Gorgeous article (HCN, 9/19/11). Insightful and sophisticated; layered in scope; ethical and pragmatic; beautifully written. Emily DePrangTucson, Arizona Top-shelf journalism. It’s almost cruel to have to wait a year for the book after reading such astute reporting and beautiful prose. Keila SzpallerMissoula, Montana Phenomenal story. Deeply reported, deeply personal, too. I’d like to see more […]
Praise for Brad Tyer’s “Lost Opportunity”
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
Phoenix remembered
Great essay by Aaron Gilbreath (HCN, 9/5/11)! I got to Phoenix in July of 1965, when there was still a real monsoon season that brought rain with the dust, and cooler evenings. The city didn’t have the wildlife that keep you company, but you knew you were in the desert during the dry times, too, […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
Missing in action: top dogs
This article, coupled with an article I read not long ago about the inherent danger in eliminating large predators in a region — the lion in Africa — and the economic hardship it creates, fit so well together (HCN, 8/22/11). The implications are fascinating and ominous. We eliminate the large predators, such as wolves, and […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
It’s a feral, feral world
Why don’t you do an article comparable to that about feral hogs on the Western Canada goose, a species that some people regard as cuddly (“To catch a swine,” HCN, 8/22/11)? Others, like me, regard the goose situation in this country as a prime example of everything that could possibly go wrong in species intervention […]
Posted inRange
Breaching the Elwha dams: A time lapse video
By Alan Durning, Sightline.org My hobby this week has been watching the demolition of the two dams on the Elwha River via webcams. The long awaited dam removal is opening the pristine waters of the Elwha inside Olympic National Park to wild salmon for the first time in a century. I cobbled together video of […]
Posted inGoat
Too much poop can be hazardous to your health
Should large quantities of manure from giant commercial farms be considered hazardous waste? They’re not right now, and at least 14 members of Congress want to keep it that way. The group, which includes Idaho Representative Mike Simpson (R), recently signed on to the Superfund Common Sense Act, a bill that would prevent the Environmental […]
Posted inArticles
Lessons for the Colorado River from drought-stricken Australia
This spring, Brad Udall, director of the Western Water Assessment, spent four months in Australia working with its Department of Water. Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin has seen remarkable water reform in recent years in response to a long and devastating drought. Udall believes those reforms hold important lessons for the Colorado River Basin. HCN assistant editor […]
Posted inGoat
Resource plans rescinded for sage grouse
Wildlife advocates won a round against energy development and grazing in Wyoming and Idaho last week, when Idaho Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill overturned two Bureau of Land Management resource management plans in favor of the Hailey, Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project. The nonprofit conservation group argued the BLM was too hasty in development […]
Posted inWotr
Out stealing rocks from special places
A few months ago, I was making my way up Notchtop, a spire of rock in Rocky Mountain National Park. Just below the summit, I squatted over a thumb-sized piece of black and white rock and picked it up. I took a quick glance around to see if anyone was watching — besides my climbing […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
The mirage of pristine wilderness
One summer day, I went with my father and daughter to Schmitz Park in West Seattle, famous for being among the only chunks of old-growth forest within city limits. A few urban noises penetrated the 50-acre park, mostly airplanes and boat horns. But it was markedly quiet — and beautiful. The turf was springy with […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
‘Never again’
WYOMING With the cutting of a ceremonial barbed wire fence, the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center near Cody, Wyo., officially opened Aug. 20. It was a dramatic moment for the more than 250 Japanese Americans who were present: All had been imprisoned there during World War II. A crowd of nearly 1,200 other people joined […]
Posted inGoat
The urban wild
In the beginning was the bat. Roger, Isolde,* and I sipped margaritas on a warm August evening in their Boulder condo. Suddenly, Roger slammed down his drink, pointed to the ceiling and screamed, “Look out!” As a black, papery blur fluttered around the living room, I dived to the floor and slithered under the table. […]
Posted inWotr
Those buck-tooth dammers are back, big-time
“Nine degrees,” I called out, thigh-deep in the beaver pond. On the bank, foot propped on an aspen log, Sam Bixler recorded the temperature. My other partner, Dave Bolger, called out the water temperature some 60 feet upstream from the slack water of the beaver pond: “Five degrees.” The icy stream was Pennock Creek, elevation […]
Posted inRange
Down with the “National Insecurity and Federal Lands Destruction Act”
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House Updated afternoon of 10/5/11 to reflect recent changes to the bill. I was cruising along the shoreline of Upper Waterton Lake a few years back, crossing from Canada to Goat Haunt, Montana. It was around the time of the sixth anniversary of 9/11 and, as we crossed the international […]
Posted inGoat
A feel good ferret story (mostly)
Last week, or maybe it was the week before, a familiar sound drifted over from the hay field abutting the property where I live. Pop! Pop! Pop! My boyfriend and I looked at each other: “Prairie dogs,” we said in unison. Another few bite the dust. Our neighbors don’t seem to like the rodents, and […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
A part of something old: writer Kim Stafford’s storied places
In southwest Portland lies a strip of untamed land, bounded by busy roads in a dense, urban landscape. It is not a park, simply a tract of woods that developers missed. It is also not pristine nature, but it is what writer and Portland native Kim Stafford calls a “scattered Eden.” Those woods are just […]
Posted inRange
Why rural communities deserve investment
By Chuck Hassebrook, the Daily Yonder We cannot build a strong nation on a foundation of crumbling communities. Even the sound elements are weakened by those not maintained. So it would be a mistake to write off rural communities and suspend federal investment in their future, as advocated by some in the September […]
Posted inWotr
Only one thing is certain: A grizzly got killed
As with most crime stories, the details of why Jeremy Hill killed a grizzly bear in northern Idaho were slow to emerge. The federal prosecutors who charged Hill with a misdemeanor in early August were stingy with information, beyond saying that he had killed the juvenile male on his property, thereby violating the Endangered Species […]
Posted inGoat
The middles of nowhere
Crossposted from the Last Word on Nothing As someone preoccupied with odd, mysterious places, I have a longstanding appreciation for an odd, mysterious organization called The Center for Land Use Interpretation. Equal parts arts organization, archive, and amateur detective agency, the Los Angeles-based CLUI (rhymes with gooey) has a particular interest in the forgotten spaces of the […]