My favorite dog-walking trail near town has just undergone another transformation from the federal Bureau of Land Management. A new sign sprouted on a post at its start a few days ago: ROUTE CLOSED. And then, a few days later, the post and sign were gone. Before March of this year, it was […]
Confessions of a trespasser
Posted inGoat
False Claims Virus on the loose!
All humans like to believe their community, region or country is special. This has led to countless specious claims to greatness based on size: the tallest flag pole, the deepest canyon, the highest waterfall, the oldest building….and so forth. Some of these claims are, of course, true; but the vast majority of them are not. […]
Posted inGoat
In salty, seaside beaver ponds…
Greg Hood is a researcher in western Washington who knows a few things about salmon habitat — a few surprising things. When Hood talks about preserving threatened populations, he doesn’t mention in-stream flows, fish ladders or water temperatures. Instead, he brings up a mostly-vanished ecosystem than once lined significant portions of the Puget Sound. It […]
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
Time to breathe
Stargazing and geology satisfy the spiritual needs of a Utah writer and teacher
Posted inGoat
“The Sportsman’s Park Service”
Do paved trails, groomed picnic areas, and visitor centers stocked with tacky t-shirts and soft-serve ice cream make your outdoor experience seem uncomfortably like Disneyland? Next time, skip Rocky Mountain National Park and wander into the much less developed lands of the National Landscape Conservation System – like the Gunnison Gorge, in western Colorado. The […]
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
Paddling toward shore
Northwestern tribe takes a new/old approach to stemming the Native health care crisis
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
The bizarre intersection of humanity and nature
Rancho WeirdoLaura Chester212 pages, softcover, $18.00.Bootstrap Press, 2008. The cover of Laura Chester’s Rancho Weirdo features a cartoon of an armless human bound in a black sheath, banging its bloody head against a boulder. The image could be a metaphor for the stories in this collection — tales in which middle-class people, wrapped in conflicts […]
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
Western water in the age of climate change
Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the WestJames Lawrence Powell304 pages, hardcover: $27.50.University of California, 2008. In 1893, at a meeting of the International Irrigation Congress, Major John Wesley Powell, known for his daring exploration of the Colorado River, stood up to grand applause in front of men eager […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
With pipedreams for plumbing
The environmentalist who boasted that his new house would be the “greenest home in North America” is running into a few problems. For one thing, Ronald Abramson, the chief executive officer of a renewable energy company called NextGen Energy Partners, chose to build his 13,000-square-foot home in Boulder County, Colo., which prides itself on its […]
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
Bring in the cows
Grazing may be the best hope for a threatened butterfly
Posted inGoat
From Gitmo to Montana?
During the presidential campaign, both Barack Obama and John McCain promised to close the detainee prison at the Marine Corps base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Obama won, and he’s been looking at ways to fulfill his promise. One complication is that there are people in custody who should stay in custody — […]
Posted inGoat
A change is gonna come
As more consumers choose to eat locally, agribusinesses tailor their ads to fit the market. According to Mark Muller of Civil Eats, this reactionary stance from the corporations is a big shift in our current food system. Lay’s just recently tried on the “local” hat. And Walmart did too last year. But skeptics are put-off […]
Posted inWotr
Government capitalism can be a very good thing
This year marks the 70th anniversary of an important event in western Colorado: the first annual meeting of the Gunnison County Electric Association. The group had only 116 members when it started and just $275 in the bank, but it went on to bring electric power to the area’s ranches, thanks to the federal government’s […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
It’s (really) not about the bike
A free weekly out of Salida, Colo., called Base Camp posts an unusual mission statement for a publication touting the outdoors and all the fun you can have skiing, biking and hiking. Editor Jim Williams says, “It’s easy to think we need this or that expensive, high-tech apparati to just go have fun.” But often, […]
Posted inWotr
When neighbors become cops
It’s a frustrating dilemma for many who conserve — watching other people squander the resource you’re trying to save. Maybe you’ve installed a low-flush toilet and a low-flow showerhead, but how can you convince that wastrel down the street to fix her sprinkler and stop using a hose for a broom? Don’t worry, help is […]
Posted inRay
West’s ATV carnage, part 2
At least 13 people have been killed in all-terrain-vehicle accidents in the West in the past month. The fatalities include a 10-year-old boy in California, a 16-year-old girl in Wyoming, and an off-duty sheriff’s deputy in Utah. Expanding the bloody accounting to include the serious nonfatal ATV accidents in the same period (since April 20), […]
Posted inGoat
Snowbowl Redux: The Question of Balance
Every journalist is biased. Scribes-for-hire have opinions, just like anybody else. However most readers expect some approximation of fairness and balance. The reporter’s job is to lock his personal views in a cage until press time. This professional obligation was very much on my mind last winter when I wrote “The Snow War,” a summary […]
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
Sci-fi conservation
Enviros create forcefields around wilderness areas and parks
Posted inWotr
The real Washington vampire story
Vampires are taking the West by storm, descending on rural communities like Forks, Wash. Is this a reference to Twilight, the now cult-classic book and movie? No, in this case, the malevolent outsiders are agents of ICE, which stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Border Patrol. There is a strong parallel here […]