A few days before Thanksgiving, about five dozen employees of Vail Resorts were hard at work. The Colorado ski resort had staffed up for a mid-November opening, but these workers weren’t running ski lifts or grooming the slopes. Instead, they were picking up trash; the snow had not arrived, the opening was delayed and they […]
Two weeks in the West
Posted inArticles
Carpe Noctem
I pledge devotion to the stars of the majestic Milky Way Galaxy and to a dark night sky in which they shine; one cosmos, overhead, clearly visible, with liberty from light and dark skies for all. — Jack Troeger, Dark Sky Initiative In 2001, Florida developer and amateur astronomer Gene Turner came to southeastern Arizona […]
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Heard Around the West
WASHINGTON Given the number of accidents and attacks against bicyclists in Seattle, riders may want to don flak jackets. In September, a cyclist was hit by a truck and killed, and in October, a rider accused the driver of a sport utility vehicle of trying to intimidate or even hit him, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. […]
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
In Montana, a festival of light
Turn off all the other lights!” my almost-3-year-old son, Andrew, hollered, once we had kindled the candles in our Hanukah menorahs. It was the last night of the eight-day holiday, so we had eight candles, plus the shamash, or helper candle, in three menorahs. This made for 27 candles glowing in our otherwise pitch-dark living […]
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Wake up to the West, wannabe presidents
The Democratic presidential debate in Nevada this November was promoted as a chance for candidates to engage with the West and its concerns, but it might as well have been held in Anywhere, USA. The moderator, four journalists and most of the audience ignored every critical issue that’s central to our region. The first issue, […]
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Rebels with a lost cause
A movement of property-rights lawyers emerged from the sagebrush in the 1970s to fight a wave of environmental regulations. They are still fighting in courtrooms across the West, but their role remains ambiguous.
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Jim Detterline to the rescue
NAME Jim Detterline OCCUPATION Rocky Mountain National Park ranger NUMBER OF TIMES STRUCK BY LIGHTNING Three MOST TURTLES EVER OWNED AT ONE TIME 80 (When Detterline was a kid) DEGREES Master’s in vertebrate zoology, Ph.D. in invertebrate zoology HOBBIES Plays the trumpet Jim Detterline is a man of average size, lean, but not small. Still, […]
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Toxic legacy
A Cold War-era landfill may threaten Albuquerque’s aquifer
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Quest for darkness
“Your life can be changed by a firsthand connection with the night sky.”
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Dear friends
COLORADO, CALIFORNIA AND ENGLAND We enjoy each of our visitors but we’re a bit behind in writing about them; we’re still catching up on the folks who came to see us in late September and early October. Nancy and Dennis Johnson dropped into the office while on a Western Slope leaf-peeping trip. Since moving to […]
Posted inArticles
Red Desert rarity
Wyoming moves to protect Adobe Town –
but will the feds follow suit?
Posted inArticles
Seven Ways to Enjoy Natural Darkness
* Try walking outside in a dark location while keeping your flashlight in your pocket. * By covering your flashlight with red cellophane or a red filter, you can prevent it from disrupting your night vision. Small flashlights work better than large ones. * Spend time looking through telescopes (stargazing) and learning about the cosmos […]
Posted inWotr
Trees for two: A mother and son saw together
In old Forest Service photos, a trail crew was always young men with crew cuts, their white t-shirts tight against their lean bodies. What would those men make of us, a mother-son team swaying together over a crosscut saw? My ponytail is going gray and 19-year-old Lee wears a stained shirt with the sleeves ripped […]
Posted inWotr
A political fish-kill is in the making
Grayling are artifacts from the Pleistocene, little fish of big country with flanks of pink and silver and sail-like dorsal fins trimmed with orange and splashed with red, white, turquoise, green and neon blue. Fluvial grayling, the race that dwells in rivers, are common in the Arctic and sub-arctic, but in the Rocky Mountain West, […]
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
Coal’s other mess
As the air around power plants clears, another problem worsens
Posted inWotr
Wake up, wannabe presidents
The Democratic presidential debate in Nevada this November was promoted as a chance for candidates to engage with the West and its concerns, but it might as well have been held in Anywhere, USA. The moderator, four journalists andmost of the audience ignored every critical issue that?s central to us here. The first issue is […]
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
From toilet to toilet
We need a sustainable solution to the problem of pollution (HCN, 9/17/07). Drinking endocrine disrupters is not the answer unless they help prevent population growth. Replumb our recycled sewage water into a system used for just that purpose – flushing our sewage. How many gallons of water are used during a ball game at the […]
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
… Rather a scornful tone
The tone of Jonathan Thompson’s brief report on the Jeffs trial conveys unwarranted skepticism about the validity of the prosecution (HCN, 10/15/07). “There was a time … could go about their daily lives without much outside scrutiny,” is probably a factually accurate statement but implies that scrutiny is akin to outside interference. Then there’s a […]
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
In the groove
In order to restore myself to earthly and cosmic balance after sending a negative note regarding the essay “RV Nation,” I must congratulate the editors for an excellent job on the Oct. 29 books and essays issue. They attained a mighty fine groove in this issue, and I appreciate it greatly. P. “Whale” Szczepanowski McCall, […]
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
Of writers and fires
As a retired high school English teacher and member of the Western Literary Association since 1976, I truly enjoyed the books and essay issue and read every article (HCN, 10/29/07). Ray Ring’s review of two books on firefighting was especially interesting. I gave a paper at last October’s WLA meeting in Boise on blowups and […]