Valerie Brown is to be congratulated for pursuing the story line in “A Climate Change Solution?” that some of the greenhouse carbon dioxide (CO2) that human activities are adding to the atmosphere could possibly be sequestered deep within a stack of basalt lava flows (HCN, 9/3/07). But the article fails to describe how scientist Peter […]
Fault lines
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
The population bomb
The article by Valerie Brown illustrates our country dancing around the gorilla in the kitchen (HCN, 9/3/07). No amount of mitigation for stopping climate change will work unless we stabilize population. Nothing will solve this civilization’s spiral into irreversible consequences and unsolvable problems unless we stop population growth. The March 2006 population projections from Fogle/Martin […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Two weeks in the West
In southern Arizona’s Tumacacori Highlands, the tropics meet the desert. Black bears roam steep canyons and oak-covered hillsides alongside Mexican vine snakes, cuckoos and jaguars. Located just north of the border, the region is one of the most biologically diverse in the country. In September, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., introduced a bill that would protect […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Heard Around the West
COLORADO Hikers passing any of 284 high mountain lakes in western Colorado this fall may get to see some flying fish. First, a small plane will appear, flying low. Then, “at precisely the correct time,” the pilot will open a bay and send a stream of fish-filled water into the lake. It’s a native fish-stocking […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
What’s it like to live in the West?
Here and there when I am traveling people ask What’s it like to live in the West? And they always ask it with that capital W on West, you can really and truly hear it, And this just happened in Illinois, in the seething earthy redolent middle of nowhere, A young man asked it, and […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Spinner of yarns, maker of floats
Name: Black George Simmons Occupation: Volunteer ranger at the White Grass Ranger Station in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Unofficial duties: Making root beer floats for hikers, tallying mouse deaths, publishing The White Grass Morning Report newsletter Business White Grass Dating – For Ladies: “The Alice’s Restaurant of the Dating Services” Claim to fame: Chief […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
My, what a small family tree you have
In the Northern Rockies, gray wolves may face the problems of inbreeding
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
A downside to downing dams?
Freeing up stopped rivers isn’t always the panacea one might expect
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Underground movement
In northern Colorado, newcomers to the area lead the charge against planned uranium mining
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Dear friends
WELCOME, MARTY AND LISA HCN’s new online editor, Marty Durlin, is glad to be back home in Delta County. She grew up in the nearby town of Delta, where her father was a state representative and her mother taught school. Marty holds a B.A. in humanities from Colorado Women’s College, and studied music and creative […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Loosening the grazing knot
For much of the past two decades, High Country News has tried to wrap its head around one of the most vexing subjects in the West: livestock grazing on the public lands. We have talked with angry environmentalists and scientists who can’t understand why public-land managers ignore the ecological damage caused by cattle and sheep, […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Sheep v. Sheep
A legal battle over Hells Canyon grazing could determine the future of wild sheep and sheep ranching across the West
Posted inWotr
Mules and hikers keep duking it out in the Grand Canyon
“Hold real still,” drawled the lead wrangler, his mule plodding past a hiker trying to flatten herself to a rock wall on the Grand Canyon’s narrow South Kaibab Trail. He didn’t have to repeat himself. The woman, wearing sneakers, seemed scared to death. This meeting of animals and hikers from all over the world has […]
Posted inWotr
When it comes to subsidies, coal wins
My local Montana newspaper ran a letter not long ago complaining about the cost of wind power. The only thing that lets wind power compete with good old coal-fired electricity, the writer said, was the 1.9 cent per kilowatt-hour subsidy that a wind producer gets for the first 10 years of production. If only it […]
Posted inWotr
West’s forests will never be the same
Last year’s Indian summer fires in Montana were so intense, so awesome in their fury, that they even spooked veteran firefighters. Pilots dumping retardant on the Jungle Fire southeast of Livingston, Mont., reported flames jumping 500 feet above the tree line. For comparison, imagine a wall of flames leaping over the Washington monument. Hotshots, those […]
Posted inArticles
Losing their luster
In the 1850s, “gold fever” lured hopeful prospectors to Colorado, but left most disappointed. Now people still flock to the state in search of gold, but instead of precious metal, they look for bright yellow aspen leaves. This autumn, however, those gold seekers, like the disenchanted souls before them, may find a depressing development: Colorado’s […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Heard Around the West
MONTANA Fewer people may be heading for vacations in our national parks these days, but “glamping” – short for glamorous camping – is on the rise. Think of luxury tents that come equipped with Persian rugs and electricity for powering blow dryers. As for stinky outhouses – forget about it. The possibility of glamping convinced […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
In search of giant trees and unseen realms
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 […]
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 […]