Environmentalists are “green Nazis … pure, unadulterated satanic evil … vile vomit.” Does that hateful tone sound familiar? Radio and TV commentary tycoons — Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and their ilk — often use that kind of language against their targets, including not only environmentalists, but also liberals and gay people. Their broadcasts encourage destructive […]
A “shock jock” in Montana has a great fall
Posted inDecember 7, 2009: Dueling Claims
Betting on the rails
Buffett buys BNSF as Congress considers reform legislation
Posted inHeard Around the West
Bedroom Camo
It’s always a treat to get Cabela’s Christmas catalog, that compendium of rugged outdoor gear for hunters, anglers and all those who love camouflage in its myriad incarnations. We could devote this entire page to describing those incarnations, but instead will tantalize you with these few samples: camouflage infant wear, bedspreads and boots; insulated suits […]
Posted inGoat
Doggone it
The black-tailed prairie dog won’t be protected under the Endangered Species Act, the feds announced today. Despite the fact that the ‘dogs now occupy about 3 percent of their original habitat, and despite plague, poisoning and “varmint hunts”, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service says populations are increasing. That’s good news for farmers, ranchers, and […]
Posted inDecember 7, 2009: Dueling Claims
Dueling Claims
A tribal attempt to protect Mount Taylor sparks a battle over ancient claims to the land
Posted inDecember 7, 2009: Dueling Claims
‘The West’s Biggest Bully’ gets his
“Shock jock” John Stokes loses his radio station in a battle over bankruptcy
Posted inWotr
A federal agency tries to hold on to what it’s built
Western Colorado’s Uncompahgre Valley is a garden artificially created. Corn and alfalfa grow plentifully around Montrose and other towns in this valley, about five hours southwest of Denver, as do apples, pears and cherries. A complicated web of dams, canals and river-depleting diversion projects created this produce bin of the agrarian West. A key piece […]
Posted inWotr
A Thanksgiving toast to a mom who passed the torch
It’s no secret that the traditions of hunting and fishing are dying. Academics have identified it, anti-hunters have rejoiced in it and families are living it. People who cherish hunting are trying hard to stem the decline. These days, lots of kids are growing up in a single-parent home, often headed by a mom who […]
Posted inWotr
Do we really need another ski resort?
Supbar terrain and snow spell death for schussing
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
Catron County confluence
Water unites ranchers and environmentalists in a conservative corner of New Mexico
Posted inGoat
Nuclear Nevada
“Some of you have been inconvenienced by our test operations,” the Atomic Energy Commission wrote to residents living near the Nevada Test Site, in Nye County, in 1955. “At times some of you have been exposed to potential risk from flash, blast, or fall-out. You have accepted the inconvenience or the risk without fuss, without […]
Posted inWotr
Old friends are melting away
I met this glacier nearly 20 years ago. It was remote and unnamed, and I called it the “Raw Glacier” for the primordial way its blue snout bulged through a granite canyon. It was a mile long. I was a young East Coaster, new to southeast Alaska. The glaciers swept up my imagination. They changed […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Don’t pet the animals
Joan Nutt, 63, was visiting family in Florissant, Colo., when she got close to a deer “in an attempt to pet it.” The animal attacked, and though Nutt “grabbed hold of an antler to try to fend it off … it knocked her down before she could get away.” Nutt, who suffered numerous lacerations, was […]
Posted inGoat
Down on copper mine
Plans to move forward with what would be the third- or fourth-largest copper mine in the country have been shelved for another year. The U.S. Forest Service has postponed an environmental impact study for a proposed copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, 30 miles southeast of Tucson, Ariz., until April 2010 (see our 1997 […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Hot potato hunt
The hunt is on for a new “spud stud” to replace the old reliable Russet Burbank variety long used in McDonald’s French fries. In 2005, reports The Associated Press, a Potato Variety Management Institute was established by Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and though it’s been trying to develop the next hot new potato, no miracle […]
Posted inGoat
Keeping uranium out of the Grand Canyon
Are 21- year-old documents adequate to approve reopening a uranium mine about 15 miles north of the Grand Canyon? The Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Grand Canyon Trust say no, and they’re suing the Bureau of Land Management for giving the go-ahead, claiming the agency is violating multiple federal laws by […]
Posted inRange
Health care reform helps tribes
A generation ago Indian Country wasn’t included in the conversation about health care reform. When Congress enacted Medicaid and Medicare it pretended that the Indian Health Service didn’t exist. It was as if it had never occurred to the government, that it, too, ran a major health care delivery system. Say what you like about […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
After the Floods
Unraveling the mystery behind the Northwest’s channeled scablands
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
Water overdrafts
To address groundwater situations such as that explored in your recent article, “Death By a Thousand Wells,” Congress must increase funding for the U.S. Geological Survey so it can conduct a comprehensive, nationwide groundwater mapping study (HCN, 10/26/09). As a nation, we are highly reliant on our groundwater. It accounts for 40 percent of our […]