Two highways meet in a “Y” at Why, Ariz. This remote crossroads some 30 miles from Mexico seems an unlikely vacation spot, but for the past three years I’ve made it my winter retreat. At first glance, Why doesn’t seem like much. There are a couple of dozen simple houses, a few dirt streets, two […]
Why Why? A stark, no-frills retreat from the world
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
Wyoming lawsuit would privatize wildlife
No one owns the sky. At least not yet. But ownership of the land, the water and now the wildlife is continually sought by people with too much money and a lot of greed. This country was founded by people running from kings who only let land-owning aristocrats hunt. Even if they were starving, the […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
Las Vegas wheels and deals for Colorado River water
Las Vegas is prepared to give up its controversial quest to pipe underground water from rural Nevada, says the area’s top water official. But only if the booming metropolis can get more water from the Colorado River. That’s a big if, requiring changes in how the Colorado River has been run for most of this […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
Navajo: Portrait of a Nation
Producing Navajo: Portrait of a Nation was a study in perseverance for photographer Joel Grimes. Grimes was a Belagaana, a white man, and his camera was seen as a threat by some Navajos – a way to take another small piece from a culture that has struggled to maintain its traditions. But with the help […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
State land lease in Idaho goes to the low bidder
In an abrupt turnaround, the Idaho Land Board took away a lease for state grazing land won by an environmentalist, then gave it back to the rancher who has used it for 20 years. At a Jan. 28 auction, Jon Marvel, founder of Idaho Watersheds Project, outbid Challis ranchers Will and Vangie Ingram for rights […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
They’re fed up, and aren’t going to take it anymore
At a tumultuous meeting in late January, the Nevada Association of Counties endorsed a movement to turn control of federal lands over to state government. Cheered on by 70 ranchers and miners, the group approved a letter to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. It proposed that Nevada assume control of its […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
Wise-use ordinances suffer legal setback
In a decision that environmentalists hope will reverberate throughout the West, an Idaho district judge ruled that a county wise-use law is unconstitutional. Judge James Michaud said Jan. 28 that Boundary County’s land-use plan asserting local control over all decisions affecting federal and state lands in the county violates both the Idaho and U.S. constitutions […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
Ideological schism leads to a personal feud
Randal O’Toole and Jeffrey St. Clair aren’t exactly household names. But tree-huggers know the pair as former publisher and editor of Forest Watch, a now-defunct national monthly. It folded last August after a decade covering the West’s national forests. Forest Watch had been an especially reliable source of information on the crisis in the Northwest […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
Will plan save or destroy the grizzly?
A two-month battle between environmentalists and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials over the newly released Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan may end up in court. On Jan. 26, three environmental groups, the Fund for Animals, the Colorado-based Biodiversity Legal Foundation, and the Montana-based Swan View Coalition, gave 60-days’ notice to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
Jim Baca says the Department of Interior is in deep trouble
A few days after Jim Baca was fired from his job as director of the Bureau of Land Management, he said: “I will look into New Mexico political races and maybe run for governor. Maybe it’s the governors who are running policy on public land.” Baca says he did anger several Western governors. “I went […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 1994: Draining the budget to desalt the Colorado
BLM chief Jim Baca leaves amidst cheers and boos
Jim Baca’s nine-month run as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management chief ended Feb. 3. After Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt made it clear in a private meeting that Baca’s services at BLM were no longer desired, the usually outspoken Baca reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a piece of paper containing his resignation. […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Risky business
Dear HCN, A recent letter to the editor in HCN belittled collaborative groups that try to solve natural resource conflicts as being too small and too slow. I ask, which is more effective: slow, steady progress, or rapid suit and countersuit that characterize our current attempts to control resources? Are the salmon making a comeback […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Sheep erase history
Dear HCN, A major blow to Hells Canyon prehistory has been soil erosion caused by over-grazing domestic stock, mainly sheep. Soil provides the context and something close to a set of rules or guidelines for making sense out of archaeological remains. Without the soil that surrounds them, artifacts are like words in a language without […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Upstarts today are establishment soon
Dear HCN, Rifts like the one in the Northwest environmental community described in Kathie Durbin’s article (HCN, 12/27/93) are often portrayed as moral questions: hardliners vs. sellouts or realists vs. idealists. In fact, these splits are perfectly predictable given the rules of the political game. Organizations such as the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society work […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
No cows, no way
Dear HCN, WAKE UP High Country News! How loudly does the land have to scream before you come to your senses? The Western public lands you so graciously sacrifice to the rancher only account for 2-to-3 percent of the annual forage of livestock. Pocket change. Get all cows off public lands permanently and watch 300 […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Look also within, Utah
Dear HCN, Grateful thanks to Rep. Kelly Atkinson, D-West Jordan (Utah), for his expression of concern regarding Umetco Minerals’ plan to bury radioactive waste in Uravan, Colo., on the San Miguel River and a short 20 miles from the Utah-Colorado border (HCN, 11/29/93). While it’s true we all live downstream, I would suggest that Utah […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Work for (a) change
Would you like to build trails and fences on a nature preserve this summer? How about researching and writing on conservation issues in Idaho? The Northern Rockies Action Group recently published the third annual Making a Change: A Student Guide to Social Change Internships in the Northern Rockies, which describes internships with environmental and social […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Cow stomp and more
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance will hold a conference for anti-grazing activists in Salt Lake City on Feb. 19. “Take Back the West” is designed for people discouraged by the Interior Department’s efforts at grazing reform. It includes talks about Babbitt’s soon-to-be-released grazing regulations and the wise-use movement. Grazing activist George Wuerthner and writer-naturalist Terry […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Canyonlands backcountry plan
In an attempt to preserve the wildness and solitude of eastern Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, the National Park Service wants to restrict camping, backpacking and mountain biking in heavily used and ecologically important areas of the park. In a 66-page environmental assessment, the agency lays out five alternatives for managing backcountry use of the 337,000-acre […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Wanted: Wild poets
Poets who find their inspiration in nature may want to enter the ninth annual wilderness poetry competition sponsored by the Utah Wilderness Association. The group welcomes poems on the theme of wilderness, its preservation and spiritual nature. The winning poet receives $100, and the winning poem and five honorable mentions will be printed in the […]