When I was in the fourth grade south of San Francisco, I squirted a glob of Elmers glue onto an index card, pressed a rock into it, and used a black felt tip pen to write a pretty cool sounding word beneath my specimen: Serpentine. Then, I added a brief description on the card in […]
In defense of a rock
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Seeing the triceratops for the trees
Kirk Johnson combines science and art to create an ancient landscape
Posted inWotr
Bison are flourishing, but not always in the right place
Though images of bison aren’t the first thing that pop into mind when you think of Grand Canyon, the animals that lumber like walking boulders have become a significant attraction for visitors to the North Rim. The bison are part of a herd that was introduced to the Kaibab Plateau in the early 1900s, courtesy […]
Posted inGoat
Will the real data please stand up?
Facing a comprehensive federal investigation on the health and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing of gas wells, some natural gas advocates seem resistant to finding any answers at all. In preparation for its much-anticipated study this summer the Environmental Protection Agency is holding public hearings around the country, asking citizens to help determine the study’s […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Beware the leprechaun
THE WESTWhat is it about summer and people acting nutty in cars? In Salt Lake City, “a naked woman led police on a wild chase with two stolen cars — including their cruiser,” reports the Salt Lake Tribune. A week later, a Utah man ran Wyoming state police ragged by first driving erratically, then taking […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
The HCN mix
“I have been a subscriber for a long time … I have concerns about how HCN has changed over recent years. It has become like a glossy news magazine … Is HCN still relevant to what is happening in the West?” That recent note from a careful reader got the attention of the editors here. […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Strength in small victories
Two letters slammed Kim Todd’s essay “Walking Woman” for alleged inaccuracies of grammar and, more deeply, for incorrectness of attitude — demonstrating exactly what too often turns us enviros into self-defeating scolds (HCN, 5/24/10). First, to the would-be grammarian: In 30 years of hiking and climbing the range as a native-born L.A. boy, I and […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Native fish vs. native Americans
In reading the issue of June 7, I was rather shocked by the disparity of funding for programs covered. In particular, $120 million for razorback suckers and $1.4 million to help Native Americans integrate into the modern school system. Leon JonesOgden, Utah This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
It’s the science, not the numbers
Hal Herring’s recent article on wolf hunts mischaracterizes Defenders of Wildlife’s position as supporting a population goal of 450 wolves per state, when we do not in fact seek such a target (HCN, 5/10/10). It’s tempting to try to come up with a number of wolves that all stakeholders can agree on, in hopes of […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
How to return a pot
Imagine discovering a pot tucked inside an ancient ruin on a hike. That’d really look nice on my mantel, you think, and grab it. Later, you learn that collecting artifacts from public lands is not only illegal, it permanently destroys the object’s original context and meaning — the information that helps archaeologists piece together the […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
HCN rocks with eTown
ETown, the eco-groovy weekly radio music show based in Boulder, Colo., will honor HCN Founder Tom Bell and HCN‘s 40th Anniversary with its E-chievement Award at a special concert July 30 at the Redrocks Amphitheater near Denver. The “Greenrocks at Redrocks” event will feature great music from Lyle Lovett and Taj Mahal, a little stage […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Green on brown
Your recent article regarding renewable energy on brownfields is accurate and well-timed (HCN, 6/7/10). This idea makes sense for developers and site owners like mining companies, but the advantages for land conservation deserve to be more fleshed out. Siting large renewable energy projects on disturbed areas eases the pressure to develop pristine public lands such […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Dust takes a toll
Soil in the West’s air disrupts health, snow cover, even rainfall
Posted inRange
New national monument is an idea worth considering
By Bill Schneider, NewWest.net guest blogger, 7-15-10 Back in February somebody leaked seven pages of a “vision document” conceived within the Department of the Interior and created quite a political uproar. OMG! Top brass in the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service (all Interior Department agencies) and a few […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Turning back the tide
Preserving the beautiful and fragile Elkhorn Slough
Posted inGoat
Shutting down the batcave
Like some nightmarish scene from a horror film, bats have been dying by the millions from a pervasive, infectious fungus that causes white-nose syndrome. As Madeline Bodin relates in her recent HCN story “Bracing for White-Nose Syndrome” the fungus looks like powder on the faces and wings of bats and kills them by driving them […]
Posted inBlog
This Saturday, Prayers for the Peaks
Earlier this week I had the good fortune to share a conversation with David Johns, acting president of the Navajo medicine men’s association. Mr. Johns and his colleagues in the Dine Hataalii Association (DHA) are preparing for a Navajo Nation-wide day of prayer this Saturday, to support the campaign to protect the holy San Francisco […]
Posted inRange
Rants from the Hill: Greetings from Nevada
“Rants from the Hill” are Michael Branch’s monthly reflections on life in the high country of Nevada’s western Great Basin desert. I live with my wife and two young daughters in the high desert of the western Great Basin, at 6,000 feet on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, on a desiccated hilltop so […]