Seven years after the Bureau of Reclamation promised to transform itself from dam builder to environmental water manager, the agency announced its first self-imposed overhaul. Under an order signed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, the Bureau will move its headquarters from Denver back to Washington, D.C., streamline its management structure and cut 550 jobs, mostly […]
BuRec downsizes
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Rainbows over Wyoming
Counter-culture types will be dropping out somewhere in Wyoming this July when the 22nd Rainbow Gathering convenes. From 10,000 to 25,000 people are expected to come from across the country to one of Wyoming’s five national forests. Rolling Stone magazine reports that last year’s gathering drew about 10,000 people to a national forest in Alabama. […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Justice for owls, and for communities
A recent newspaper story on the revised Clinton forest plan was illustrated with a picture of Larry Mason standing by his abandoned lumber mill in Forks, Wash. I met Larry when I went to talk with Peter Yu, the administration official responsible for the jobs portion of the Clinton plan. Yu, by mistake, or perhaps […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Lycra is as ‘authentic’ as denim
It has become commonplace to attack and ridicule the socio-economic changes that are taking place in the Rocky Mountain West. With disgust and caustic humor residents lash out at the new “cappuccino cowboys,” the brightly colored, lycra-clad mountain bikers, the 20-acre ranchettes, the trophy homes of newcomers, and the network surfers on the information highway. […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
Utah utility takes aim at Colorado air
The U.S. Forest Service determined last summer that air pollution was reducing visibility and increasing degradation from acid rain in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area in northern Colorado’s Routt National Forest. It should come as no surprise, then, that Colorado forest officials, environmentalists and air-quality managers – not to mention the Environmental Protection Agency and […]
Posted inMay 2, 1994: A struggle for the last grass
At Glacier: Keep off the grass, or else
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. […]
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 […]