My minuscule slice of the Colorado River Basin’s flow dried up yesterday. When I opened the plug on our 6-inch pipe, a trickle of brown water dribbled out, followed by a black glob of sediment, writhing with a half-dozen crawdads. And that was it. The local ditch company usually stops delivering water in mid-August, when […]
Weighing our water options
Posted inSeptember 19, 2005: Squeezing Water from a Stone
Squeezing Water from a Stone
Damned with a tiny share of the Colorado River, and running dry, Las Vegas sets its sights on the driest part of the driest state in the Union.
Posted inWotr
Alien grasses are finding new homes in Arizona
By the end of June, some 20 wildfires had reduced large patches of Arizona’s desert scrublands to ash. The blazes eventually burned over 200,000 acres and killed many huge and venerable saguaros, along with smaller cacti, trees and shrubs. “Invasive” grasses carried these fires, those species from somewhere else that are increasingly blamed for environmental […]
Posted inWotr
RVs R Us
Living in a western Colorado mountain town that panders to tourists, vacationers and white-knuckled early retirees driving Greyhound buses converted to homes nicer than I live in, I, too, have suffered. I have been damned, dammed behind these tin-can condos as they’ve labored up passes like mastodons running a marathon. I’ve watched with a perverse […]
Posted inWotr
The Endangered Species Act is a roaring success
The Endangered Species Act — which is being reviewed by Congress this week — is a soaring success. Just look up. Look skyward for a while and you might spy an American bald eagle. Hundreds of them live in my home state of Montana. Across the United States, the bald eagle is a living, flying […]
Posted inWotr
Be a patriot — get your hands dirty
While foraging through my backyard garden the other day for cucumbers, peppers and hot-to-touch chilis, a slogan occurred to me: “Support Our Troops – Plant a Garden.” A garden would demonstrate patriotism because each backyard Eden lessens our dependence upon imported oil. Of course, by itself, imported oil isn’t bad, but an addiction so intense […]
Posted inWotr
What’s at stake in the evolution debate
On my desk is the fragment of a tooth from an ancient camel that roamed the area around Fossil, Ore., 40 million years ago. My kids and I unearthed it on a summer camping trip, and today I found myself fingering it as I read yet another story about the evolution “debate.” This controversy pits […]
Posted inWotr
A ‘teachable moment’ has arrived
As the personal tragedies and economic ripples flowed from New Orleans last week, a friend called from Eureka in Northern California to alert me that the price of gasoline had risen another 30 cents per gallon. Maybe this is a message that will get through, I thought. I live near Eureka in the tiny town […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Atlas of Pacific Salmon
Atlas of Pacific Salmon Xanthippe Augerot 150 pages, hardcover: $34.95 University of California Press and State of the Salmon, 2005. As far-ranging as the salmon itself, this book examines the state of Oncorhynchus species on both sides of the North Pacific. Packed with colorful maps, photos and graphics, the work is science-based but readable and […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Maverick Autobiographies: Women Writers and the American West, 1900-1936
Maverick Autobiographies: Women Writers and the American West, 1900-1936 Cathryn Halverson 230 pages, hardcover: $45 The University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. Probably you’ve never heard of the three Western women featured in this book. But if you’re not put off by literary criticism or footnotes, you’ll meet Mary MacLane, who lived in Butte, Mont., and […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports to America
Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports to America John Leland 248 pages, hardcover: $29.95 University of South Carolina Press, 2005. We know by now that exotic species often wreak havoc: Asian tiger mosquitoes spread West Nile virus, Australian eucalyptus trees increase California’s fire risk. But Leland shows us that they can bring benefits, […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Out of the video arcade and into the woods
For the first time in history, the bond between children and nature has been broken, writes child advocate and journalist Richard Louv in Last Child in the Woods. The culprits are many: Kids prefer to play inside where the electrical outlets are, instead of outdoors where the wild birds sing. Computers, TV and video games […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
The restoration will not be televised
In nature, there is neither right or wrong — only consequences. The truth of that is demonstrated in After the Fires: The Ecology of Change in Yellowstone National Park. The wildfires that swept Yellowstone in 1988 were the first prime-time forest fires, according to the book. Television viewers stared aghast at the raging flames and […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
LDS history buff pleased
As a retired Utah history teacher and long-time LDS history buff, I found “The Gangs of Zion” most interesting! Thanks for taking the time to research this material and then presenting it so well. You filled in my knowledge base with material I wouldn’t have even had enough information to ask questions about. I hope […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
You can’t blame the church
I read most of your article on “Gangs of Zion” in the Logan Herald Journal and was very disappointed by the lack of research that went into it. Granted, you did do some historical research on the history of Polynesians and their migration to Utah, but you would think you would have taken the time […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Don’t give up on your kid
I am a 25-year-old Tongan living in Australia, and I can sort of relate to this article. Growing up was very hard (financially and emotionally). By the time they were 16, my brothers were selling drugs, and most probably doing drugs as well. My brothers have been stabbed and beaten and who knows what else. […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
No easy way out
I am saddened that this event not only affected the gangster’s family, but it is affecting all of us Tongans. Maybe we have not taken enough time with our children, but spent more time working and making money. These are the side effects of living overseas. There is no easy way out, but I hope […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Racism is alive and well…
They were savages there, and as a group, they are savages here. “Guest”Provo Daily Herald Web site This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Racism is alive and well….
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Gangs are not the norm
The article was an unfair generalization of an entire group of people, devoid of any substantial mention of the culture’s many redeeming qualities. Yes, there are gang issues associated with the culture in Utah. No, that is not the “norm” for Polynesian families, here or elsewhere. The truth is, most Polynesian families in Utah live […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Self-defense?
And people ask why I pack heat in Utah. Duh! “Guest”Provo Daily Herald Web site This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Self-defense?.