Q: Why did Utah choose the slogan “The Greatest Snow on Earth” when it so closely resembled the Ringling Brothers slogan “The Greatest Show on Earth?” A: Both businesses attract a lot of bozos. It’s okay to hate skiing and to own an automobile without a ski rack. You don’t need to have your computer […]
The unbearable triteness of skiing
Posted inWotr
Climate change is pulling the trigger
I once spent an entire summer catching frogs. Most people, I gather, do this in elementary school: I was in my early 20s, with a supposedly marketable college degree. I guess I should have done something a little, well, more mature. But I had an excuse. I’d been hired by the U.S. Geological Survey to […]
Posted inWotr
For Sale: The West
It’s disconcerting to look at the ads in the local newspaper these days. I’m bound to recognize someone I know who has just cast in his or her lot with Re/Max, Coldwell Banker or another of the multitude of agencies now playing the West’s biggest gambling game: Real Estate Roulette. He or she will be […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Eight decades of magic and beauty at Ghost Ranch
New Mexico’s most famous resort, Ghost Ranch, has charmed many visitors. One overwhelmed admirer proclaimed that any description of the place amounted to “an advertisement for God and New Mexico.” Area historian Lesley Poling-Kempes tells the story of Ghost Ranch and its lovers in her absorbing new book, Ghost Ranch. Ghost Ranch covers 20,000 acres […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Deciphering humanity’s hardware
History buffs can easily get an education alongside Western highways. Interpretive signs point out where Chief Joseph retreated, and where Lewis and Clark spent the winter. But what if you want to know what’s coming out of the smokestack in the distance? Or what gets made inside that gigantic steel structure you just passed? The […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
A watery mystery in New Mexico
Even if you haven’t read a mystery novel since the Hardy Boys, give Rudolfo Anaya’s new book, Jemez Spring, a whirl. All in one day, Sonny Baca, an Albuquerque private investigator, works to solve the governor’s murder at the Jemez Springs Bath House and deactivate a nuclear bomb left in the Valles Caldera to blow […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Planting seeds for preservation
In Cities in the Wilderness, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt asks: “Is it realistic to suggest expanding land protection programs in a season when the Bush administration and Congress are intent not upon expanding, but upon shrinking the reach of our environmental laws?” Babbitt’s answer is a resounding “Yes.” He continues, “History instructs […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
A eulogy for the West that was
Mourning the loss of a special place has become a common plaint in the West. Changes in paradise always evoke regret and loss, especially when they happen on your watch and seem irrevocable. Roger Brown, a 70-year-old filmmaker who lives near Gypsum, Colo., has written, photographed and self-published Requiem for the West, an impassioned lament […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Meth is bad news, period
I was disturbed by the letter writer who proposed legalizing methamphetamines for oil field workers or anyone else who feels meth “helps” them (HCN, 11/28/05: The bright side of meth). Here in Hawaii, meth is considered the greatest reason for crime (auto theft, house break-ins and robberies), violence and family abuse. Crystal meth, its popular […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Wind energy not a panacea
The article “Forget Idealism” talks of the benefits of transitioning our energy supply from fossil fuels to renewable sources such as wind and solar (HCN, 12/12/05: Forget Idealism). As in many discussions previous to this one, the author fails to address the environmental impacts of wind-power fields. The photo associated with this article says it […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
The Ghosts of 1913
In response to Hal Rothman’s letter: “Solving the West’s Water Problems with Economic Progress” is a beguiling tune, if you’re attracted to that sort of music, but this is the one I hum: Economic growth IS the problem (HCN, 12/26/05: Letters). Consider this: John Muir, the great naturalist and writer, won many noble battles but […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Sociology is essential
I see there’s another letter condemning HCN’s “drift” into “sociology” eye. One of the biggest mistakes made by conservationists and environmentalists in the past 40 or 50 years was to drift away from sociology. Sociology has to do with the way we humans treat each other and that in turn has enormous implications for how […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Seniors reject more wilderness access
Erik Schultz’s piece about his tragic fall, which left him a paraplegic and unable to savor the wilderness, makes a (HCN, 12/12/05: Wheelchairs and wilderness can coexist). Why? If it’s a choice between personal satisfaction and wilderness protection, we must choose wilderness. Bob Marshall, Ed Abbey, Aldo Leopold — all considered mechanization of wild nature […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Seniors want more wilderness access
Regarding Erik Schultz’s column, “Wheelchairs and Wilderness Can Co-exist” (HCN, 12/12/05: Wheelchairs and wilderness can coexist): Erik and Congressman Simpson are to be congratulated for the progress they have made in opening a wilderness area to handicapped persons — be it ever so small. I look from another perspective — that of aging senior citizens. […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Wilderness with horses, not wheelchairs
I agree with Erik Schultz that life can change dramatically in the blink of an eye (HCN, 12/12/05: Wheelchairs and wilderness can coexist). I am sorry that Erik was injured and is now confined to a wheelchair. But wilderness is, by definition, primitive, not meant to be easily accessed, and is a place where we […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
No bipartisan support for Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness
Laura Paskus’ article on the Ojito Wilderness mentions the proposal for the Boulder-White Clouds in Idaho, an omnibus lands bill that includes some wilderness designation (HCN, 11/28/05: The little wilderness that could). Paskus states that this legislation has “bipartisan support,” when in fact its only sponsors are Mike Simpson of Idaho and Jim Saxton of […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Goodbye, ranger; hello, cop
Jim Stiles’ article about the state park ranger who shot a tourist over a camping fee hit a nerve (HCN, 10/17/05: Blood spills over a $14 camping fee). You see, I’ve been reading and re-reading the new National Park Service’s management policies draft. In the past, as Stiles said, rangers used to range. To get […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Colorado River gets a recreation plan
The National Park Service’s new plan for the Grand Canyon river corridor may torpedo wilderness advocates, who are already swimming against a tide of motorboats and helicopters. Ten years ago, the Grand Canyon Management Plan required park managers to devise a new recreation strategy for the Colorado River that would address motorized usage, tourism’s impacts […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Forest Service shuts down ‘three old geezers’
Eighty-year-old retiree Stewart Brandborg wouldn’t appear threatening to most people in his hometown, Hamilton. Brandborg’s father, Guy, ran the Bitterroot National Forest, headquartered in the town, from 1935 to 1955. Brandborg’s own career included stints with the Forest Service and national conservation groups. But when Brandborg tried to attend a forest press conference in Hamilton […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
Renewable law leaves the gate
When Colorado voters approved Amendment 37 in 2004, most had no idea how long it would take for the state’s renewable standards to go into effect. More than a year later, the state’s Public Utilities Commission finally released the rules implementing the law, which requires the state’s largest utilities to generate 10 percent of their […]