After three years of stocking efforts — and an unusually wet start to 2005 — silvery minnows had a good run this spring in the Middle Rio Grande. Now, as the river recedes, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that more of the endangered fish can legally be allowed to die. Biologists found millions […]
The harder they spawn, the quicker they die
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Lawsuit spurs endangered species reviews
Dozens of endangered species are finally getting their five-year checkups. But some property-rights proponents want even more done. In July, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began working through its backlog of five-year reviews for flora and fauna protected by the Endangered Species Act. The mandatory reviews assess the health of a species, and can […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Judge rejects old-growth forest rollbacks
A federal judge in Seattle has rejected the Bush administration’s elimination of the Northwest Forest Plan’s “survey and manage” rules. The rules required government agencies to survey for hundreds of rare species in the Pacific Northwest’s old-growth forests, logging only where those species wouldn’t be disturbed. In August, Judge Marsha Pechman sided with conservationists, saying […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Heard around the West
UTAH A work of art newly emerged from the depths of the Great Salt Lake is making waves in the art world. Robert Smithson completed Spiral Jetty in 1970, but three years later it vanished under the rising lake. Smithson himself disappeared as well, dying in a plane crash. Now, the artist is being celebrated […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
The meeting of heaven and earth
In the dog days of August, Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes were blasted from a custom-made cannon at the top of a 150-foot tower on his land near Woody Creek, Colo. A lot of people were on hand, including former Sen. George McGovern and actor Johnny Depp, when the “gonzo” writer’s cremated remains, encased with fireworks […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
The return of the hodgepodge
That wasn’t just a transportation bill that President Bush signed earlier this month in Illinois. No, the measure — which will spend $286.45 billion in six years on highways, rail and bus service, and bike and hiking trails — has a far more elaborate name. It’s the “Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act — […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Science: The chink in Quivira’s armor
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Rangeland Revival.” Over and over, Quivira Coalition leaders have said that sustainable ranching is possible. But that claim isn’t backed up by a great deal of independent research. High Country News investigated rangeland science in southern Colorado and New Mexico, digging through the scientific […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
The ‘New Ranch’ poster child hangs on by a thread
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Rangeland Revival.” Jim Williams steps out of his small, brown, wooden ranch house, and glances out over the shrub-dotted grasslands he has called home for all of his 61 years. Despite the pelting early-spring snow, the land looks sparse. Short and scraggly clumps of […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
The Snake River, unplugged
Salmon-killing dams may amount to ‘takings’ of tribal fishing rights
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Pollution for jobs: a fair trade?
Navajos consider benefits — and drawbacks — of a new power plant
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Dear friends
Change in the Air Last month, we bid farewell to Laura Paskus, who has been HCN’s assistant editor for three years. But this isn’t really goodbye: Laura has moved to Albuquerque, N.M., where she will work part-time as our Southwest editor. The move is part of an ongoing effort to put HCN on the ground […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Hope for the West’s open lands
Eighteen months ago, High Country News kicked off a series about the West’s ranchlands with a cover story titled “Who Will Take Over the Ranch?” That first story laid out in stark terms the rapid loss of the West’s wide-open spaces to the real estate economy that now so fervently grips the region. In the […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2005: Rangeland Revival
Rangeland Revival
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?
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 — […]
Posted inWotr
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 […]
Posted inWotr
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
Posted inWotr
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 […]
Posted inWotr
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, […]
Posted inWotr
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 […]