Thousands of Southern Californians fled their homes in October as smoke billowed from buildings and 70 mile-an-hour Santa Ana winds whipped flames across the landscape. Residents took up shovels and garden hoses to fend off the flames until fire crews arrived from across the state, the rest of the West and even Mexico. Seven people […]
Two weeks in the West
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Heard Around the West
UTAH AND OREGON The West used to pride itself on a live-and-let-live attitude. No more. In Orem, Utah, on Feb. 11, a judge will begin hearing the case against Betty Perry, 70, who refused to water her lawn and then resisted arrest when a policeman came to cite her for having brown grass. The jury […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Bury it standing
A few weekends back, I was out in the front yard, digging a deep hole. I cut out wedges of turf to mark the dimensions, then went down through layers of topsoil. The first foot was easy, through rich moist dirt. After that I hit seams of gravel. The ground got drier and harder the […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
The Sunflower State says a historic no to coal
Southwest Kansas gets little national attention. I recall a Calvin Trillin story about a small town there on the parched plains, isolated and insignificant. Yet the town had become a vital part of the Vietnam War because of its factory, then in frantic production manufacturing concertina barbed wire. Before that, Truman Capote made the small […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Even four-footed employees deserve to retire
For at least two decades, Edith Ann belonged to everyone, and to no one. Nobody could agree how old she was, just that the little bay quarter horse had lived at California’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area for as long as anyone could remember. Three generations of park visitors knew Edith Ann, and many made […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
West Nile finds a home in the West
Western states account for half the country’s viral infections
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Tractor politicking
Dennis McDonald pulls Montana to the left
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Safe crossing
Armed with new research, traffic engineers are finding ways to stop highway carnage
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Dear friends
THE CHANGING EDITORIAL GUARD With this issue, we bid a fond farewell to Editor John Mecklin, who is headed to California and the challenge of starting up a new, policy-focused magazine. Since coming to HCN a year ago, John has implemented a long-needed revamp of our editorial and copy-flow processes, significantly broadened the scope of […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Coming to a farm near you: Los Angeles
Each year, my family and I visit my father-in-law at his house in the desert, just over the mountains from Los Angeles. From there, we can’t see the great beast they call L.A., but we can feel it. The San Gabriel Mountains loom black against the city’s nighttime glow. At all hours, a steady stream […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
L.A. Bets on the Farm
Faced with unprecedented drought, the West’s most powerful water agency is mixing Wall Street tactics and rice farm supplies to hedge against Southern California’s risk of going dry.
Posted inArticles
Preble’s mouse protection jumps to Colorado
In Wyoming, the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse may soon be regarded as just another rodent, but in Colorado, the mouse will continue to block the path of bulldozers. On Nov. 1, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to remove Wyoming’s Preble’s mouse populations from the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Colorado’s populations, however, […]
Posted inArticles
Highlighting Western heritage
The cottonwoods, willows, mesquites, and palo verde trees that once towered over the banks of the Colorado River near Yuma, Ariz., have returned. These native trees once again shade hikers and shelter wildlife, thanks to a massive wetlands restoration effort in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. Since the area was officially designated in 2000, […]
Posted inArticles
Black-footed ferrets are saved from extinction, but where will they live?
In late October, biologists in Arizona’s Aubrey Valley spent five nights in a row trapping and tagging black-footed ferrets, considered “the most endangered mammals in the United States.” They found 29, which means that there are probably about 70 ferrets altogether in this reintroduction area south of the Grand Canyon. According to Jeff Pebworth, wildlife […]
Posted inArticles
Soakin’ in southwestern Colorado
Centuries before prospectors flooded Ouray, Colo. in search of silver and gold, Ute Indians discovered the town’s true treasure: natural hot springs. Today, people flock to Ouray for those same “sacred healing waters.” And on an immaculate day in October, so did I, as part of a jeep caravan that toured the tidy town’s geothermal […]
Posted inOctober 29, 2007: Which Way West
Risky dam business
I was pleased to see an article highlighting some of the great river restoration successes on Fossil Creek (HCN, 10/01/07). It is unfortunate, however, that the article also seems intent on creating a dam-removal controversy where one does not exist. River restoration practitioners – and the conservation groups that we often work with – are […]
Posted inOctober 29, 2007: Which Way West
Don’t pop the cork yet
Despite the odd title – “A downside to downing dams?” – the relatively positive restoration story provided a glimpse into the inherent complexity of dam removal (HCN, 10/01/07). But there is much more to the Fossil Creek story. Getting to the point of dam removal is seldom easy. The Fossil Creek power plant decommissioning (done) […]
Posted inOctober 29, 2007: Which Way West
Deer yes, cows no
I want to correct a misperception by Nathaniel Hoffman in his article entitled “Sheep v. Sheep” (HCN, 10/01/07). Nathaniel incorrectly describes Western Watersheds Project as an anti-grazing group. In fact, Western Watersheds Project is very much pro-grazing – just not by domestic livestock. Jon Marvel Executive Director, Western Watersheds Project Hailey, Idaho This article appeared […]