Surrendering U.S. turf : That’s the impression given by new signs on some Bureau of Land Management land in southern Arizona. The signs — which warn people to avoid the area south of Interstate 8 — were installed after a local sheriff’s deputy was reportedly shot by a Mexican drug trafficker in late April. “We […]
Border creep
Posted inArticles
Not good news for the locals
Afghans might learn from history what happens to people who live above valuable minerals.
Posted inRange
HCN Reader Photo – the Palouse
This reader photo spotlights a beautiful section of the Northwest, the Palouse. Photographer Joe Rocchio points out that the now-agricultural region was once a prairie; it must have been incredibly beautiful then, too. Browse eh existing images and add your photos to our HCN Flickr pool; we periodically feature them on the Range community […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
The fight for the Flathead
Environmental victories come in increments, not meetings
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Peril in paradise
The Light In High Places: A Naturalist Looks at Wyoming Wilderness, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Cowboys, and Other Rare SpeciesJoe Hutto256 pages, hardcover: $24.95.Skyhorse Publishing, 2009. To Joe Hutto, a “romantic scientist,” it seemed that the vast grandeur of Wyoming’s Wind River Range existed “in spite of us,” that “human civilization and technology had proven […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
An example and an antidote
Imagination in PlaceWendell Berry196 pages, hardcover, $24.Counterpoint, 2010. Wendell Berry, the author of 50 books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, is a farmer who has lived his life in service to “local geography and local culture.” By chance and choice, he tells us in his new collection of essays, Imagination in Place, he has lived […]
Posted inRange
The Mojave National Preserve Conservancy
Chris Clarke could see the entire northern part of the Mojave National Preserve from the summit of Kessler Peak. Light from that magical hour around sunset highlighted distant mountains and ridgelines. The view was spectacular. But as the sun dipped below the horizon he realized the path he’d taken to climb to the top was […]
Posted inWotr
Climate change: Check the data yourself
A collaborative online effort allows both skeptics and believers to study and compare the facts.
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
The Ute Paradox
A small Colorado tribe takes control of its energy resources and becomes a billion-dollar corporation — but has it gone too far?
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
The Southern Utes’ empire
A history of lost land … and a big comeback
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Some of the key players
LEONARD BURCH, who died in 2004, is widely considered the Southern Utes’ most influential leader. He was elected tribal chairman in 1966 and served for 30 years, with just one three-year hiatus to comply with term limits. SAM MAYNES, sometimes called the last real water buffalo in the West, was instrumental in getting two water […]
Posted inRange
Push polls in the Rockies
I had read about “push polls,” but until last week, I had never been exposed to one. A “push poll” may sound like a real poll at first, but as the questions proceed, it’s obvious that the pollster is trying to influence your thinking, rather than find out what you’re thinking, which is what legitimate […]
Posted inGoat
Victory for the Creek Freaks
Several years ago, I followed a group of creek defenders down to a little stretch of habitat in Compton, Calif. – yes, that Compton, like Straight Outta Compton – where blue herons alighted on the lightpoles above a natural softbottom creek, a tributary of the Los Angeles River. My guides, from Southern California’s influential nonprofit […]
Posted inGoat
Calm before the storm
Drought, beetle kill, extended fire seasons, disappearing glaciers, early spring runoff—these signs of climate change flicker at the edge of Western life like the lightning flashes of an approaching summer storm. Late last month, the Western Governors’ Association, a nonpartisan organization that works with the governors of 19 western states and three U.S. territories, took […]
Posted inGoat
The West’s growing waistline
Every time the national obesity numbers come out, with the obligatory map showing Colorado as a beacon of skinniness in an increasingly tubby American population, I can’t help but feel a smidge of pride. Colorado! The active state! But the comparative numbers only tell a partial tale of the United States’ weight-gain woe. Even in the mountain state, […]
Posted inGoat
Jumping (to) the gun
There may be no verified wolves, yet, in Colorado, but you bet there are in the Beaver State. In the arid northeast corner of Oregon, two packs totaling 14 wolves have appeared and, of late, they’ve been worrying the locals. “You’ve got essentially a social experiment here,” Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen told the Oregonian […]
Posted inRange
Environmental Law’s Greatest Tragedy
Ask John or Jane Q. Public about how the environmental laws in this country are implemented, and you’re likely to get a blank stare. No one really knows, but with the BP spill and Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant leaks in the headlines, people are sure the system isn’t working. As a practicing environmental lawyer, […]
Posted inBlog
Representatives ask Obama to examine impacts of tar sands pipeline
In late June, the Obama Administration received a letter [PDF] from fifty members of the U.S. House of Representatives, demanding that the President take a hard look at the climate change impacts of a proposed oil pipeline that would more than double the United States’ consumption of Canadian tar sands oil. This 1,600-mile oil pipeline, called Keystone […]