The federal government continues to crack down on ecological saboteurs: In mid-May, four people in Colorado were indicted for the 1998 Vail ski resort fires. The accused belong to a group of 13 defendants named in an Oregon indictment, which lists 65 counts for crimes across the West, including conspiracy and arson (HCN, 4/17/06: Eco-terrorism […]
War on (eco) terror extends to the West
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
Energy workers, union members protest drilling
In Wyoming, the outcry against oil and gas drilling is getting louder — and now it’s coming from some unlikely quarters. Since 2005, the Bureau of Land Management has been auctioning off parcels in the Wyoming Range of the Bridger-Teton National Forest for oil and gas development. The most recent lease sale on June 6 […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
Saints speak out against nuclear waste
Although Mormons call Utah their promised land, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has rarely taken a stand in defense of its environment. Recently, however, the highest echelon of the church threw a protective arm around the state by opposing a nuclear waste storage site near Salt Lake City. In a three-sentence statement […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
The Latest Bounce
Republican Pete McCloskey made a valiant attempt to unseat Rep. Richard Pombo (HCN, 4/17/06: Pete McCloskey rides again). But California’s 11th Congressional District stood behind its native son. Despite questions about his ethics and attempts to weaken key environmental laws, Pombo received 62 percent of the votes in the June 6th primary. Moderate challenger McCloskey, […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
The Tamarisk Hunter
In the desert Southwest of 2030 Big Daddy Drought runs the show, California claims all the water, and a water tick named Lolo ekes out a rugged living removing tamarisk.
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
Heard around the West
CALIFORNIA A passenger on a flight from Los Angeles to Oakland apparently felt too important to obey repeated requests to hang up his cell phone so the plane could take off. Everyone else had acknowledged the usual announcement to turn off cell phones, except for this man, who was deep in conversation, according to the […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
Land deal, New Mexico style
Ancestral land turned corporation could be up for sale
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
How a tiny owl changed Tucson
As the pygmy owl nears local extinction, community leaders vow to continue desert conservation
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
The hazy days of summer … and winter, spring and fall
Air pollution settles over the West’s national parks
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
Dear friends
SUMMER BREAK HCN staff will be taking some much-needed time off during the last two weeks of June. We’ll be enjoying our families and praying for rainstorms. Look for the next issue of HCN to reach you around July 24. WELCOME, ABBIE AND JESSICA Two new faces have recently appeared in the HCN office. Abbie […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
HCN looks to the future
“WHAT in the HECK is that merry band of High Country News pranksters up to this time? I mean, science fiction on the cover?” Well, yes — and trust us, it’s not as much of a stretch as it seems. Each summer, we take a break from the hard news and send you an issue […]
Posted inWotr
Slow down, you go too fast
These are difficult times for people like me. I love to drive. Nothing soothes me more than a long, empty stretch of road and a full tank of gas and no known destination. I love the rumble of the road, spotting a café in a town, stopping for pie and coffee and listening to locals […]
Posted inWotr
Don’t top that tree!
One day several years ago, when the youngest was 5 and her sister 8, the youngest brought home from kindergarten a watercolor she had painted of a tree. Painted on 9-by-18-inch paper, the tree’s shallow crown stretched the 18-inch width of the paper and off both edges. My wife and I of course praised the […]
Posted inWotr
A mining town gets a second chance
Historically, the mining industry has not given its towns a second chance. When ore runs out or metal prices head south, as both always do, the industry waves good-bye and leaves mining towns to confront their fates alone. They can either join the West’s long list of ghost towns, or figure out some way to […]
Posted inWotr
Truth really is no defense
On, May 30, Justice Samuel Alito cast his first deciding vote, and in doing so struck a blow for muzzling public servants at all levels of government. The 5-4 majority in Garcetti v. Ceballos held that public servants have no First Amendment rights in their role as government employees. This decision makes it easier to […]
Posted inWotr
Health is a casualty on the fast track to gas drilling
The 20 miles of interstate highway between the small towns of Silt and Parachute in western Colorado slice through a landscape of sagebrush and mesas. There are few exits through this section of Garfield County, where the local population of deer and elk rivals the number of ranchers, retirees and others who live here. Susan […]
Posted inWotr
Down on the ground looking for culture
The topic for the Gunnison, Colo., master-plan meeting not long ago was “community culture,” and the rambles of that discussion have been lurking in my mind ever since. The talk went fast to complaints about a really junky property on the west approach to town, a collection of shacks and sheds with stuff lying around. […]
Posted inJune 12, 2006: The Perpetual Growth Machine
Making room for wolves
What do you get when you ask 50 people — only a handful of whom have actually ever seen a wolf — to write about new ways to “think about (wolves), imagine them, and welcome them home”? There are the inevitable odes to friendly wolf-dogs, and some wild stuff about kids suckled by volcanoes. But […]
Posted inJune 12, 2006: The Perpetual Growth Machine
Trading goods, and stories, on the reservation
In the 1920s and ’30s, many Navajo Indians traded for flour and coffee at Will Evans’ Shiprock Trading Company. Among them were survivors of the infamous Long Walk, the 300-mile forced march that sent the tribe into temporary exile in eastern New Mexico in 1864. When yet another battle-scarred Navajo limped into the post, Evans […]
Posted inJune 12, 2006: The Perpetual Growth Machine
The noisy democracy of the West
The problem seems unavoidable: Historian Peter Decker wants to write about what he knows and loves, his adopted home in rural Ouray County, Colo. But his passionate prose is sure to spark more visits from outsiders, perhaps helping to destroy the very isolation that he cherishes. The first edition of Old Fences, New Neighbors appeared […]