Regarding the editor’s note, “For the love of wasteland,” make no mistake about it: Conservation alone is no silver-bullet solution (HCN, 5/11/09). Yes, conservation is often overlooked in favor of supply-side solutions. Yes, huge gains can be made through energy-efficiency programs. I fully agree and support energy conservation efforts — in fact, some conservation should […]
It’s All Somebody’s Backyard
Posted inJune 1, 2009: Voyage of the Dammed
A Purpose-Driven Life
The excerpt from Lisa Jones’ book Broken is a story with a lot of pathos, a very human look at a world that most of us have little understanding of (HCN, 4/27/09). Lisa’s appreciation for the Arapaho culture and her openness to the values and rhythms of life of Daniel and his peers allows us […]
Posted inJune 1, 2009: Voyage of the Dammed
Of Ring and Rush
Ray Ring in “Sci-fi Conservation” writes that “the enviros are trying to establish a planetwide buffer zone around a few vulnerable species that have limited ranges” (HCN, 5/25/09). A lot depends on the words you choose, and it’s good that HCN is trying to be balanced. But this particular Ray Ring statement sounds like it […]
Posted inJune 1, 2009: Voyage of the Dammed
“Rodeo Kabuki”
“The Rise of the Minotaur” is a well-written article by Craig Childs on the bull-riding phenomenon (HCN, 5/25/09). The subtitle is misleading, though: “Bull riding explodes from its Western roots into a modern spectacle.” Bull riding was never part of life on a working ranch. It’s an event created specifically for the rodeo arena, the […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
What a blast
Living green can be dangerous to your health, reports The Associated Press. Perhaps you aspire to drive fewer miles and use less gasoline in your car, and so you decide to try cooking up your own biodiesel. But if you do whip up a batch of cooking oil and wood alcohol or methanol — and […]
Posted inGoat
May Bats Prevail
Back in March, I wrote a post about the grisly lawnmower effect wind turbines can have on bats. Well, there’s some good news: a new study conducted by Iberdrola Renewables and independent conservation group Bat Conservation International found that bat death can be reduced by more than 70 percent if the turbines are turned off […]
Posted inGoat
Give me your huddled masses…
If America is the land of beckoning opportunity, Mexico is the land of bargain operations — and cheap dental care, and sensibly-priced treatments for chronic illness. At least, that’s what Mexico is to about a million Californians each year. A group of researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles recently added another scuff […]
Posted inWotr
You don’t need a gun to enjoy a national park
When I was 11 years old, I papered the walls of my bedroom with pages from gun catalogs. It was an attempt to convince my father that I really wanted a gun. He eventually gave in when I was 12 or 13, and I’ve owned guns ever since, even carrying one or more in the […]
Posted inJune 1, 2009: Voyage of the Dammed
Voyage of the Dammed
Nature’s engineers — and environmental heroes — make a comeback
Posted inJune 1, 2009: Voyage of the Dammed
The river wilder
Just about every watershed in the West has streams and rivers in need of restoration. Both rural and urban waterways are damaged — dried by drought, plugged by dams, polluted by livestock or factories, channeled off to farms and cities, or diverted into culverts and covered by cement. Here in western Colorado, the Gunnison River […]
Posted inGoat
Salmon scuffle
If you’ve been following the comment stream on High Country News‘ recent two part series on salmon (“Columbia Basin (Political) Science,” by Steve Hawley, and “Salmon Salvation,” by Ken Olsen), then you know how fired up people can get about fish. That includes, of course, the authors of the articles and the primary agencies involved. […]
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
Ken Olsen responds
I stand by the story I wrote (HCN, 5/11/09). I don’t believe the facts support BPA’s arguments. Take publicly subsided hydropower: My story says that the region enjoys publicly subsidized hydropower at national taxpayer expense and that is accurate. Here’s why: The hydropower dams were built at national taxpayer expense and for about the first […]
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
Salmon simplification
The article, “Salmon Salvation” offers a simple answer to a complex problem (HCN, 5/11/09). “Many scientists,” it says (without naming any), think taking out the four Lower Snake River dams will simply bring back salmon. That’s like saying many people voted for John McCain: perhaps true, but blind to the big picture. Scientists realize 150 years […]
Posted inWotr
Army targets southeastern Colorado rangelands
Ranchers feel under siege from site expansion
Posted inGoat
BLM’s unheroic response to civil disobedience
“One day the South will recognize its real heroes.” – Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail In the Alabama of the mid-nineteen sixties, Martin Luther King could see the arc of history bending before him. He knew that the South’s real heroes were people like Rosa Parks, who defied the law because […]
Posted inWotr
Bring on the chickens
There is nothing funnier than a hen running. She clucks so seriously, leaning so far forward, wings spread out, moving that wide load on quick, skinny legs. I know chickens are getting trendy these days, but the main reason I keep yard chickens is for the laughs. My daughter was a colicky baby, and for […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
It’s picturesque, preserve it!
In the western Colorado resort town of Crested Butte, the debate over housing regulations centers more on the small stuff in people’s backyards — those picturesque sheds, old-time outhouses and even falling-down chicken coops. The town council recently passed a law protecting all of it — no matter how dilapidated — since many outbuildings in […]
Posted inWotr
The movie-magic West rides again
This time of year, you’re bound to see photos of ranchers branding cattle, along with all those newspaper pictures of graduations and proms. And why not? A photographer can find a picture waiting everywhere, of neighbors helping neighbors, handsome cowboy types with spurs and coiled lariats, little kids wearing Wranglers and big hats. There’s smoke […]
Posted inGoat
Adopt a stimulus project
Affirming that “investigative journalism is at risk,” ProPublica began publishing a year ago. A nonprofit newsroom in Manhattan led by Paul Steiger (former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal) and Stephen Engelberg (former managing editor of Portland’s Oregonian and once an investigative reporter at the New York Times), ProPublica is bankrolled by the Sandler […]
Posted inGoat
Confessions of a trespasser
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 […]