Regarding Allen Best’s provocative story on exurbia, I think he paints with too broad a brush (HCN, 6/13/05: How dense can we be?). There are those of us living in paradise who try to do so with environmental consciousness, and who are not a drain on our county treasuries. My husband and I live on […]
Living lightly in exurbia
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
HCN real estate ads smack of hypocrisy
In “How Dense Can We Be?” HCN decries large lot development in exurbia (HCN, 6/13/05: How dense can we be?). The article says that buying large lots away from the city is bad: Exurbs are a fire hazard, require more infrastructure, and residents have to drive long distances to get anywhere. Then, in the Unclassifieds, […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Let them eat comment letters
The comment in your latest issue from the bureaucrat, saying 50,000 petition signatures have no effect on policy-making, sounds exactly like the last public expressions of Marie Antoinette before they cut her head off (HCN, 6/27/05: Writing a comment letter? Better make it good). When the French peasants were starving for bread in the late […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Mining waste dumped in streams — and now lakes
The Bush administration tweaked Clean Water Act regulations to reclassify mining waste as “fill.” Now, that revised definition has been applied to metals mining for the first time — allowing a gold mine to put its tailings directly into an Alaskan lake. The 1972 Clean Water Act prohibited dumping waste into streams and lakes. But […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Follow-up
Southern Arizona’s San Pedro River, the Southwest’s last free-flowing desert river, dried up for the first time since the U.S. Geological Survey started tracking flows in 1904 (HCN, 8/30/04: A Thirst for Growth). Beginning on July 4, river flows fluctuated between zero and 0.3 cubic feet per second. But when the river dried on the […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Heard around the West
IDAHO “It’s the ultimate in recycling,” says Victor Bruha. He and a friend, Daniel Hidalgo, have begun turning large mounds of bison poop into high-quality art paper. The idea isn’t really new: An Australian company sells kangaroo-dung paper, and in Thailand, elephants supply the needed material in super-sized quantities. But it took months for Hidalgo […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Life rises from the ashes, in the form of a humble toad
Change can be good — even violent, earth-shaking change. Just ask Charlie Crisafulli. Twenty-five years ago on May 18, at 8:32 in the morning, Mount St. Helens erupted, blasting ash, steam and superheated gases 80,000 feet into the atmosphere high above southern Washington. The north end of the mountain collapsed in the largest landslide in […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
A most unusual sanctuary, where the Yeti roams free
The Kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist country nestled in the Himalayas between India and Tibet, sounds like an enchanting place. People who’ve traveled there describe snow-capped peaks, lush valleys and ancient monasteries. The country is known for its progressive environmental laws, and is sometimes even called “the last Shangri-la” for its unspoiled natural environment. […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Pombo’s power grows — and so do the scandals
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Will the real Mr. Pombo please stand up?“ Richard Pombo had a relatively trouble-free career in Congress until 2003, when he became chairman of the powerful House Resources Committee. Since then, he has been linked to a number of scandals. “The problem with Pombo […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
From the chairman
House Resources Committee press release headlines
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Wolf man John
NAME John Morgart TITLE Mexican wolf recovery program coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service HOME BASE Albuquerque, N.M. AGE 53 HE SAYS “I’ve known what I wanted to do with my life ever since I was 3 or 4 years old. I just always knew I wanted to be a wildlife biologist.” John Morgart has […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Western governors wary of roadless forest mess
Bush administration touts state control, but Washington, D.C., will make the final call
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
New grazing rules ride on doctored science
Veteran scientists leave the BLM in frustration
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Dear friends
VISITORS We’ve had a steady stream of summer visitors. Christopher Peterson, executive director of the Glen Canyon Institute, stopped in while stumping for the effort to drain Lake Powell. Dan Stonington, nephew of HCN board member Emily Stonington, came by on a trip to check out the sights that have recently emerged from the drought-stricken […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
D.C. and the West: Worlds apart
Out here in the West, under the blazing blue sky and hulking mountains, Washington, D.C., can seem like a different planet. Taken as a whole, the stories in this issue of High Country News suggest that’s not far from the truth. The cover story is about Richard Pombo, a California Republican who is charging into […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Will the real Mr. Pombo please stand up?
Rep. Richard Pombo, known as the Jerry Falwell of the property-rights movement, has threatened to dynamite the nation’s bedrock environmental laws. Now, he says, he’s learning to compromise.
Posted inWotr
Why we need the ranch
I recently attended a benefit for an organic farm in Missoula, Mont., a town known for its leftist politics, environmental activism and outdoors culture. Missoula can be described as part Portland, part Telluride, a “New West” city by any measure. So I found it strange that both the performers that evening kept referring to their […]
Posted inWotr
Seattle’s mayor leads the nation on global warming
Early this year, while the Pacific Northwest endured one of the driest winters on record, 141 countries ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement to help curb global warming. The United States was not among them. To Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle, the national no-show provided an opportunity for action on a smaller scale. “Local […]
Posted inWotr
A most unusual sanctuary, where the Yeti roams free
I keep hearing that the Kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist country nestled in the Himalayas between India and Tibet, is an enchanting place. People who’ve traveled there describe snow-capped peaks, lush valleys and ancient monasteries. The country is especially known for its progressive environmental laws, and is sometimes even called “the last Shangri-la” for […]
Posted inWotr
Lewis and Clark trout at 200
One June evening exactly 200 years ago, a young private in the U.S. Army baited a hook tied to a willow stick and tossed it into one of the largest waterfalls on earth. The line went taut under the strength of a 2-pound flash of living silver. The soldier took in the line, hand over […]