The perilous existence of a migratory beekeeper amid a great bee die-off
The Silence of the Bees
Posted inWotr
Down the alleys and through the collectibles
The blue mountains are mottled with cloud shadows. Cottonwoods stir in the breeze, and that sizzling sound mixes with the tinkling of distant wind chimes. Birdsong also fills the ears. A clump of green grass grows luxuriantly next to a dumpster. Yes, a dumpster. I’ve been walking in the alleys lately. A century ago […]
Posted inWotr
Picture a town that celebrates its old businesses
We’ve heard the story so often we could tell it ourselves. And we do. Another family-owned business in another Western town closes. This time it’s Roedel Drug in Cheyenne, Wyo., dispensing medicine, greeting cards, lipstick, film, lavender soap, teapots and good fellowship for 118 years. When I moved here 15 years ago, Roedel’s employees […]
Posted inWotr
The single women who homesteaded the West
The women who settled in the Old West defy stereotypes.
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Heard around the West
CALIFORNIA Sometimes you can be too vigilant. Someone who spotted a black bag on the side of a road in eastern California reported that it had a suspiciously “foul odor.” A sheriff’s deputy investigated, says the Grass Valley-Nevada City Union. Inside the bag, wrapped in a blue towel, was a dead fish. WASHINGTON AND […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
The romance of deceleration
As we back the snowmobiles off the trailer, the couple in the car nearby is scowling. I can see their faces through the windshield, and I know why they’re unhappy: They have to share the trail with us. They’ll be on skinny, light skis, using only as much power as their muscles can generate, while […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Taking the conservation movement to task
Tired of discussing the alleged death of environmentalism? Fear not: Why Conservation is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground is no dirge, but a complex and cogent analysis of the American environmental movement. University of Illinois law professor Eric Freyfogle claims that “The conservation cause … is stymied less because of its disciplined opponents […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Mortal fear and a state of wild grace
“Grace” is not the first word that comes to mind when you picture two naked women running hell-bent through the desert night, fleeing from UFOs. “Fear” seems more apt — the primal kind that stems from being chased in the dark by a faceless predator while having numerous opportunities to impale tender flesh on ocotillo […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Border truths
I really enjoyed the article “One Nation Under Fire.” I am a contract archaeologist working at the San Miguel Gate, monitoring the archaeological sites during the construction of vehicle barriers. I thought that your article was very true to the situation. So many people seem to underestimate the issues along the border and on the […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Mecklin ha visitado a México quince veces
“Whack-a-Mole” is Editor John Mecklin’s free expression about opposition to immigration, but if one opposes illegal aliens one is branded “xenophobic” by Mr. Mecklin. I ask Mr. Mecklin, how many times has he visited Mexico, or been billeted with blacks, Hispanics or Asians? Ever had Hispanic roommates? People that oppose illegal immigration (70 percent of […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Reefer madness is a lie
I object to author John Dougherty’s assessment that “Marijuana isn’t the only drug being smuggled” across the Tohono O’odham Nation’s border with Mexico. Marijuana is not a drug. It is a plant that is smoked without any processing necessary, unlike the commercial tobacco that kills millions every year. There has never been any legitimate proof […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Busy as a Buchmann
NAME: Stephen Buchmann HOMETOWN: Tucson, Arizona AGE: 53 VOCATION: Pollination ecologist FAVORITE INSECT: Bees, especially the genus Centris, which can be seen visiting paloverde blossoms in the Sonoran desert. FAVORITE HONEY: The honey from the lady bee, “Xunan Kab,” a stingless bee kept by the Maya of southern Mexico. MOST STINGS IN A DAY: 200-300 […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Rail out of town
Schwarzenegger budget says hasta la vista to bullet train. At least for now.
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Driven to fight
A retired BLM special agent finds herself battling the very agency she once worked for
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Have bee, will travel
For our cover stories, we generally try to look where other journalists do not, so we can tell important and interesting stories that have been ignored, underreported, misreported, hidden or hidden in plain sight. Hannah Nordhaus’ “The Silence of the Bees,” on the other hand, might seem to have been ripped from the headlines. Of […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Dear friends
VISITORS Denis Brunke, a longtime subscriber from Logan, Utah, stopped in to say hello. He was taking the scenic route back home after visiting a friend in nearby Snowmass. An HCN reader since the days of Tom Bell, Connie Brown of Lander, Wyo., visited us. She was in the area to study yoga with teacher […]
Posted inArticles
Elwha River dams move closer to destruction
Last week, the long-anticipated removal of two dams on Washington’s Elwha River took a giant step closer to reality when the state Department of Ecology gave the project the go-ahead. The dams’ removal will help floundering salmon populations. Prior to their construction in the early 1900s, all five Pacific salmon species had spawned prolifically in […]
Posted inArticles
Utah county tries to rein in off-roaders
“There was a time I could go out and ride a motorcycle cross-country,” says Ray Peterson, director of the Emery County Public Lands Council. “And the next day I could go back out and there wouldn’t be another track except mine.” That’s no longer the case: Off-road vehicle use in Utah has exploded during the […]
Posted inArticles
Public lands “crown jewels” languish for lack of funding
On a balmy spring day in Ironwood Forest National Monument, volunteers work up a sweat as they plant native bushes and sweep away the vehicle tracks that cut across the Sonoran Desert landscape. Arizona’s Ironwood Forest is one of 15 national monuments in the Bureau of Land Management’s National Landscape Conservation System. The monument already […]