The thing that has kept me reading HCN through the years has been the balanced reporting and presentation of different viewpoints, a refreshing voice in a nearly bipolar political world. But I have to say that I am sensing a shift in the flavor of HCN articles and editorials. The Dec. 22/Jan. 5 issue is […]
The center did not hold
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
… and the rivers clapping their hands
Thank you for your Dec. 22/Jan. 5 issue “What a Mess.” The entire Beltway community — Republicans, Democrats, media/corporate America — is busily sweeping the ugly, and illegal, Bush legacy under the red carpet being rolled out for Obama. Bad enough that the Constitution lies crumpled in the trash (not the recycle) bin, but most […]
Posted inGoat
They shoot elk, don’t they?
updated 1/28/09 In the mountains of central Colorado, an overgrown elk herd has been chewing Rocky Mountain National Park to the nub for decades now. The ungulates munch new aspens and willows before they can grow, and graze alpine meadows to golf-course length. So park officials plan to return to the method they used to […]
Posted inGoat
In case you’re having a good day…
Okay, so you got up this morning, scraped the scum off your teeth and that last bit of change from your kid’s piggybank, and headed down to the corner coffeeshop to buy one cup of endless refills and spend the rest of the day surfing the Interweb looking for some good news to brighten up […]
Posted inGoat
Managing a busted climate
How do you manage for “natural” conditions when humans have twisted nature all out of pitch? If you’re trying to make decisions in an unprecedented situation, what experience do you lean on? These are a couple of the underlying concerns in a recent report from the federal Climate Change Science Program. The report focuses on climate-sensitive […]
Posted inWotr
Thinking green in the midst of winter
Gardening season starts when you open your first seed catalog in the dead of winter, and it doesn’t end until you’ve dug up the last carrot, plucked the final Brussels sprout or eaten your last pickled pepper of the season. The rewards of gardening begin the minute you open that catalog — long before you […]
Posted inWotr
On second thought, Mr. Cheney
On the last day of 2008, a little bird told me that the venerable American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vt., a beacon for the nation’s fly-fishers and a keeper of their rich tradition, had landed Vice President Dick Cheney as the guest of honor and speaker at its spring 2009 meeting. So I […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
All Aboard
A classic American transit system seems poised for a comeback
Posted inGoat
Elephants and rubber dodos
We just swore in a new president, and already there’s speculation about who might run in 2012 — including a Westerner, Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho. Kempthorne was George W. Bush’s last Secretary of the Interior, replacing Gale Norton of Colorado in 2006. He had a long political resume — mayor of Boise, U.S. Senator, and […]
Posted inGoat
California salmon slip under the wire
Updated January 27th “State and federal funding is available”– now that’s a phrase we haven’t heard much lately in California. The bond freeze has crippled programs across the state, and anyone who relies on government grants–from social services to conservation groups — is feeling the pain. But the Chinook salmon and steelhead population of Battle Creek, […]
Posted inWotr
The myth of minority favoritism
A myth is circulating around the West, and it goes like this: Regardless of your level of competence, if you’re black, you’ll beat out everybody else when it comes to getting a job with a federal land-management agency such as the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management. A hint of this myth appeared in […]
Posted inGoat
Carbon storage gets a tryout
Interesting story in the Tri-City Herald today about a test of underground storage of carbon dioxide in Washington state. (The article doesn’t say so, but this is the first North American test of CO2 storage in basalt.) Researchers are now drilling toward a rock layer about 3/4 mile below the surface, and, if the state […]
Posted inGoat
“Bacterial Economics”
If you’re a skier, you’ve probably schussed on snow made with bacteria. Ski resorts use Pseudomonas syringae as an ice nucleator, which means water freezes around the bacteria quickly to form snowflakes. But don’t worry – the bacteria used are dead and harmless. Now, researchers are finding that P. syringae in its live form could […]
Posted inGoat
BLM’s Utah plans on shaky legal ground
It’s amazing how quickly things can change. In the last week, we’ve watched Barack Obama take his (slightly bungled) presidential oath of office and George W. Bush helicopter back to Crawford, Tex. In the last month, we High Country News-ers were busy reporting on all the speedy and sweeping changes that Bush made on his […]
Posted inGoat
A midnight lease on the mesa
High Country News has reported on the Bush administration’s “midnight deregulations,” the host of hurried laws issued in the waning days of the administration, which – whether aimed at fisheries, air pollution, or oil shale – generally promise to benefit big business while undercutting environmental protections. But now that Obama’s in the oval office, some […]
Posted inGoat
59,000 trees can’t be wrong
Westerners can see that there’s trouble in the woods — these days, it seems like there’s a beetle-killed lodgepole stand around every corner — but here’s some especially sobering evidence of forest die-offs, just published in the journal Science. A long-term study of almost 59,000 trees in plots throughout the region shows that tree deaths […]
Posted inGoat
Gearing up for another energy rush?
On Jan. 16, outgoing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne authorized the Bureau of Land Management to create renewable energy offices in Wyoming, Arizona, California and Nevada. The offices are meant to speed permitting for wind, solar, biomass and geothermal projects, as well as transmission lines. The feds are acting on a 2005 directive to develop 10,000 […]
Posted inGoat
The Obama administration and the Klamath River basin
In his inaugural address to the nation Barak Obama said: “We will restore science to its rightful place.” This is a reference to pledges made during the campaign which were directed primarily toward the environmental community. Environmentalists have been outraged by Bush Administration interference in endangered species, clean air and clean water decisions. These Bush […]
Posted inArticles
Finding a nuclear waste dump
Judith Lewis speaks about her story on Yucca Mountain
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
Of an environmental hero and the need for reform
The Bush administration’s most enduring mark on the American West may well be the tens of millions of acres of public lands it has handed over to the oil and gas industry — and the belated backlash the giveaway has spawned. As if to punctuate this legacy, the Bureau of Land Management — which oversees […]