proving to be a big-time sucker. For decades the Forest Service has lost money on timber sales, and has leased valuable oil and gas reserves virtually for free. So it’s no surprise that the agency is […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Dear friends
Odds and ends The Grand Canyon Community Library writes to say: “Our library burned to the ground on March 18. We are in dire need of donations if anyone has books they no longer need.” The library can be reached at P.O. Box 518, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023-0518. Subscribers Rick and Lindsay Silverman and son […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Free speech can be costly in New Mexico
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, A struggle for the last grass. In southwest New Mexico, it’s a struggle to be green. In 1991, wolf advocate Pamela Brown tried to show her video, Wolf Teacher, at schools in Silver City and neighboring towns. It mixes cuddly scenes of wolves licking […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Don’t bother them with facts
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, A struggle for the last grass. The flier’s drawings were tiny – a deer, a fish, a wild turkey and a cow – but its message was brassy. “ATTENTION SPORTSMEN!! Regardless of your sport, if you enjoy being able to utilize public lands, your […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Slow down all the herds
Dear HCN, The problem with George Wuerthner’s comments in a recent issue (HCN, 3/24/94) is that while he appears to be correct in his criticism of the extractive industries, in reality he’s about 10 percent correct and 90 percent missing the point. Our choices lie not between urban subdivisions and traditional grazing. Nobody’s talking about […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Whose traditional homeland?
Dear HCN, Maria Mondragon-Valdez wrote in your March 7 issue about the contentious issue of who should own the 121-square-mile Taylor Ranch in southern Colorado. She questioned whether a corporation or state entity should be able to “dominate and exploit resources at the expense of a community which considers the landscape part of its traditional […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Not the whole story
Dear HCN, Terri Martin of the National Parks and Conservation Association voices alarm about the RS 2477 road right-of-way loophole now being employed by wise-use groups to frustrate the public interest (-Other Voices’ HCN, 3/21/94). In the interest of truth, she should tell the whole story. Rather than pursue a compromise on the issue of […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Landfills: It depends on the size
Dear HCN: Please accept our thanks for the article on solid-waste management in rural areas (HCN, 3/7/94). It may well be the fairest treatment we have seen of these rules designed partly to keep today’s landfills from becoming tomorrow’s Superfund sites. One point, however, could have alarmed some small landfill operators. In discussing the Natural […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Lions can’t choose
Dear HCN, I had to read “Three mountain lions killed at Glacier” twice to believe it. “The risks to the residents were extraordinary,” a ranger is quoted as saying. Residents? Which residents? It sure did turn out to be risky for the lions. Since when are our national parks supposed to be safe suburbs for […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Watch out for the military
Dear HCN, Steve Stuebner’s article on the Idaho Training Range (HCN, 1/24/94, p. 5), a proposed Air Force bombing range that will turn approximately 3 million acres of southwest Idaho into a virtual battle zone, accurately reflects the stakes for Idaho’s environment. Environmentalists in other Western states ought to pay close attention to the Pentagon’s […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Blah, blah, blah
Dear HCN, I don’t care much for Jeffrey St. Clair’s writing. This was my reaction to the first essay of his that I saw in your paper; and the feeling is only reinforced by his second essay (HCN, 3/21/94). Both pieces seek to validate accusations with such meaningless generalizations as “ecological cleansing” and “intellectual venereal […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Environmentalists are revolutionaries
Dear HCN, As an environmentalist, I was surprised at Ed Marston’s conclusion in his recent HCN, essay (-How to turn lemonade into lemons,” March 21) that “the goal of environmentalism was never to achieve a cultural revolution.” Silly me. I thought I was part of a social movement with a goal of enacting fundamental social […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
We pay for a “nice way of life’
Dear HCN, It is hard to realize that less than 29,000 ranchers in the West can have such an unreasonable political influence over public lands. Some major industries have laid off more employees than the total number of ranchers in the West. We doubt that condominiums will ever replace ranches. The isolation, severe weather, lack […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Bring back real estate ads
Dear HCN, I just noted your new policy of not running real estate ads and wanted to say that this was one of the features I really enjoy about HCN. Why not limit the wording in some way? Your readership is an excellent target audience for environmentally unique properties. Also, if they buy it, your […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
Observations from a cattleman
Dear HCN, I read your paper with interest, amusement and sometimes disgust. First, I want to inform you that I am a 73-year-old cattleman as well as a staunch environmentalist. Despite your beliefs to the contrary, a man can be both and many are. I’m even in favor of the reintroduction of wolves. The majority […]