Dear HCN, In Ed Marston’s review of Rangeland Health (HCN, 4/9/94), the term “handmaiden” pejoratively described the relationship between range science and the livestock industry. Why this female gendered word? Why not use “servant” or “lackey” or “busboy’? Are most range scientists female? I think not. Jane Crosby Boise, Idaho This article appeared in the […]
Handperson
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Years of consensus failed in Utah
Dear HCN, In the Grand Canyon Trust, HCN has finally found an environmental group on the Colorado Plateau that champions the idea that we need to win over local communities if we hope to win over the land (HCN, 4/4/94). Contrary to writer Jim Bishop’s assertions, the Grand Canyon Trust’s approach to resolving environmental conflict […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Don’t blame the BLM
Dear HCN, High Country News couldn’t resist the urge to engage in BLM bashing in Florence Williams’ story on the El Pinacate reserve (HCN, 3/21/94). The front page states, “Directly to the north are public lands, U.S.-style: a military bombing range, cow-beaten BLM allotments, …” In fact there are no BLM-managed lands directly to the […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
BLM OKs drilling near cave, sort of
The Bureau of Land Management will allow a New Mexico company to drill for gas on federal land near Lechuguilla Cave, the deepest cave in the United States and part of Carlsbad Caverns National Park (HCN, 2/22/93). But Yates Petroleum says the strict criteria the agency established for the leases make it economically infeasible to […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
A bright idea
When the lights start to dim or the TV won’t turn on, some Navajos in Arizona know it’s time to drive to a gas station and recharge the car battery. For the 10,000 people who live out of range of the tribal utility’s powerlines, car batteries provide a quick, though inconvenient, source of energy. But […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
A spinning door
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Dan Beard isn’t happy with former agency colleague Joe Hall. Eight months after resigning as the number two official at the bureau, Hall was hired as a $95-per-hour consultant by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, reports The Denver Post. According to federal ethics law, former top officials must abstain from […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Woodlot owners at risk
-I know I’ll have to sue him,” says Ken Hopkins of Greenbluff, Wash., who is unhappy with a private logger who harvested trees on Hopkins’ woodlot. The dispute centers around the price for trees and environmental damages from improper logging, according to the Spokane Spokesman-Review. State officials in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Utah say […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
At last, a California desert bill
After winning overwhelming approval in the U.S. Senate, the California Desert Protection Act is only one vote away from becoming law. The voluminous bill, which was held up for eight years by Republican opponents and commercial interests, would create 74 new wilderness areas, three new national parks, and protect a total of 6.3 million acres […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
It ain’t Antioch
Male grizzly bears basically have two courting styles: find a female and guard her from other males; or, find one that is mating, chase the male away and take over. Those are the conclusions of “Do Big Mean Studs Get All the Action?” and “Why Are Deadbeat Dads Often Abusive?” two chapter titles Lance Craighead […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
A forest supervisor says ‘thank you’
I received a provocative and compelling book the other day called Clearcut: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry, published by Sierra Club (HCN, 4/4/94). If you prefer looking backward instead of forward, the impact of the images and ideas in this book can only be described as deeply disturbing. The images have an emotional power, and […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Endless pressure, endlessly applied
Never have a president and secretary of the Interior so disappointed conservationists as have Bill Clinton and Bruce Babbitt. The firing of Jim Baca as Bureau of Land Management director is simply the icing on a multi-layered cake of betrayal. We shouldn’t be surprised, though. Between nomination and taking office as secretary of the Interior, […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
We need a regional wilderness law
Montana roadless lands have been under siege for nearly two decades. Although Montana congressmen brought forth 15 wilderness bills, they were more accurately commodity bills that strongly favored timber and mining. All failed. In June 1993, Rep. Pat Williams (D-Mont.) tried again. Although #16 is better in some respects than its predecessors, it is no […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Home on the Range: A Culinary History of the AmericanWest
To Catch Wild Ducks,Geese or Birds AliveSoak wheat in strong alcohol.Scatter where they are in the habit of feeding.Take them while they are drunk. * Early recipe book titled Cookbook private collection, ca. 1880 Coon Cake Take what flour you have, mix with water, shorten with coon oil and fry in coon fat. Army Coffee […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Montana wolves can’t find safe habitat
Two members of a pioneering wolf pack on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front were recently moved to Glacier National Park after they were blamed for killing four calves this spring. Two adults and two yearlings were allowed to remain, at least for now. But because of a political stalemate between state and federal wildlife officials, the […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Cities fight to keep water out of the Platte
Standing on the banks of the Platte River in central Nebraska, surrounded by cottonwood trees and dense brush, it’s hard to imagine how different the river looked 100 years ago. It’s “an enormous change in habitat over the last century,” says Ken Strom, manager of the National Audubon Society’s Rowe Wildlife Refuge near Kearney, Neb. […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Sleuth says wolves are usually innocent
When it comes to killing livestock, the wolves recolonizing Montana have a reputation larger than their appetite. Carter Niemeyer has investigated more than 100 livestock carcasses where wolves were the prime suspects. He can count the number of confirmed wolf kills on one hand: five. The rest? “Nothing led us to believe further that wolves […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Lawsuit is launched against grazing in Montana
A legal attack against public-lands ranching is under way in Montana. The National Wildlife Federation and its Montana affiliate filed suit March 30 against the Forest Service, Beaverhead National Forest Supervisor Bert Kulesza and Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas in federal District Court in Butte, Mont. Tom France, National Wildlife Federation attorney in Missoula, […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Jicarilla Indians expand their reservation
DULCE, N.M. – Maybe it was the dance of history coming full circle. Most likely, though, it was just common sense. “They don’t make land no more,” reasons Jicarilla Apache Tribal President Leonard Atole, a thin smile on his face. “So while it’s there you should get some for the people.” The Jicarilla Apaches, oft-forgotten […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
Court rains on title to Colorado land grant
The “little cloud” on the title of the Taylor Ranch in Colorado’s San Luis Valley remains, thanks to a landmark Colorado Supreme Court ruling in favor of Costilla County residents. On May 2, the court said there should be a trial to determine whether the constitutional rights of residents were violated in 1960, when landowner […]
Posted inMay 16, 1994: Babbitt is trying to nationalize the BLM
National Park Service is put on a starvation diet
During the week of May 22, America is to celebrate “National Parks Week,” ” a creation of new Park Service Director Roger Kennedy. But some Park Service employees may not be in the mood to join the celebration. The new director is driving the agency headlong into a sweeping reorganization that may include job cuts […]