It was hard to keep up with the news this week for this traveling HCN editor; she was lost on a highway somewhere between Utah and Nevada when she heard the sad news about author Maurice Sendak’s death. After that, things went pretty much downhill. The House of Representatives showed disdain for fisheries and ocean […]
Friday news roundup: Catch-share cuts and free water
Posted inWotr
The teenagers we’re not helping
This winter, events in two Western states gave supporters of same-sex marriage reason to cheer. First, on Feb. 7, the 9th Circuit Court ruled that California Proposition Eight, the 2008 voter-approved ban on gay marriage, violates the U.S. Constitution. The court said the ban’s only purpose was “to lessen the status and human dignity of […]
Posted inWotr
The Pawnee Buttes oversee a changing landscape
Updated 05/11/2012, 4:07 p.m. You don’t go to Pawnee Buttes in northeastern Colorado by chance. Lonely and isolated, they stand several hundred feet above the rolling and sometimes choppy prairie. They’re nearly an hour’s drive away from an interstate highway, either I-80 or I-76, and it’s nearly that far to the nearest gas station. It’s […]
Posted inGoat
Fire wise
In 2002, the Rodeo-Chediski fire burned over 430,000 acres across the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, two national forests and private land in central Arizona. It was a momentous year for wildfire. Over seven million acres burned nationwide. In response, Congress drew up, and President Bush signed, the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. Its stated goal: to […]
Posted inWotr
Selling what’s priceless is the nuttiest idea of all
Of all the nutty ideas floating around the West of late — that Wyoming needs an aircraft carrier to prepare for the coming apocalypse, that Idaho residents should be allowed to lure wolves by using pets as bait, or that Yellowstone bison in Montana are “bio-terrorists” because they might cause brucellosis — none can match […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Library-loving geese intimidate kids
COLORADOCanada geese may not enjoy reading, but one pair has definitely become territorial about the Harmony Library on the campus of Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, Colo. When library patrons try to enter or exit the main door, the 10-to-14-pound geese hiss and flap their wings — an “intimidating” experience for little kids […]
Posted inRange
Strip mining kitty litter
So there’s this enduring stereotype about English teachers. We like cats. In my experience, it’s mostly true – among my colleagues (the nice ones anyway), a reliable conversation topic is always the latest amusing cat story/photo. There are other stereotypes also: yes, we do Tweet in complete sentences. But for the purposes of this post, […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
Balancing fish and farms on a Washington estuary
In late summer last year, a small but enthusiastic crowd gathered in northwest Washington to witness the rebirth of a waterway — the result of years of negotiation, compromise and patience. Those present heard about the project’s importance, not only for Pacific salmon, but also for the local community’s livelihood. It sounds a lot like […]
Posted inGoat
Frack fricasee
If you want evidence that it’s an election year, look no further than this press release from the Department of the Interior. It announces the department’s first-ever regulations (pdf) for certain federal lands covering several aspects of that ever controversial practice, hydraulic fracturing, wherein millions of gallons of water, plus measures of sand and chemicals, […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
Note: along with the sidebar at left, a separate editor’s note accompanies this story. At 6:30 on a warm spring morning, a brightly colored summer tanager flits above green cottonwood, willow and sycamore trees. Lower down in the forest, a vermillion flycatcher darts from one mesquite branch to another. A piercing cry — “ke-er” — […]
Posted inGoat
Friday news roundup: educating tramps everywhere
Winter has fully thawed and traveling season is upon you. You’ve spruced up the RV, swept the garage and a cooler full of ice and Shasta is sparkling on your fresh-cut lawn. Now you’re sweating behind the knees and the children are whining with their mouths to the sky, like hungry eaglets. It’s time to […]
Posted inWotr
Micah True, born to run
It was less than two years ago that I first met the near-mythical Micah True, also known as “Caballo Blanco,” Spanish for White Horse, and the central character of the bestselling book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen. He recently made headlines when he was […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
Imaginary journeys on a rowing machine
I don’t mind exercise. Really, I don’t. But I’ve always preferred to do it while accomplishing something else: going to work, talking to a friend, running an errand. At the very least, I like to huff and puff outdoors, away from the computer and incipient carpal-tunnel syndrome. Going to a gym? It’s always seemed a […]
Posted inGoat
Salmon song
From the outside, the sprawling new red shed at the base of Warm Springs Dam, in Sonoma, Calif., looks suited to cows, pigs and other farm animals. But a peek inside reveals several dozen above-ground tanks, resembling water troughs, and pools, resembling Doughboy Pools. In total, the tanks and pools hold roughly 200,000 young coho […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Making roads out of toilets
NEW MEXICOIt’s hard to know whether the calf appreciated its ride in the backseat of the car; maybe it got to poke its head out the window and flap its tongue in the wind, in classic Fido fashion. But the animal must have looked noticeably larger than even a very large dog, because a deputy […]
Posted inRange
Little grousing on the prairie
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House I’m embarrassed to say that, in the decade I’ve lived on the Colorado Front Range, I’d never been to the Pawnee National Grasslands; that is, until last week. With mountains in my rear-view, I drove east from Fort Collins. Before long, I crossed the border into Weld County (called […]
Posted inWotr
The hoof stops here
Horse slaughter is back on the table, so to speak. What amounted to a congressional ban against the practice ended when the 2011 Agriculture Appropriations bill reinstated federal funding for inspecting horses before they’re sent to a slaughterhouse. But it’s hard to know what will happen next. The Bureau of Land Management’s advisory board overseeing free-ranging […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
A literary organization tackles California gang violence
When Colleen Bailey became head of the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, Calif., a few years ago, she asked locals what they wanted from the organization. The response surprised her: “Solve our gang problem, please.” But it also made sense. The Center is highly visible and can muster significant resources. And Salinas, despite its proud […]
Posted inRange
Rants from the Hill: The silence of desert greetings
“Rants from the Hill” are Michael Branch’s monthly musings on life in the high country of Nevada’s western Great Basin desert.Rants from the Hill is now a podcast too! Listen to an audio performance of this essay, here. You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or through Feedburner for use in another podcast reader. […]