Chuck Bowden smoldered. He was a volcano, and he bled for us. Pure courage, he never wavered, shifting from his earlier genre of Thoreau-esque, outdoor meditation to hard-boiled organized crime coverage of a horrific and dangerous nature. His style was elemental, raw, alternating between a love of the region and its people, and a healthy […]
Love and cynicism
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
Latest: Montana judge rules groups of wells illegal
“Exempt well” laws in most Western states allow domestic wells to be drilled without water rights.
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
Keep the spray out of the oatmeal
One advertisement urged housewives to “MURDER Flying Pests” with the Black Flag bomb, which basically consisted of aerosol DDT. Another exhorted parents to cover the walls of their kids’ rooms with Trimz DDT, “a children’s room wallpaper” infused with pesticide to protect babies from flies, mosquitoes and ants. Parents Magazine said the wallpaper was perfectly […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
Hope and futility on the Great Plains
Review of ‘Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Land’ by Dan O’Brien.
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
Fast currents
In the summer of 1969, my then-husband and I, in our mid-20s, enjoyed a refreshing swim in the Snake River after a hiking trip into the Bridger Wilderness Area. The current was fast, so we cooled ourselves off near shore, blissfully unaware that future generations might be denied this experience if they valued their good […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
Dear Forest Service: Today’s John Muir shoots video
Let people take all the images they want in wilderness areas.
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
California’s sweeping new groundwater regulations
Will the law finally mean better aquifer management for the drought-stricken state?
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
Photographs of the Gold Beach community
The people affected by this timberland herbicide cocktail.
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
A young mule stringer helps keep a dying profession alive
Mules are still needed to carry supplies in wild, roadless mountains.
Posted inArticles
Tar sands mining, up front and grotesque
Heartbreaking, dehumanizing, toxic — these aren’t the words most people would pick to describe the boreal forest of Canada. But in the far reaches of northern Alberta, this description seems accurate to me. This lush forest of larch, aspen and spruce –– a place where wood bison used to roam –– has degenerated to ravaged […]
Posted inArticles
The Uintah Basin’s tricky oil and gas ozone problem
Can officials greenlight booming development and clean up the air at the same time?
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: What’s Drier than David Sedaris?
The Ranter Defends Both Nevadans and Count Chocula.
Posted inArticles
Mission Ready for Climate Change
Five things the West can learn from the military about climate adaptation.
Posted inArticles
Will California’s Proposition 1 give rise to more dams?
While some environmental groups support the water bond on Tuesday’s ballot, some call it “mystery meat.”
Posted inArticles
Dispatch from a young farmers confab
How better dirt can conserve water, save farming and help feed the West.
Posted inArticles
The BLM fails to provide public records
The agency’s main Freedom of Information Act office appears incompetent or overworked.
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Report warns of illegal drilling on federal land
Outdated rules and budget shortfalls make it hard to catch.
Posted inArticles
The push is on to “take back” public lands
Utah is ground zero this year for the attempt by some Western states to claim federal lands. In September, when Southern Utah University hosted a debate on the controversial proposal, close to 250 people packed the hall as two professors, Bob Keither and Dan McCool, argued that however messy its oversight, the federal government should […]
Posted inArticles
The Young and the reckless: Alaskan congressman’s offenses draw spotlight
Don Young might be the most volatile politician in America.