A massive cheese factory, mired in controversy over water-quality violations, has innovative plans for its wastewater: It wants to pump the milky liquid deep underground. In December, the Sacramento Bee exposed wastewater disposal violations at Hilmar Cheese Company near Modesto, which produces over 1 million pounds of cheese every day. A subsequent state investigation into […]
Factory wants to squeeze cheese underground
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Hungry sea lions put salmon-savers in a bind
The California sea lions that snarfed up 3,000 chinook salmon at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River have finally headed south to mate. But their big appetites this spring have some fishermen calling for the quick removal and even killing of the protected mammals. “Our fishermen are very concerned. It’s their livelihood and they are […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Frozen in time: Endangered species science
If scientists have learned anything new about the genetics of rare species in the past three decades, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may not want to hear about it. In January, H. Dale Hall, the Service’s Region 2 director, released a new policy for developing recovery plans for rare species: Scientists are to use […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Developer blocks trail to a famous ‘fourteener’
Ambitious hikers eager to scale all of Colorado’s 54 “fourteeners” almost had one less peak to cross off their list. Texas developer Rusty Nichols owns a 300-acre patchwork of mining claims on Wilson Peak, a 14,017-foot-tall mountain in southwestern Colorado whose image adorns calendars, posters and Coors beer cans worldwide. Last July, citing liability concerns, […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Follow-up
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden announced he plans to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release water from its dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers to help endangered salmon and steelhead (HCN, 6/13/05: “For salmon, a crucial moment of decision”). Although NOAA Fisheries, the agency charged with protecting the fish, […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Heard Around the West
UTAH How did that quote by Benjamin Franklin begin: “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost ….” Didn’t it end with the loss of a kingdom? Well, a similar phenomenon may be occurring in the mining industry, which is going great guns, except for one problem: There aren’t enough 12-foot-tall tires around for […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
The Healing River
I live on a remote tributary of the Gila River in a still-wild corner of Catron County, New Mexico. Well, not “on” the river, really; no one really lives on a river, unless they’re on a houseboat on the constipated Colorado, or a converted shrimper on Orbison’s bayou. More specifically, I live far enough from […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Fury
When Fury finally dies, he picks a back pasture on my parents’ Colorado ranch to rest his old horse body. The neighbor across the fence calls to tell my mother this, that he can see a dead horse from his kitchen window. This neighbor is not well liked. He is new. His house is new. […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
This mayor sees a different shade of green
NAME Greg Nickels VOCATION Mayor of Seattle, D, elected in 2001 AGE 49 NOTED FOR Starting a mayoral “green team” to combat global warming HE SAYS “If we expect (people in) the community to change their habits, we need to lead by example.” Early this year, while the Pacific Northwest endured one of the […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Suburbia blasts through a national monument
With a road headed its way, a new development takes root on Albuquerque’s West side
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Private landowners become lords of the public estate
In Arizona, a strange dispute illustrates a growing problem
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Writing a comment letter? Better make it good
Agencies say mass e-mails and form letters don’t mean much
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Dear friends
SUMMER BREAK This will be the last issue of HCN that you’ll receive for a month. The staff is taking an issue off to spend time with family and friends and enjoy the sunny Paonia summer. Look for the next issue to hit your mailbox around July 25th. CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS We’d like to make […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Crossings
It’s that time of year again, when we set aside our traditional cover story and serve up a spread of summer reading. If there’s a theme that runs through the essays in this issue, it’s that of “crossings.” Tim Westby takes a marathon trip around the West by Greyhound bus, crossing deep economic and cultural […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
The Great Divide
It is 7:30 in the morning on July 24, 2004 — the day of Utah’s biggest holiday. Salt Lake City’s usually reserved downtown is bustling. Parade floats are parked haphazardly along side streets. Spectators spill out of the city’s light-rail system, lugging lawn chairs and water jugs as they scope out prime sidewalk real estate […]
Posted inWotr
What’s in a name? Ask an Anacondan
I lucked out when I landed in Anaconda, Mont. I didn’t have to tell my friends I was a Helen or a Malted. I became an Anacondan. Newspaper folks like to find shortcuts when writing news stories, and one of the best ones around is the ability to describe the people in a town with […]
Posted inWotr
Lions and tigers and wolves, oh my, even in the Midwest
Don’t look now, but there may be a couple of keen eyes within a placid suburb or rural Midwestern neighborhood. In fact, they might be up a tree. That’s where Nebraska’s most recent mountain lion was spotted earlier this year. The 100-pound animal was lounging comfortably in a tree in South Sioux City, across the […]
Posted inWotr
Skeletons lurk in the closets of our respected institutions
Last spring, the now-infamous Ward Churchill, University of Colorado professor of ethnic studies, gave a talk at Colorado College about the contents of our institutional closets. He claimed that we had the bones of 139 people — all Native Americans — hidden on campus. Churchill used this number to demonstrate the college’s complicity in the […]
Posted inJune 13, 2005: Owning a Piece of Paradise
In a run-down neighborhood, there’s lots of love
A Denver activist fights for her community
Posted inWotr
It’s time for the West to speak up
Howard Dean, former Democratic presidential candidate and now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, traveled to Montana a few days ago to speak to the Western Democratic Caucus. He found Western Democrats heartened by their recent electoral gains, especially in Colorado and Montana, and he asked them to bring that Western energy to bear […]