Muddied water-protection standards leave Western streams without oversight
Non-navigable River Blues
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Is America ready for the rails?
I’ve always loved the idea of traveling by rail. I’m scared of flying, and trains are more efficient and greener than cars. I once enjoyed zipping through the French countryside at 200 miles per hour in a sleek train, and whenever I’m in a city, I make it a point to ride the commuter rails. […]
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Whither the weeds?
Climate change is likely to expand the reach of some of the West’s least favorite plants — for example, see “Bonfire of the Superweeds,” HCN’s story on invasive buffelgrass in the Sonoran Desert. But a new study in Global Change Biology paints a somewhat more hopeful picture: Scientists predict that some invasive species, such as […]
Posted inWotr
The saga of Mineral King
A half-million abandoned mines litter the American West, many dribbling poisons into rivers and streams. But after more than a century of healing, one such place is poised to become one of America’s newest wilderness areas. It’s a testament to the resilience of nature and the vision of the people who fought to preserve it. […]
Posted inWotr
Don’t trust this Texas billionaire
See T. Boone Pickens. Run, T. Boone, run! Watch out for T. Boone Pickens. As funny as that sounds, in the sing-song style of the classic Dick and Jane kids’ books, it’s a smart warning. Just as those books have used simple repetition to teach generations of kids to read since the 1930s, Texas billionaire […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
No news is bad news
For Westerners interested in the news, one of the biggest stories lately is the crisis in the news industry itself. A few highlights: Washington state’s second-largest newspaper, the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer, was put up for sale Jan. 9. Its owner — Hearst Corp., a privately held chain based in New York — says that unless […]
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Solar sense
As of last June, the Bureau of Land Management had a backlog of 125 proposed solar projects covering nearly 1 million acres. And this month, the Interior Department ordered the BLM to create special offices in Wyoming, California, Nevada, and Arizona to speed permitting for those and other renewable energy projects on public lands. But […]
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Farm Bill conservation programs
As pressure mounts to reduce agricultural crop subsidies, Farm Bill conservation programs are increasingly important to the bottom line of many American farms. This trend is expected to continue as Brazil, India and other developing nations insist that free trade deals include an end to American and European crop payments which they rightly claim distort […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Political guns
Wyoming calls the shots on a pass in Yellowstone National Park
Posted inGoat
Wolverine devours Chaco
Inhabitants of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico left the region between 1130 and 1180 as the climate changed and drought set in. Today, a migration is occurring as a result of another climate change – the globalizing economy. Chaco Inc., a footwear company based in Paonia, Colo., has been sold to Wolverine World Wide, Inc., […]
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Power struggle
Move over, gas wells. Here comes the latest NIMBY issue: the construction of new transmission lines, an Obama administration priority as the new president seeks to stimulate the economy and rebuild U.S. infrastructure. A proposal from Idaho Power Co., touted as a regional and national priority, is causing quite a stir in rural Oregon’s Baker […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Pay to play — with water
Regarding your recent story “Up in Smoke,” while the Bushies may have outsourced with a particular vengeance, the Forest Service’s downsizing actually started early in the Clinton years, with “government reinvention” (HCN, 12/22/08). The story does touch upon a real dilemma for the Forest Service: Whatever it thinks its mission is, it does not have […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Blood quantum myth
Regarding your “Blood Quantum” story, back before the first European contacts, marriage outside the tribe was the norm (HCN, 1/19/09). In my studies on biology and genetics, I learned that our Native elders did have extensive knowledge of biology, ecology, genetics, lethal recessives and the like. The only difference is that Western science quantifies, categorizes […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
Ich bin ein stupid-zoner
In Ed Quillen’s article “Change We Could Believe In,” the term “stupid zones” is defined as “an area that is stupid to build in on account of predictable dangers — avalanches, forest fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, mudslides, floods, etc.” (HCN, 12/22/08). A quick search on the Web site for the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association reveals […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2009: Non-navigable River Blues
The center did not hold
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 […]
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]