Citizens are wielding an obscure legal weapon to fight energy company profiteering
Taking the law into their own hands
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
Snowy middle ground
Wilderness advocates and snowmobilers come to terms in Montana
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
Public acres for sale
President Bush revives proposal to sell desert and forest land
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
Dear friends
NEW BLOG ON THE BLOCK A new online experiment for HCN, or the last best place for a nuclear waste dump … you decide. We’ve got our own blog now, where Paolo Bacigalupi, our Web editor, comments daily about what’s happening in the West. Check it out at http://blog.hcn.org/goat and send comments, tips and suggestions […]
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
Hot times — hot damn
Please forgive us, this once, just a little bragging. The cover story in this issue is the capstone of a two-year special series about global warming, written by High Country News Contributing Editor Michelle Nijhuis. The series started with a story about tiny bark beetles that are moving higher into the West’s mountain forests because […]
Posted inWotr
How to build a ghost town with great views
A teacher friend of mine just shook the change out of his trousers to buy and then fully remodel a dump in Telluride, Colo. The house cost $1 million, and it was the cheapest thing going. I didn’t ask about the cost of the remodel. At the same time that my friend was assembling his […]
Posted inWotr
Who’s afraid of the big bad dog?
Shock waves are still spreading over the news that last November, a Canadian was apparently killed by wolves. The conservationist mantra has always been that healthy wolves don’t kill humans. But in this case, which happened in Saskatchewan, evidence indicates that they did: A 22-year-old man was found mauled and partially eaten in an area […]
Posted inWotr
We all lose when scientists sell their credibility
Ever wonder why science and scientists are taking such a beating in the public opinion department these days? Then consider the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Their recent decision to praise pulp novelist Michael Crichton as “journalist of the year” feeds not only cynicism about the oil and gas industry, but also drains public faith […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Critical Habitat: The Inside Story
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “High Noon for Habitat.” 1973 — Congress passes the original Endangered Species Act. Section 7 says that federal agencies must ensure that any federal action “doesn’t cause destruction or modification of habitat” that is deemed critical for a listed species. 1975 — The Fish […]
Posted inWotr
Christo in Colorado would be a very good thing
Art, it has been said, provokes a response by revealing the familiar in new light. By that definition, “Over the River,” the project on southern Colorado’s Arkansas River envisioned by artists Christo and Jeanne Claude, is already a success, even though it has yet to be approved and installation is almost four years away. “Over […]
Posted inWotr
Yes, some hunters are gay
I saw Brokeback Mountain a short walk from my home in downtown Missoula, at the historic Wilma Theatre. Built in 1921 by producers of a Wild West show, it’s a place where Will Rogers once performed his cowboy satire. Between the old sound system and my bad ears (courtesy of the Marine Corps}, I had […]
Posted inWotr
The many problems of Richard Pombo
This must be the winter of Richard Pombo’s discontent, or it would be if they had winter in California. It isn’t just that his plan to privatize 15 national parks and other public lands went kerblooey, or that he found it prudent to give away embarrassing campaign contributions. It isn’t just that three Democrats are […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes and the Trial that Forged a Nation
Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes and the Trial that Forged a Nation Paul VanDevelder 324 pages, softcover: $19.95 University of Nebraska Press, 2005. “Coyote warriors” are the new generation of American Indian leaders who leave the reservation to train as attorneys, scientists or other professionals, then return home to help their tribes. Tribal governments, […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Under Ground: How Creatures of Mud and Dirt Shape Our World
Under Ground: How Creatures of Mud and Dirt Shape Our World Yvonne Baskin 237 pages, hardcover: $26.95 Island Press, 2005. Yvonne Baskin, a science writer, takes us on an intriguing tour of the planet’s soils and sediments. Did you know, for example, that because earthworms aren’t native to much of North America, fishermen should dump […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Just where is that home on the range?
It’s easy to write about coming to the West. Legendary figures, such as Jack Kerouac, Ed Abbey and even John Denver, still inspire young people to follow them to the land of Rocky Mountain highs and red rock deserts in search of enlightenment. What’s harder to do, however, is to write about leaving the West. […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Stalking the boojum in the Sonoran Desert
From afar, the Sonoran Desert is a stonewashed, monochromatic expanse. Look closer, and you’ll swear that fantasy writer Lewis Carroll did the landscaping. Two rainy seasons each year give the Sonoran Desert stunning biodiversity and some pretty quirky plant species — many so specialized to a particular place that budding naturalists are likely to need […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
The NRA has it wrong
The NRA has emptied its big guns on Pat Wray, and I find that hard to understand (HCN, 1/23/06: What’s the NRA’s beef with roadless areas?). Why would a huge, powerful national organization fear a man who thinks they should return to their roots, spending their time fighting on behalf of the Second Amendment? It […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Roadless areas are for elitists
Recently, Pat Wray claimed that the National Rifle Association does little for hunters (HCN, 1/23/06: What’s the NRA’s beef with roadless areas?). He is wrong. The NRA works with federal, state and local legislatures and regulatory agencies to preserve and improve hunting rights and opportunities throughout the country. Wray acknowledged that the NRA is working […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Larmer’s generalizations unfair
Paul Larmer’s blatant attack on Realtors in the most recent High Country News makes me wonder exactly what he was thinking when this dribble was deemed printworthy in a publication with such high journalistic standards (HCN, 1/23/06: For sale: The West). My “mug” is one of those that he would recognize in area publications “hawking” […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Editorial an exercise in hypocrisy
Congratulations on your editorial concerning Western land sales (HCN, 1/23/06: For sale: The West). You succeeded in insulting a sizeable group of hardworking people in your own community. I find it somewhat ironic that right next to an article blasting the announcement of new Realtors who have joined our local Paonia real estate firms is […]