The weather of Venice Beach, California, where I live, is for the most part stable, and almost always predictable. No sudden squalls appear out of the southwest to chase skateboarders off their concrete ramps; never do we hear the civil-defense sirens warning of an approaching tornado. Living here, swimming and surfing at the beach a […]
Was the fatal thunderstorm in California a climate phenomenon?
Posted inGoat
Colorado water users gird for first statewide plan
Last year, 14 years into a regional drought, forecasts predicted that as many as 2.5 million Coloradans could be without sufficient water supplies by 2050. And yet the state still had no official plan to deal with its looming water crisis. In response to the troubling situation, Governor Hickenlooper issued an executive order: Colorado needed […]
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
The virtues of old-school car camping
Backwoods adventure isn’t the only way to develop an affinity for the outdoors.
Posted inGoat
Colorado River Basin groundwater levels drop even faster than reservoirs
When Lake Mead is full it’s the largest reservoir in the U.S., capable of holding two years’ worth of water from the Colorado River. But the Southwest has been trapped in a 14-year drought, and the states Mead feeds – Nevada, Arizona and California – are thirsty. The reservoir is now only about half full […]
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
Gear companies go local
A new crop of manufacturers try to succeed without selling out.
Posted inWotr
Why I am a Tea Party member
Every once in a while, someone asks me why I helped start the Tea Party in Bozeman, Montana. To make the story short, I say something like this: It was spring 2009, and I’d become increasingly disenchanted with both political parties’ support of rampant government overspending; I worried about its impact on our nation and […]
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
Are we smart enough to solve our raven problem?
As ravens spread, they’re finding friends and foes in Western states.
Posted inGoat
‘Lucking out’ for Wyoming’s winter smog
Air quality gets a boost from the state’s infamous sagebrush and wind.
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The work of a Wall Street wrangler
Jay Ellis will consider buying scenic ranchland across the West on two conditions. First, the acreage needs to be close enough to towns with “amenities” — entertainment, places to eat, and an airport or landing strip. The parcel also needs to contain “live water,” or some combination of lakes, rivers and streams. Then, after spending […]
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
The death of backpacking?
Younger people don’t seem interested in this outdoors tradition.
Posted inGoat
On the Wilderness Act’s 50th, a backpack into the Weminuche
Author ponders Wilderness Act on its 50th birthday.
Posted inGoat
In Southcentral Alaska, salmon declines are pinned on a toothy invader
Earlier this month, I wrote about the Yukon River’s chinook salmon runs, which have lately plummeted for reasons that remain murky. While researchers are years from cracking that mystery, the Yukon isn’t the only Alaskan river losing its salmon. In the state’s Susitna River basin, which courses through Southcentral Alaska near Anchorage, the mighty fish […]
Posted inWotr
The battle for women’s suffrage continues
In Montana, no woman has held federal office since 1916, when Montanans elected their first and only female Congressional representative.
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
Reflections on the Wilderness Act at 50
The concept may need some rethinking, but it’s still an important way to preserve some of our most treasured land.
Posted inGoat
Of packrat poop, creosote bush and juniper-fed lamb
Scientists find that gut bacteria can help animals digest toxic plants.
Posted inWotr
Our reliance on drones to patrol the borders
When I think of Canada, I picture caribou herds, universal healthcare and the occasional hockey brawl. Officials at our Department of Homeland Security, however, seem to think the neighbors up North pose a serious security threat. After all, the department has spent the last five years quietly building a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles — […]
Posted inGoat
A bison boost for Native economies
“Buffalo is better for you than skinless chicken,” Karlene Hunter will tell you. “It has more omega-3s than an avocado.” Hunter is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and CEO of Native American Natural Foods. The company, which she cofounded in 2007, makes all-natural, low-calorie buffalo […]
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
WWII code talkers, cleaning Utah caverns and more
COLORADOAnyone who reads a blog called Government Executive now knows that some U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staffers are not just unhappy; they also appear un-housebroken. In the agency’s Denver office, for example, there have been several incidents of “inappropriate bathroom behavior, including defecating in the hallway.” Managers said they were trying to find the culprit […]
Posted inJuly 21, 2014: On the Wild Edge
We’re prepared to buy back our own land
On June 9, 1855, the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla people agreed to a treaty that ceded 6.4 million acres of land to the United States, in what would become northeast Oregon and southwest Washington. In return for that lavish gift, 250,000 acres were reserved for the tribes, “all of which tract shall be set […]