Polygamy tours? Why not?

Posted inWotr

Polygamy tours? Why not?

by Beth Kampschror

Just spitting distance across the Utah border in Arizona, the very rural and remote Colorado City is home to rigid fundamentalists who think the Mormon Church sold out when it abandoned polygamy 119 years ago. The high walls surrounding houses with multiple front doors and “no trespassing” signs clearly signal “outsiders not welcome.” The dress […]

Posted inRange

The debate that drags on

by Mark Trahant

How long will the health care reform debate drag on? The Hill newspaper says “deep into December and possibly beyond by a lengthy floor debate.” If that seems like a long time, consider that the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act has been pending since 1999. Last week hearings were held in the […]

Posted inRange

The Delta Blues

by felicep

There is a saying in the West that water flows toward money. That saying seems to be playing out in California this fall.The California legislature is currently considering legislation that some say will fix California’s water woes and others say is intended to result in more North State Water going to powerful agricultural corporations and […]

Posted inRange

Reader Photo – Basque Dancers

by Stephanie Paige Ogburn

This week’s reader photo seemed to all-too-perfectly match the theme of the latest issue of High Country News, which focuses on “cultural collisions” and those bringing new traditions to  the West. While our recent reporting highlights cultures new to the West,  this image, from the Trailing of the Sheep festival in Idaho, shows cultures that […]

Posted inWotr

Whose sovereignty is it?

by Jonathan Thompson

In late September, Joe Shirley Jr., president of the Navajo Nation sent out a provocative press release charging that “environmental activists and organizations are among the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty.” Shirley made his attack while joining northern Arizona’s Hopi tribal council in “unwelcoming” conservation groups from those tribes’ lands, which sprawl across portions of […]

Posted inGoat

Eco-pawprints

by Marty Durlin

Has it come to this already? Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living is the name of a new book written by two Victoria University professors, Brenda and Robert Vale. The couple — both architects who specialize in sustainable living — have computed the carbon emissions created by pets, taking into […]

Posted inHeard Around the West

Sit down and shut up

by Betsy Marston

Paul Rolly seems a jolly fellow, at least judging by the picture that accompanies his column in the Salt Lake Tribune. On second thought, that amused look might mask a certain fed-upness. Here’s what’s bugging him lately: A state legislator who professed to be an expert on the U.S. Constitution proposed a bill saying “any […]

Posted inGoat

Cold War clean-up

by arib

Stimulus funds are now being used to tackle one of the West’s biggest nuclear messes: The 65-year old atomic dump in Los Alamos, N.M. is finally getting some much-needed attention. On Thursday the New York Times reported that a team of workers using $212 million in federal stimulus money will clean up the site on […]

Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners

Green delusions

by Jim Stiles

Audubon’s equivocations in Arizona are just the tip of the iceberg (HCN, 10/12/09). In the last decade, mainstream environmental groups have been co-opted, again and again, by wealthy entrepreneurial “benefactors.” Often these benefactors leverage their massive donations into a seat on the group’s board of directors, where policy is set. Even as human-caused climate change […]

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