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 […]
Wise-use ordinances suffer legal setback
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 […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Join the eagles
Eagle watchers will convene in Klamath Falls, Ore., Feb. 18-20 during the largest gathering of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. They will also attend the 15th annual Klamath Basin Bald Eagle Conference, sponsored by the Klamath Basin Audubon Society and other non-profit groups and federal agencies, to look at the successes of bald […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Idaho’s unsettling sediment
A new government study shows that Idaho’s Lake Coeur d’Alene is one of the most contaminated bodies of water in the world. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 85 percent of the 50-square-mile lake bed is contaminated with 75 million metric tons of sediments containing silver, copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. The contamination […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Agriculture in the round
For the past three years, up to 400 people have gathered in Denver for Colorado Gov. Roy Romer’s Agricultural Outlook Forum. This year, on Feb. 18, Romer wants the gathering to focus on the ecology and economics of sustainable farming. Experts such as Marty Strange, who founded Nebraska’s Center for Rural Affairs, and Ralph Grossi, […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Slip sliding away
Preventing land from washing into streams, rivers and lakes may not be the sexiest topic around, but for 25 years the International Erosion Control Association has held an annual conference in an attempt to make it so. This year’s conference, scheduled for Feb. 15-18 in Reno, Nev., tackles “Sustaining Environmental Quality: The erosion control challenge,” […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Taking back Santa Fe
Hoping to rein in the runaway development that has transformed Santa Fe, N.M., into a mecca for tourists and the affluent, a new group is registering voters for the city elections March 1. Take Back Santa Fe has trained dozens of volunteers who are going door-to-door to register people to vote. Organizer Gloria Mendoza says […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Texan fights out-of-state wastes
In Sierra Blanca, Texas, someone burned Bill Addington’s family lumber yard to the ground last September. Addington says the arson was a message to him and others: Stop protesting the importation of sewage sludge and nuclear waste. Addington heads a citizens’ group of over 70 people which has resisted waste disposal from other states for […]