Wolfer: A MemoirCarter Niemeyer374 pages, softcover: $17.99.BottleFly Press, 2010. Former federal trapper and shooter Carter Niemeyer, the author of the memoir Wolfer, seems an unlikely advocate for wolves and other predators. A “wolfer,” after all, is a person who kills wolves, a job with its genesis in the great wildlife extermination campaigns that are as […]
A life in the wild
Posted inWotr
A new chance for Snake River salmon
With his Aug. 2 ruling that the federal government’s plan for salmon recovery once again fails to meet requirements of the law, U.S. District Court Judge James Redden has opened the door to a hopeful approach in efforts for recovery of wild salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. A better plan can be at […]
Posted inRange
In megaloads battle, has David slain Goliath again?
By Nick Gier, NewWest.net Is there not a cause? Let no man’s heart fail him. —David facing Goliath (Samuel 1:17) Right in the midst of their battle against ExxonMobil, residents along Idaho’s Highway 12 received an email from an unlikely but eminently appropriate source. An Israeli activist fighting gas exploration in the Elah Valley found […]
Posted inWotr
Hats off for a grand American senator, Mark O. Hatfield, 1922-2011
Some people called former Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield, who died Aug. 7 at age 89, “Saint Mark,” for his outspoken Christian faith and his teetotaling habit. Mark O. Hatfield was a man of integrity, but a saint he wasn’t — and thank goodness for that. He was the kind of leader many of us wish […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2011: Ganjanomics
Adventuring on Colorado’s big peaks
I rank them by altitude and tackle them one set at a time: the 200 highest, then the tricentennials. I’m told I was the first woman to climb Colorado’s 100 highest peaks; mathematical precision makes the task seem manageable. There are 638 mountains in the Colorado Rockies over 13,000 feet high. I’d climb them all, […]
Posted inGoat
EPA gets poor grade on keeping drinking water clean
The Environmental Protection Agency was recently reprimanded for its regulation of drinking water and the selection process it uses to select candidates for contaminant regulation. On the bright side, the agency is trying to ensure rural water systems pass muster. The Government Accountability Office just gave EPA officials a scolding for their inabilityto assess which […]
Posted inWotr
Food safety is a matter of power
In Venice, Calif., the Rawesome raw-food club was raided Aug. 3 by armed federal and county agents who arrested a volunteer and seized computers, files, cash and $70,000 worth of perishable produce. Club founder and manager James Stewart, 64, was charged with 13 counts, 12 of them related to the processing and sale of unpasteurized […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Rainbow gatherings and border art
WASHINGTON You have to hand it to the 12,000-to-15,000 people who traipse every summer to some national forest — usually in the West — where they live for a week as reunited friends who call themselves the Rainbow Family of Living Light. They’ve had 40 years of practice, so they’ve learned how to avoid leaving […]
Posted inGoat
Ancient Fish Gets Techno Boost
In 1999, the U.S. Navy approached the University of Washington’s Applied Physics lab with a mission: develop a tool that could help harbor surveillance teams detect DIDSON was the lab’s techno-fabulous answer. The advanced sonar technology works much like an ultrasound—converting reflected sound waves into visual images—but relies on a special acoustic lens that creates […]
Posted inRange
The monumental fight over Otero Mesa
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House The decade-long tussle over energy development in New Mexico’s Otero Mesa has been reinvigorated recently, as hardrock mining claims now threaten the region for the first time. The area, sometimes referred to as the “Southwest’s Serengeti,” is a 1.2 million-acre stretch of undisturbed Chihuahuan Desert grassland. The sprawling but sensitive […]
Posted inBlog
Killer compost
As you know, there has been considerable debate over the last several years about the high costs associated with organic and less-processed foods . Everyone (well nearly everyone) agrees that fresh produce and meat, minimally tainted with hormones, pesticides, and preservatives, are key ingredients in a healthy lifestyle for both people and the rest of […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2011: Ganjanomics
Barrow, Alaska: an unlikely boomtown
Richard Pak pilots an old green Land Rover along the gravel roads of Barrow, Alaska, as he does most every day. It’s June, but the air is raw and the sky is the color of impending snow, like ash poured into milk. He indicates a spot where a polar bear recently wandered up from the […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2011: Looking for Balance in Navajoland
In praise of prose
“The Global West” was well researched and beautifully written (HCN, 7/25/11). I hope the Atlantic and New Yorker crowd took notice, as the last three paragraphs of Thompson’s article could easily have qualified for their precious space. Also, thanks to the researchers who pulled together the astonishing inventory of extra-national participants in the exploitation of […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2011: Looking for Balance in Navajoland
Give us your bears and your energy
Chinese demand is also bad news for wildlife (HCN, 7/25/11). In Africa, thousands of Chinese are building railroads, highways and other projects while illegally exporting ivory. Elephants are being butchered in the thousands to meet this demand. In Russia, the Chinese will pay $50,000 for one dead, rare Siberian tiger. Apparently, they value tiger parts […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2011: Looking for Balance in Navajoland
Cleaner, shmeaner
First, I commend HCN on the excellent article, “The Global West,” which skillfully presents how energy markets are affecting resource extraction in the West (HCN, 7/25/11). I’m going to get as many of my friends and family members to read it as I can. That said, it drove me nuts to read this in one […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2011: Looking for Balance in Navajoland
A plunderer is a plunderer
Kudos to Jonathan Thompson for bringing attention to the growing plunder of Western resources by multinational corporations (HCN, 7/25/11). Not only are rare minerals being extracted at a record rate, more importantly, irreplaceable wilderness areas are being devastated in the process. And what about those American corporations that shamelessly violate and destroy our precious public […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2011: Looking for Balance in Navajoland
A bad bargain
Your article “Fumigant fight” points out that, “without an effective replacement (for methyl bromide), growers could face lower yields, costing an estimated $100 million per year” (HCN, 7/25/11). However, the purchase and application of methyl iodide is not free. Farmers are interested in net profitability, not merely revenues. Perhaps, the real negative impact on pre-tax […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2011: Looking for Balance in Navajoland
Not dead yet
“The timber industry, battered by environmental regulations and unfavorable economics, was wheezing a death rattle: In the two decades after the hippies arrived, logging in the county declined by 60 percent.” This is a bit of a pet peeve, I admit, but the timber industry in Humboldt county is not “dead.” It still contributes around […]
Posted inRange
Religious Intolerance Plays Role in Presidential Politics
Judge a person by his character, not his race, color or creed. It seems Americans — liberals and conservatives alike — could use a booster shot on this topic, at least when it comes to the issue of Mormons, or members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Two men with LDS roots, Mitt Romney […]