Not every school has endangered species in attendance. But when you’re the size of Stanford University, you’ve got more than a few enrolled. The university owns over 8,000 continuous acres in two counties, and several cities, much of which is undeveloped oak-studded savanna or forest. Five narrow creeks flow through to the San Francisco Bay, […]
Big Plan on Campus
Posted inRange
Colin Peterson, the 2012 Farm Bill and the environment
Lead by Chairman Colin Peterson of Minnesota, the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee held hearings and took testimony in April and May in preparation for a new Farm Bill. Peterson would like to pass a new version of the bill in 2012. The process began with a hearing in DC on April 21st which I […]
Posted inBlog
Gulf tragedy highlights need for Native renewables
Six weeks after the blowout, the calamity in the Gulf of Mexico shows no signs of abating – in fact, information emerging from the region continues to reveal new dimensions of the disaster. Media reports suggest that this is the worst environmental catastrophe in history; that long-term damage to the Gulf’s ecosystem will cripple not […]
Posted inJune 7, 2010: One Tough Sucker
Limbo land: Brownfields for green energy
Renewable energy projects planned for contaminated lands
Posted inWotr
Dress code for the Western guy
Wranglers, snap shirts, and cowboy hats — horse optional.
Posted inRange
The 2012 Farm Bill dance has a sad history
Last week the Agricultural Committee of the US House of Representatives began work on the 2012 Farm Bill with a kick-off hearing. I happened to be in DC at the time and I stood in line with lobbyists for farm groups waiting to get a good seat in the wood paneled hearing room. I was […]
Posted inJune 7, 2010: One Tough Sucker
Bracing for white nose syndrome
Western scientists take precautions against a deadly bat disorder
Posted inGoat
Regional variations in the GOP
Just as Coastal Democrats differ from Interior Democrats, Republicans come in regional varieties. Or so argues Jacob Weisberg in Slate, an online magazine owned by the Washington Post. He sees three GOP regions: Northeastern, Southern and Western. The Northeastern — the moderate variety — is nearly extinct, though showed signs of life with Scott Brown’s […]
Posted inWotr
First clean up, then talk more mining
Trust us, the industry giants keep saying as they try to assure us they can mine the earth without harming it. Trust us, for we have the best technology now and have learned from our mistakes. Trust us, for we have every possible safeguard in place for every event that could go terribly wrong. Trust […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Gettin’ skunked
IDAHOIn April, staffers at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game decided to correct what they perceived as nature gone awry by sprinkling a handful of hungry predators around an island swarming with birds. The agency introduced three badgers and two skunks to 6-acre Gull Island in the Blackfoot Reservoir in hopes the animals would […]
Posted inJune 7, 2010: One Tough Sucker
Yellowstone bison: Hazed and confused
Park’s buffalo herd caught in gridlock
Posted inHeard Around the West
Crime doesn’t pay
UTAHSome Salt Lake City crooks easily get away with audacious heists, while others are, well, inept. The first caper involved the theft of Mayor Ralph Becker’s bike, locked in front of the main library while folks inside took part in an all-day Utah Bike Summit. The thief used bolt cutters to break the bike lock […]
Posted inWotr
Whoever thought the Lake Powell bathtub was a good idea?
A dozen miles from Lake Powell, up the Dirty Devil River, our canoes enter the old lake-bottom layer. Dirt banks rise above our heads, and the turbid river churns through an alley bounded by sand walls. Bend by tight bend we cut deeper into the canyon of fine sands. On top, a fringe of tamarisk […]
Posted inGoat
Names in high places
An old college friend lives near Seattle. He’s about as chauvinistic about his Cascades as I am about our Rocky Mountains. I used to annoy him by pointing out that his majestic Mt. Rainier was only 14,410 feet high, while our rather nondescript Mt. Harvard was a towering 14,420. And Harvard is only the third-tallest […]
Posted inRange
HCN Reader Photo: Western Sandpipers
Given all the sad news and images out of the Gulf lately, particularly of oil-covered fauna like birds, I thought I’d highlight this reader-submitted photo of two happy and healthy Western sandpipers – as a reminder that there are still some things right with the world. This photograph is from Flickr member SigmaEye, a regular […]
Posted inWotr
We need a new Civilian Conservation Corps
I’m 59 years old. I’ve been a professional photographer for 40 years. And now I’m done. Not because I’m retired, but because I’ve outlived my profession. Technological change has met economic downturn in a perfect storm in which I am sinking. The same seismic shifts have transformed music, journalism, design and publishing. This revolution has […]
Posted inGoat
Spray, don’t shoot
The meaning of a recent court case in Wyoming is clear: you can’t kill a grizzly just because you’re frightened. 41-year-old Stephen Westmoreland shot a female grizzly last fall just outside of Grand Teton National Park that showed no sign of aggression. He’d been gutting a deer and was “covered in animal blood,” according to […]