A recent Oregon court ruling has bolstered a Westwide effort to force local governments to compensate landowners who lose property value to land-use regulations. But celebrations may be premature. On Feb. 21, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld Measure 37, which was originally passed by the state’s voters in November 2004, but declared unconstitutional by a […]
No clear victory for property-rights activists
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
High Country Zoo Special Edition – Apr. 1
HOOTLINES MONTOMING Rep. Rambo proposes more corporate sponsorship Last fall, Rep. Richard Rambo, R-Calif., proposed that to help balance the federal budget, the National Park Circus should sell corporate naming rights for its visitor centers and trails (HCN, 9/31/05). Now, Rambo has expanded his plan to allow corporations to purchase naming rights for natural features, […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Waypoints of the heart
As a kid, I used to play treasure hunt, all by myself. I’d take a piece of wide-ruled notebook paper and draw an X for my starting point — the front stoop of my house, on a dead-end street. Then I’d make a series of marks, each one representing a step, guided more by a […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Washing our hands
I met Interior Secretary Gale Norton in the public restroom at Denver International Airport. She was coming out of the handicapped stall with a black roller bag. She is a tall, handsome woman. We ended up washing our hands at neighboring basins. Should I, or shouldn’t I? I did. “Secretary Norton — ” “Yes?” she […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Poison in the Wind
Pesticides sicken residents as neighborhoods sprawl into agricultural land
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Columbia River dams revived
Tribes get shut out of new plan touted as good for fish
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Norton Departs
A look at Interior’s counterrevolution — and its unintended consequences
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Dear friends
HCN EDITOR WINS AWARDS FOR SILVERTON PAPER Congratulations to new Associate Editor Jonathan Thompson, who recently took home seven awards from the 2005 Colorado Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest for work he did while publishing and editing the Silverton Standard & the Miner. Jonathan won first or second place in several categories, including feature and […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Tierra o Muerte
Outside the village of Tierra Amarilla in northern New Mexico, a hand-painted placard proclaims “Tierra o Muerte” — Land or Death. The sign gives some indication of just how fiercely northern New Mexicans have defended their land and their culture — a culture that traces its roots back to the conquistadores who claimed this land […]
Posted inWotr
Ocean fishing ban will be a drastic step
Sometime during the first week of April, regulators will decide whether to close a 700-mile stretch of the California and Oregon coasts to commercial salmon fishing, and much of the West Coast will learn whether locally caught king salmon will show up at fish markets this summer. At first blush, it seems like a case […]
Posted inWotr
Thank you, Gale Norton
Five years ago, the Interior Department, which oversees one-quarter of the nation’s land, 9,000 employees and nine federal agencies, appeared to have turned a corner. Outgoing Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had just pulled off a remarkable conservation offensive, getting his boss, Bill Clinton, to create and expand more than a dozen national monuments in the […]
Posted inWotr
Westerners watch as the past slips away
There was a grand opening for a Walgreens drugstore in my western Colorado town recently. I’m sure it was a welcome change for some people, but I remember the grand old ranch house that once stood in its place. The house with the wraparound porch was surrounded by an orchard and majestic cottonwood trees. It […]
Posted inWotr
What’s behind all these natural disasters
That was some mudslide that hit Leyte Island in the Philippines last month, when something like several tons of sludge and rock a mile wide slid down a mountain onto the village of Guinsahugan, killing children in their schoolrooms and villagers in their stores and homes. No wonder. In just two weeks before the Feb. […]
Posted inWotr
Eco-terrorism and the Trial of the Century
In case you hadn’t noticed, 12 young people (average age 33) have been charged with arson and conspiracy to commit arson in several Western states. The 83-page indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury in Oregon, and it must be important because the story made the front page of the Western edition of […]
Posted inWotr
Seeing the legacy of Interior Secretary Gale Norton
I met Gale Norton, who has announced her resignation as Interior Secretary, in the public restroom at the Denver International Airport. She was coming out of the handicapped stall with a black roller bag. She is a tall, handsome woman. We ended up washing our hands at neighboring basins. Should I or shouldn’t I? I […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
National Parks and the Woman’s Voice
National Parks and the Woman’s Voice Polly Welts Kaufman 344 pages, softcover: $22.95. University of New Mexico Press, 2006. This updated edition of a decade-old book examines the role of women in the National Park Service, from Yellowstone explorers of the late 1800s to present-day park founders and advocates. Women now fill one-quarter of park […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
Skinny Streets and Green Neighborhoods
Skinny Streets and Green Neighborhoods Cynthia Girling and Ronald Kellett 176 pages, softcover: $35. Island Press, 2006. Urban sprawl and congestion: We all know it’s a massive problem. But proven, practical solutions often elude planners and developers. Authors Cynthia Girling and Ronald Kellett, who teach architecture and landscape architecture, examine several case studies of ecologically […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
With liberty, justice, and locally produced food for all
“Injustice is part of every meal we eat,” writes Jenny Kurzweil in Fields that Dream: A Journey to the Roots of Our Food. In each chapter, Kurzweil tells the story of an organic farmer, fieldworker or marketer based in the Pacific Northwest, illustrating how injustice might be diminished by purchasing food from local and socially […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
At home in the valley
In The San Luis Valley, Susan Tweit takes us on an extraordinary spring journey through a place her heart knows as home. It’s a joy to read her keen observations about wild territory — in the outback, in our hearts — and the many ways it feeds the soul. In the tepee-shaped slice of south […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
Hualapai horror
Regarding your article on the economic development plans of the Hualapai Tribe (HCN, 2/20/06: Tribe brings on the tourists): Let me get this straight. You bring a bunch of porcine asses out from Las Vegas in air-conditioned, global-warming Hummer-Dummers to have lunch at a place called “Guano Point,” and then charge them $25 to use […]