One of former President Ronald Reagan’s more notorious remarks concerned the grand California redwoods. There was “nothing beautiful about them,” he said, “just that they are a little higher than the rest.” An inspiring corrective to Reagan’s indifference is Richard Preston’s The Wild Trees. The author of The Hot Zone follows professional and bare-knuckled gonzo […]
In search of giant trees and unseen realms
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Cowboy love, with a generous sprinkling of sugar
Dump your unresponsive husband in suburban Ohio. Move to Jackson Hole, Wyo., and buy an adorable – and affordable – rustic cabin on a sprawling ranch. Make enough money working part-time to not only afford the aforementioned Jackson Hole cabin, but to also have spare time to revel in the glorious Western landscape. And, the […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
And what about John Cox and Michael Jingozian?
You left out quite a few of the major candidates in your article about how much presidential candidates are collecting around the West (HCN, 8/6/07). Usually HCN does better, but here it seems like you’re acting like the mainstream media – how are people to know about candidates like Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, Mike Huckabee […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Wouldn’t Tyson Inc. shoot wolves too?
When I read Bryce Andrews’ line, “Ranchers lose sleep, money and their tempers (due to wolf depredation of livestock),” it raised my hackles (HCN, 8/20/07). I’ve heard this several times over the last decade. No doubt ranchers are good at losing their tempers, but are they losing money? Doesn’t Defenders of Wildlife have a fund […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Kill a cow, save an elk
Bryce Andrews, in describing how he killed a wolf that had preyed upon some cattle in Montana, refuses to take responsibility for the conflicts he has created for our wildlife by placing livestock among our wildlife on our public lands (HCN, 8/20/07). Every cow on public lands is eating forage that would otherwise support native […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Give wolves a chance
Bryce Andrews experienced “rage” when, after domestic cattle were pushed into limited wolf range, some livestock were killed by wolves this summer (HCN, 8/20/07). His own participation in the public-lands ranching industry apparently notwithstanding, Andrews took solace that, by personally killing the alpha male of the local wolf pack, he contributed to a “moderate” solution […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Two weeks in the West
“I’m sucking up to you. But you know, when you’re at 13 percent, you’ve got to do something.” —New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, seeking support for his Democratic presidential campaign at an Aug. 22 forum at the University of Nevada-Reno, where he vowed that if he wins, he’ll fund all kinds of education programs. All […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Effluent, effluent everywhere
Even here in the mountain valley splendor of Paonia, Colo., where the people are pleasant, the summers fine, the winters mild and the autumns spectacular, things go wrong sometimes. A few weeks back, everyone in town came home to find a piece of colored paper taped to his or her front door. The door-postings announced, […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Ashes
We’re winding our way up the Poudre Canyon in my old four-wheel drive – a strange group, to be sure. There’s me at the wheel, hoping this morning will go right. There’s my 14-year-old son, silent in the backseat, watching the canyon flash by. There’s dark-eyed Eva. And there’s the dead woman, Mary. Mary wanted […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Making an effluent market
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Facing the Yuck Factor.” A sprawling town whose population has grown by more than 50 percent since 2000, Prescott Valley, Ariz., is thirsty and lacks a reliable surface water supply. In most of Arizona, such a combination is no barrier to growth. But Prescott […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Take back these drugs – please
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Facing the Yuck Factor.” Americans love their medications. Pharmacists fill more than 3 billion prescriptions a year in the United States, and consumers also buy huge quantities of over-the-counter drugs. Many of those pharmaceuticals enter wastewater when people urinate. Others end up there when […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
He loves nature. And dams.
NAME Paul Ostapuk AGE 50 HOME BASE Page, Arizona VOCATION Engineer and meteorologist at the Navajo Generating Station, part of the Salt River Project NOTED FOR what he does when not paying the bills. Ostapuk is the Arizona director of the Old Spanish Trail Association, a member of the Glen Canyon Natural History Association and – […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Raising the bar for lawyers
State by state, Native Americans in the West are making sure lawyers know the law in Indian Country
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Cutting trees to save the forest
Leveraged buyouts are the newest tool in forest restoration
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Dear friends
WELCOME, NEW HCN INTERNS Fall intern Christine Hoekenga is happy to be back home in the West. The Boulder City, Nev., native earned a double major in environmental science and rhetoric and media studies from Willamette University in Salem, Ore. While there, her passion for scuba diving led her to a semester abroad in the […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Facing the Yuck Factor
How has the West embraced water recycling? Very (gulp) cautiously
Posted inArticles
Free range
Livestock foraging on 160 million acres of public lands could roam more freely than ever, thanks to a recent policy change at the Bureau of Land Management. On Aug. 14, the BLM granted eight new “categorical exclusions,” designed to speed up the approval process for a slew of activities on public lands, including grazing, logging, […]
Posted inArticles
Red Mountain miracle
In the late 1800s, some 3,000 people lived and worked in the Red Mountain Mining District near the top of Red Mountain Pass between Silverton and Ouray. Just about every acre was clear-cut, built upon or mined. Today, the miners are gone and aspen trees and tundra plants have reclaimed most of the area. The […]
Posted inSeptember 3, 2007: A Climate Change Solution?
A Climate Change Solution?
Beneath the Columbia River Basin, a real-life trial of the uncertain science of carbon sequestration
Posted inSeptember 3, 2007: A Climate Change Solution?
Twenty views of the West
Best Stories of the American West is a collection of Western stories in which gunfights are outnumbered by basketballs, and the cowboy hats end up mangled beyond recognition. In other words, it’s not about the West as exemplified by John Wayne; it’s about a place in which people actually live. In compiling this first volume, […]