Springsnails, up close and personal
Slideshow: The tiny creatures of the Great Basin
Posted inRange
New Pew database tracks government subsidies
The Pew Charitable Trust has launched a new effort and website which “aims to raise public awareness about the role of federal subsidies in the economy. Subsidyscope should be useful to Westerners who want to know the details of where federal subsidies are distributed around our region. it has long been observed that – while […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Foxy golfer
Why would a red fox collect golf balls? Nobody knows, but then again, nobody really knows why grown men walk around with sticks trying to wallop them. The fox in question lives in Steamboat Springs where it has become obsessed by Tom Houk’s backyard putting green. Houk, who likes to practice a few putts every […]
Posted inRange
Time for the cows to come home
On October 1st, we trailed 136 cow/calf pairs down Dry Cottonwood Creek and settled them in a stubble field near the Clark Fork River. This cattle drive marked the end of the 2009 grazing season and the beginning of our shift toward winter management of the ranch and herd. Now, with the days getting […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Parties ‘R’ Some Of Us
Even as many Westerners struggle with layoffs, pay cuts, medical bills and other economic troubles, wealthy people in resort towns are whooping it up. That’s the report from the companies that supply banquet tables and chairs, enormous tents, portable dance floors, sound and lighting systems, antler chandeliers, artificial trees, eruptions of flowers and other party-throwing […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Audubon feathers fly in Arizona
Huge mine proposal deepens schism between state’s green groups
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Welcome, new HCN employees
In August, Mike Maxwell became our new Web and IT manager. Mike maintains the HCN Web site, analyzes web traffic data, and advises the managers on online marketing strategy. Mike, who has a B.A. in political science from the University of Colorado at Denver, has been in Paonia for three years now with his partner, […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
That shrinking feeling
As a mountaineering instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), I have spent a significant amount of time living and traveling on North Cascades glaciers over the past five years. I just returned from a 10-day mountaineering course on Mount Baker to see Ana Maria Spagna’s essay, “Living on Glacial Time,” and the article […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Merit, more broadly defined
Ray Ring’s article “Is Obama’s goal of diversity trumping other goals?” suggests that the administration’s decision to hire minorities for key governmental positions compromises environmental goals in favor of ethnic diversity (HCN, 8/17/09). While there are undoubtedly some traditional “heavy hitter” white men who would merit these positions, merit in this context should be understood […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
“A blip on the radar screen”
I find the Uncommon Westerners column frustrating at times because it seems like filler with no real rhyme or reason. For instance, the latest personality, Guiseppena Bellandi, certainly had a story as to how she came west, but her life seems like a blip on the radar screen, with no real impact on how she […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
‘Leave no trace’ art
AGE 21 HOMETOWN Whittier, Calif. VOCATION Junior; majoring in sculpture at Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City HCN SUBSCRIBER SINCE 2004 Installation artist Levi Jackson prefers to work early in the morning to catch the best light for photographing his ephemeral, site-specific works. On a May morning, Levi drove to a desert plateau outside Caineville, […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Finding the middle ground
Comment on Writers on the Range column at hcn.org, “Conservationists wrong to oppose wolf hunt” by Mike Medberry Mike Medberry’s column on reasonable wolf management is a breath of fresh air. I too think there is a lot of middle ground for responsible management. But the states sure haven’t shown that intention, and I suppose […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Crowded attic in New York too
If Andrew Sean Greer had ridden the Staten Island Ferry more often — or ever — he’d know that New York City’s sky can be as complex as any in the West (HCN, 9/14/09): limpid blue, thick with rainclouds, striped with vivid sunset cirrus … an approaching squall to starboard, shafts of sunlight jeweling the […]
Posted inArticles
Audio: Big threats to small ecosystems
Madeleine Nash talks about the springs of the ‘heart of the American West’
Posted inWotr
Burning Man was better next year
My collection of silly buttons from the Burning Man festival in Nevada includes one that says, “Burning Man was better last year.” The irony, of course, is that this button is given out every year, and every year thousands of people keep coming back. If you’ve ever been part of an annual event that lasted […]
Posted inWotr
Got your elk yet?
Got your elk yet? It’s a far more complex question than it appears. In one breath, it asks, “Are we friends?” “Do you approve of firearms?” “Do we share an ideology?” and, naturally, “Do you want to hear about me getting my elk?” Even more significantly, the question assumes that if you live in the […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Empty nest
Making a case for the California condor’s return to the Northwest
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Biotech beet-down
Judge orders a new, hard look at Monsanto’s sugar beets
Posted inWotr
Lament of a cat lady
Recently, my cousin called me with a problem. Her two grown daughters are sharing an apartment. One of them has a 3-year-old cat; the other is allergic to cats. It isn’t working out. The cat has to go. Naturally, the first impulse is to call me. I never intended to become a “cat lady.” In […]