The Quivira Coalition prophesies a new era of peace and prosperity on the West’s rangelands, but is the group bold enough to make that vision real?
Rangeland Revival
Posted inWotr
The West shared in a meal of highway pork
That wasn’t just a transportation bill that President Bush signed in early July in Illinois. No, the measure — which will spend $286.45 billion in six years on highways, rail and bus service, and biking and hiking trails — has a far more elaborate name. It’s the “Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act — […]
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The glue in some small towns comes from a guy or gal in a truck
Our small town has just suffered a profound loss: the departure of our treasured UPS deliveryman. Like Santa Claus, Tony always brought us treasures. The regular mail might bring bills or junk, but Tony’s brown truck always meant a package. Along with telephone, television and Internet, Tony was our link to the outside world. But […]
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Property rights advocates get rebuked in Oregon
Supporters of Oregon’s successful Measure 37, which requires compensation for any government land-use regulation that diminishes the value of property, have introduced a radical concept that overturns decades of settled law on what constitutes the “taking” of private property. Now, the Oregon Supreme Court has delivered a stinging rebuke to the legal theory underpinning takings […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Super-sized dam could be a cash register for California farmers
New federal contracts give water districts more than they need
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Mad cow threat opens the door to grassfed beef
The predictable re-emergence of mad cow disease on American shores brings to mind the Mandarin Chinese word for crisis — a combination of the ideograms for danger as well as opportunity. The danger is obvious and growing, as mathematical probability tells us there must be more than two mad cows among the 112 million or […]
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Yellowstone grizzlies aren’t out of the woods yet
Grizzlies and Yellowstone — bears and geysers. People have been coming from around the world to see the national park’s main attractions for decades. Now, the Bush administration wants to remove the Yellowstone grizzlies from the list of species protected by the Endangered Species Act. I think delisting is premature, because we need more bears, […]
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Yellowstone grizzlies are a success story
The federal government’s proposal to take grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem off the Endangered Species Act’s threatened species list represents a tremendous achievement. It also demonstrates America’s enduring commitment to wildlife conservation. The National Wildlife Federation — one of the nation’s largest conservation groups at 4 million members and supporters — has reached […]
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Dear friends
SUMMER VISITORS We’re always a bit surprised (and pleased) that so many of you manage to find us, since Paonia, Colo. — HCN’s hometown — is really not on the way to anywhere. Rick and Susie Graetz from Helena, Mont., came by with two young friends from nearby Crested Butte. The couple founded Montana Magazine […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Stop picking on Pombo
In Greg Hanscom’s July 25 editor’s note, he states that Wyoming is riding its current oil and gas boom like a meth-crazed bronc rider. That’s some analogy, Mr. Hanscom. I thought most cowboys were pretty straight. From viewing your picture in the column, you have more of the appearance of most dope-heads that I have […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Bad for horn hunters, but good for wildlife
Regarding the HCN article on antler hunting, I was glad to see that something positive has come out of the ludicrous Viagra/Cialis craze that fills up my e-mail spam filter daily (HCN, 8/8/05: Horn hunters face hard times). Now that artificial drugs have supplanted “traditional” remedies, we should see some relief for African rhinoceroses, North […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Change is good — but be careful
Good idea, good color, good printing. And it’s about time! I don’t think any of us would be averse to a suitable increase in subscription cost to 1) keep that up and 2) keep the ads down. You have one hell of a good publication. Be very careful with it; change nothing except to make […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Leave sociology coverage to National Geographic
I have subscribed to HCN on and off since I met my husband 20 years ago (he introduced me to the paper) because of its coverage of environmental news. When I read in the notes on the board meeting a month ago that someone from Washington state thinks HCN should cover news other than environmental […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Immigration fuels Western growth
D.J. Waldie writes of something which many of us have tried to warn of, that “smart growth” isn’t necessarily smart (HCN, 8/8/05: In the suburbs of Los Angeles, your future awaits). Portland, hailed as the icon of smart growth, will in a generation or so be as high-density as Los Angeles. It will have, in […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Overhauled wolf program isn’t ‘collaborative’
I was dismayed to read HCN’s profile of John Morgart, the man at least partially responsible for crafting the proposed one-year moratorium on Mexican gray wolf releases in the Blue Range, and other changes to the reintroduction standard operating procedures — because it did not mention the dubious circumstances leading up to the release of […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Ferret recovery pioneer moves on
In his 18 years as Wall District ranger in Buffalo Gap National Grassland, Bill Perry led the effort to restore endangered black-footed ferrets. He helped write the plan to bring in captive-bred ferrets, engineered land swaps to consolidate habitat, and helped manage the pens where the animals were acclimated before being released. Perry built the […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Drilling leases slowed by paper jam
At a Denver gas industry conference Aug. 3, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson said a “staggering” increase in protests is hobbling gas drilling in the Rocky Mountains. Pre-lease protests — attempts to stop the Bureau of Land Management from auctioning off parcels of land to oil and gas companies — are up 664 […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Follow-up
The 2003 wilderness settlement between Interior Secretary Gale Norton and then-Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt may be on the ropes (HCN, 4/28/03: Wilderness takes a massive hit). The settlement eliminated protection for 2.6 million acres of potential wilderness in Utah and barred the BLM from proposing any new land for wilderness designation without congressional approval. But […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Dear Friends
SUMMER VISITORS We’re always a bit surprised (and pleased) that so many of you manage to find us, since Paonia, Colo. — HCN’s hometown — is really not on the way to anywhere. Rick and Susie Graetz from Helena, Mont., came by with two young friends from nearby Crested Butte. The couple founded Montana Magazine […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Heard around the West
OREGON Joseph, Ore., population 1,100, doesn’t often get rowdy, so local police quickly followed up on a complaint June 9, regarding some noisy teens. A youth group had apparently massed on the sidewalk in front of their church, where they practiced singing. Here’s the sweet denouement, as reported by the town policeman in the Wallowa […]