Data
Burning money
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Wildland acres burned
As global temperatures rise, wildfires are starting earlier and lasting longer into the season. As of press time there were 10 large fires (over 500 acres) burning in the West. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wildland acres burned.
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Mother Nature rides an ATV
Two small cacti have put a stop to motorcycles and ATVs on one of southern Utah’s most contested pieces of public land. On Sept. 20, the BLM announced that off-highway vehicle use would be restricted in the desert surrounding Factory Butte to protect the endangered Wright fishhook and the threatened Winkler cactus. The decision closes […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
One dam down; four in limbo
Endangered Lost River and short-nose sucker fish in Oregon’s Klamath Basin may get some relief, now that the Modoc Point Irrigation District has voted to remove the Chiloquin dam and re-establish access to spawning habitat on the Sprague River, a tributary of the Klamath. The Interior Department will foot the $15-to-$16 million bill to take […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
BLM busted for booting whistleblower
Former BLM staffer Earle Dixon, who was in charge of cleanup at the abandoned Yerington copper mine in Nevada, says he was fired in October 2004 after one year of work for informing local residents and the media of radioactive contamination at the mine. He accused the BLM, the State of Nevada and the U.S. […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Will your favorite Forest Service campsite be closed down next summer?
Perhaps, if it doesn’t fit the agency’s increased focus on “dispersed recreation” at remote sites. The 155 national forests are now ranking their developed camping and picnic sites to determine if they meet agency standards; those that fall short will be closed or have their services reduced. According to a recent report from the Western […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Some ‘canned’ elk get uncanned
Although most of its neighbors have either banned or begun phasing out elk farms, the state of Idaho is still home to more than 70, with some charging shooters thousands of dollars to bag fenced, domesticated game. In August, as many as 160 elk escaped from an Idaho canned-hunt operation near Yellowstone National Park. It […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
In politics, it’s not about who you want to drink a beer with
So Angie Paccione filed for personal bankruptcy in 2001. According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, so did another 1,452,029 people. Why should anyone care? Because Marilyn Musgrave, the two-term Republican incumbent Paccione is running against to represent northeastern Colorado in Congress, has informed the world about the bankruptcy via a radio ad. […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
How to save a creek… one drop at a time
An overview of Whychus Creek restoration projects, including flow restoration and habitat restoration projects
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
On the ballot: Voters could be energized, or exhausted, by ballot initiatives
In the Western states, either the legislature or petition-toting individuals can take issues directly to the voters by putting initiatives on the ballot. This year, the West is a hornet’s nest of initiatives: Voters face 82 ballot measures in 10 states. Come Nov. 7, for example, Coloradans will choose whether to legalize marijuana, and Californians […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Dear friends
MONGOL STOPOVER Seventeen Mongolians, including environmentalists, politicians, journalists and representatives of the mining industry, showed up on HCN’s doorstep in late September as part of a tour around Colorado. The tour, organized by the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation, was intended to “establish a foundation for trust and relationship-building between participants” in order to yield “viable […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Good work in Washington
Seven years ago, I climbed aboard my aging Toyota Tercel and headed south through a blizzard so strong that it packed my wheel wells with ice. To keep the tires turning, I had to stop at small-town car washes and blast the ice blocks out with hot water. It was the first of many trips […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
A River Once More
In Oregon, an unprecedented alliance is working to put water someplace it hasn’t been in a long time: in the river.
Posted inWotr
Don’t forget the cup holders
We are not addicted to oil. We are addicted to moving around and exploring what’s out there, be it the top of the mountain or the climbing wall in the new recreation center on the edge of town. The words of that explorer of the future, Captain Kirk, stay with us because he fed our […]
Posted inWotr
When a gas pipeline blows, you get out fast
My family and I live in Clark, Wyo., on the Montana-Wyoming border, and though I used to tell people that I live on the edge of Yellowstone country, I now admit that I’m in an industrial zone, where things can get dangerous and go very wrong. Early in the evening of Aug. 11, a neighbor […]
Posted inWotr
Idaho’s permissiveness leads to elk on the lam
Sometime in August, 100 or more elk from an Idaho game farm escaped though a hole in the fence. The elk were from a domestic herd bred for huge horns and are known as “shooter bulls,” meaning they’re destined to be shot with bow and arrow or rifle by clients who engage in an elaborate […]
Posted inWotr
A simple act
No matter what time of day or night the phone rings, the voice that summons me sounds tired and desperate. But that’s not the only reason I go. I’m known there, so I seldom wait long before someone comes for me, leads me into the little room, closes the door, asks to see my ID […]
Posted inWotr
Don’t like the local rag? Start your own
My fingers pounded on the sticky keyboard. It was 2 a.m.; I’d given up drinking coffee a few hours earlier and was now chewing coffee beans chased with chocolate chips. In less than five hours, I’d make the 50-mile drive over two high mountain passes to the printer’s in Durango, in western Colorado, fretting the […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
Big yellow taxi — in Duke City
At once meditative and profane, Robert Leonard’s Yellow Cab traces his after-dark odysseys as a University of New Mexico anthropology professor who moonlights behind the wheel of a taxi. Leonard makes us privy to the stream of confessions from the back seat, narrating them in a breezy, urban voice, with the world-weary persona of someone […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
What’s wrong with the EPA?
If you’re wondering why this nation’s environmental laws aren’t implemented coherently or consistently, grab David Schoenbrod’s latest, Saving Our Environment from Washington. From a Natural Resources Defense attorney turned Yale law professor, the book is part memoir, part manifesto. And considering the potentially boring topic, Schoenbrod does an excellent job of explaining how laws such […]