“How far is it to Harts Pass?” a tourist couple once asked me. I told them it was about 20 miles. “How far is it back?” they asked. That natural selection has not rendered tourists extinct seems a mystery that defies evolution. And if you believe God created tourists, you’ve probably wondered, “What was He […]
Yes, we are all tourons
Posted inWotr
Our public lands should reflect white, black and brown
As a black park ranger, I’m often asked why more minorities don’t visit national parks or participate more in outdoor activities. That’s a short question with a long answer, and one part of it involves the perpetuation of historical inaccuracy, since the victors get to write what passes for history as portrayed in movies and […]
Posted inWotr
The backyard cat whisperer
I am on all fours in a gravel path in my yard, tapping the ground with one hand, holding a leash with the other.I am whispering insistently.The summer sun burns my neck.Seen from the road, through stalks of dead cheatgrass, my butt would appear to hover, a blue-jeans moon at noon. “Shack-le-ton.Shack-le-ton!SHACK-le-ton.” Is anyone watching? […]
Posted inWotr
An EPA staffer fights to the end
Six years into this grand experiment called the Bush-Cheney administration, it’s easy to be blasé about how drastically morale has fallen within the offices of federal agencies. It’s with respect, then, and not flippancy, that I write these words: The political system that destroys the careers and lives of environmentally minded civil servants is about […]
Posted inWotr
Who will pick up the pieces when this boom ends?
Sometime in the 1950s, an oil and gas boom hit Big Piney, Wyo. I was 12, and I remember the excitement of seeing new kids in school, big trucks on the dusty roads and lots of people in the cafés and on the streets. I remember summer evenings when my dad loaded us into the […]
Posted inArticles
Turning the tide
One hundred and fifty years ago, the Indian tribes of Washington state signed treaties that were supposed to guarantee, forever, their right to collect shellfish from the beaches of Puget Sound. Not long after, the government started selling off the region’s most productive tidelands to commercial shellfish growers, who were never notified of the Indians’ […]
Posted inArticles
Utah plans to join the Wild and Scenic Rivers System
For almost 40 years, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act has been protecting beautiful rivers in states across the West – except two. Utah and Nevada have yet to place any rivers on the Wild and Scenic list, which was started in 1968 to protect outstanding rivers from development. For Utah, however, that could change […]
Posted inWotr
Water does move uphill toward money
Now that I’m out of college, I thought it was time to ask my elders for advice about investing in the stock market. They must have seen how confused I looked, because a week later, an investment letter arrived that promised to answer all my questions, and, incidentally, make me rich, fast. The letter featured […]
Posted inWotr
A Navajo journalist makes it the hard way
On May 11, after much struggle and sacrifice, I received a master’s degree in English. What that tells me is that if I could run a startup magazine on a zero budget, graduate with distinction and win some journalism awards from a national journalism association along the way, then others can do it, too. But […]
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Under Las Vegas
The catacombs of ancient Rome served as houses of worship for Jews and Christians. In the early 1800s, the sewers of Paris yielded gold, jewels and relics of the revolution. Closer to home, thousands of people lived in the subway and train tunnels of New York City in the 1980s and ‘90s. Beneath the neon, […]
Posted inArticles
The perils of secrecy
Is the wolverine, the country’s most
enigmatic predator, in danger of extinction, or just
misunderstood?
Posted inWotr
Who gets to produce electricity is galvanizing the West
Plans are on the drawing table for another wave of coal-fired power plants across the West. But unlike 25 to 30 years ago, during the last binge in building power plants, this time there is opposition from a critical source — local ratepayers. This opposition should not be over-stated. In most areas, the electrical co-ops […]
Posted inWotr
A cowboy girl still has the power to shock
When Caroline Lockhart wrote a novel about a notorious rustler in 1911, it ended with him thrown into a pit of rattlesnakes. Decades later, she encountered a rustler in real life and decided to have a hit man bump him off. Her contract on the life of the rustler is proving the most controversial part […]
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When is a barred owl a red herring?
The draft recovery plan identifies competition from the barred owl, which is not native to the Pacific Northwest, as the primary threat facing the northern spotted owl. – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, April 26, 2007. That’s right, I’m a barred owl. My wife tells me to keep quiet, keep my beak clean, try to […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
Heard Around the West
IDAHO What you surely don’t need when you show up for work is two men walking into your office carrying a goat. Then one says cheerily: “Congratulations, you’ve been goated!” True, the goat is a mini-breed, no bigger than a dog, but it does poop (one goat-handler totes a handy pooper-scooper) and it is, after […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
The great American road trip
Long road trips are a guilty pleasure in the era of climate change. It’s one thing to recycle, buy organic, and switch light bulbs, but to give up the car altogether? Travel feels essential to an American’s experience of the world, and for most of us, travel means driving. Author W. Scott Olsen — who […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
Big dams, big deal
With a title like Big Dams of the New Deal Era: A Confluence of Engineering and Politics, it’s no surprise that this tome is deep on history and long on details. That said, the book is also remarkably hard to put down. It’s well worth the read for those who have ever wondered how structures […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
Contraceptives not bullets
I believe the deer birth-control program at Point Reyes and other similar public areas is a good approach (HCN, 5/28/07). As someone who has lived with deer my whole life in both rural and suburban settings, I believe there are multiple major problems with allowing hunting in popular public lands, parks, and refuges. First, publicly […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
Blessed to be born Havasupai
John Dougherty’s article “Problems in Paradise” paints an unfair picture of the Havasupai people (HCN, 5/28/07). He and another writer, Annette McGivney in Backpacker magazine, make us sound like a lawless community, with gangs running amok. Supai Village is a community where all of us feel safer letting our children out of our sight to […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
Worth the work
NAME: Jeremias Pink AGE: 24 VOCATION: Graphic designer, nonprofit organizer, bicycle mechanic HOME BASE: Pocatello, Idaho KNOWN FOR: Giving away bicycles HE’S READING: Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by anthropologist Michael Taussig FAVORITE FOOD: “I eat what I’m told.” HE SAYS: “Whether or not we’re accomplishing our mission […]