I’ve been puzzled by people I know to be intelligent who nonetheless find it inconceivable that the earth’s climate could be affected by human activity. Then I saw one of those “cavedude” commercials on television, and a glimmer of insight began to flicker. In the commercial, a Neandertal in modern dress is talking to a […]
The caveguy within holds us back
Posted inWotr
They don’t have to shoot horses
The idea that you can keep a blind horse safely, that it can be pastured, ridden, that it can lead a happy, even productive life, flies in the face of conventional thinking. Conventional thinking, however, is not Alayne Marker’s strong point. She and her husband, Steve Smith, operate Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Montana, […]
Posted inWotr
Living precariously with wolves and cattle
Through the end of June last year, we got along fine with the wolves. I was working on a ranch in Montana’s Madison Valley, where the wolves ran elk to exhaustion in the high country while yearling cattle fattened on the lower pastures of the ranch. Peaceful coexistence with predators seemed within our grasp, and […]
Posted inWotr
A Wyoming forest yearns to burn
Gorgeous red sunsets and haze in the air scare the heck out of people in my part of Wyoming. We live next to the Shoshone National Forest. It is a jewel, and so remarkable that it was the first national forest created by Congress. The mountains in this 2.4 million-acre reserve in west-central Wyoming are […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Heard around the West
NEW MEXICO Once arranged in a ring just like England’s ancient Stonehenge, 100 refrigerators are no longer standing in Santa Fe. Strong winds toppled much of the 80-foot-high, graffiti-covered structure, reports the Associated Press, and the rest was dismantled on May 30. “Fridgehenge,” or “Stonefridge,” as it was dubbed, morphed into a cult phenomenon that […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
The owl and I
“I rejoice that there are owls,” Henry David Thoreau once wrote. For 30 years, I had no idea what he meant. I grew up in Los Angeles, and if owls soared the smoggy skies, I never saw them. Only after moving to Oregon did I learn the word “raptor.” Intrigued by these magnificent, carnivorous birds, […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
On the road, and on a date with history
The road trip is a classic American narrative of escape: Huck Finn lighting out for the territory, Jack Kerouac chasing his dreams down the blacktop. In Uncertain Pilgrims, Lenore Carroll gives us a different kind of journey, narrated by Carla Brancato, a young woman from Kansas City who is struggling to get over the death […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
A forest in flux
Perched 25 stories high in a construction crane – above the crowns of the Douglas firs – environmental writer Jon Luoma surveyed the forest canopy, searching for a humble lichen, Lobaria oregana. The lichen forges an intimate relationship with the trees, swapping nutrients for a home and helping the firs grow taller. These sorts of […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
The return of the native
Thank you for the timely and informative article on the role of native bees in pollination (HCN, 6/11/07). It is important for farmers, gardeners and the general public to learn about how the 4,000 species of bees native to North America play a crucial part in the pollination of food crops. It was interesting to […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Not so uncommon
In regards to your recent “Uncommon Westerners” article, I find little uncommon about Mike Noel, Utah state representative, other than that his favorite food is sushi (HCN, 5/28/07). Mike exemplifies many Westerners that are gung ho on keeping all public lands open to off-road vehicles, mining, logging and ranching. He also shows that a lot […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Ask Dr. Science
As an emeritus professor of metallurgy, I was disturbed to see the promotion of bamboo bike frames relative to steel frames in the “Snapshot” section of the June 11 issue (HCN, 6/11/07). Steel is referred to as “carbon-intensive” in that note, but steel is not carbon-intensive. Steel is mostly iron, an abundant element, that contains […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Piscatorial baloney
I had to cool off for a couple of days after reading Irle White’s sanctimonious diatribe praising his father’s attitude toward fly-fishing and condemning anybody who fishes for sport or with new and improved equipment (HCN, 6/11/07). How and when did he get the rights to dictate the moral ethics for fly-fishing? I’m 76 years […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
A call to greatness
Residents of Great Falls, be GREAT! For a small city with so much going for it, you apparently don’t know yet what you want to be when you grow up (HCN, 6/25/07). You deserve more than becoming the armpit of the beautiful state of Montana under the guise of economic development. In fact, economic development […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Turning the other cheek – to animals
I received my first copy of High Country News a few days ago and it is every bit as good as you said it would be, only better. I must declare that I was not too happy with the cover, however (HCN, 6/25/07). Too bad I did not meet your lion hunter in ‘Nam. I […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Pony up
When it comes to fund raising, Mitt Romney is the West’s presidential candidate
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Two weeks in the West
White-tailed prairie dogs are short, stout rodents that burrow in the plains of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Montana. Their numbers have declined – some estimates say by as much as 90 percent – over the years, thanks to habitat loss, oil and gas development, grazing, bubonic plague and wholesale eradication efforts that include shooting and […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Ready, aim, compromise
“I want to say those fighting words, to hear and to heed, and especially to you, Mr. Gore: From my cold, dead hands.” -Charlton Heston in May 2000, waving a rifle above his head at an NRA annual meeting. “The NRA is opposed to common-sense gun reform, and they have George Bush in their hip […]
Posted inArticles
Pipe dreams
By the time endangered spring chinook reach the mouth of the Methow River, a tributary of the Columbia, in late summer, they have traveled 500 miles and passed nine dams in order to spawn. Upstream, the Chief Joseph Dam, which lacks fish passage, blocks further progress up the Columbia. The Methow’s forested watershed offers one […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Video Interview: Ryan Horsley
Note: the videos linked below accompany the feature story of this issue, “Guns R Us.” Ryan Horsley on the history of Red’s Trading Post: The Growth of Red’s Trading Post Ryan Horsley on the growth of Red’s Trading Post, and why it doesn’t sell machine guns. Ryan Horsley on dealing with the ATF The Bureau […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
An alphabetical speed-load of state-by-state gun facts
(Note: This article is a sidebar to the feature Guns R Us) ARIZONA Generally, by state law, you’re not allowed to carry a gun into a nuclear plant or hydroelectric dam area, or into a polling place on Election Day, or into any other “public establishment” where the host specifically bans guns, or into any […]