A VISITOR Newspaperman Bob Wick stopped in at High Country News recently. Wick, who lives in Sierra Vista, Ariz., and his brother co-own almost 40 small newspapers across the country, including the nearby Montrose Daily Press. Wick is an environmentalist as well as a publisher, but what seems to consume him most is sculpture: He […]
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Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
The best-laid plans
In a meeting I attended last year with a group of editors and reporters at the Arizona Republic, one writer asked an incisive question: “How do we get people to take water issues seriously?” In neighboring New Mexico, drought had dried up rivers and forced water rationing. But Arizona itself seemed flush. The state had […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
Arizona returns to the desert
The worst drought in a century could bring home the true costs of growth
Posted inMay 16, 2005: Unsalvageable
Cows versus condos — Northwest style
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “In the Washington woods, managers face a catch-22.” Like ranches elsewhere in the West, small tree farms in Washington encompass some of the best fish and wildlife habitat: lowland areas close to streams. An estimated 40,000 people […]
Posted inWotr
You’ve come a long way, bison
With its return to the nickel after 67 years, the bison bears messages that went unmentioned during the coin’s recent unveiling. The new nickel was designed to commemorate the government’s 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition — initiated by Thomas Jefferson — whose face also appears on the coin. But although bison provided […]
Posted inWotr
Gov. Schwarzenegger is the nation’s newest Progressive
Heeee’s back. Only this time, Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t come from the future as the Terminator. He’s come from the past, a time when some politicians took contentious issues straight to the people. Schwarzenegger has announced that he’s fed up with the Democratic-majority state Legislature and will appeal directly to voters to impose a cap on […]
Posted inWotr
Spring
My friends warn me of the perils of moving to the mountains outside Boise, Idaho, in December, just as winter rolls into the Northwest. “You’ll get depressed,” they say. “And don’t expect to see us until spring.” My friends are city folk. The worst they can imagine is snow piling in the drive and power […]
Posted inNovember 14, 2005: Back On Track
You say you want a railvolution…
In 1981, when I got my first car — a used Toyota Corolla — I took a trip out West. For a prisoner of the sprawling suburbs of St. Louis, Mo., nothing could have been sweeter than to put that sea of homes in the rearview mirror, and fill the windshield with glorious views of […]
Posted inWotr
The secret of Wyoming winters is the snow-eating chinook
I’m often asked by relatives and friends back East how I stand the winters in northwestern Wyoming. I put on a stoic facade and tell them: It’s tough, but we Cody folks can suck it up. What I don’t mention is that an average of 300 days of sunshine annually isn’t hard to take, nor […]
Posted inWotr
Those who choose risk should bear the cost
Americans are not generally regarded as fatalistic. Christianity, the prevalent religion in America, teaches that individuals possess free will and are therefore responsible for their actions. The nation was founded and shaped by immigrants intent on building new lives in which they — not oppressive governments, intolerant clerics or class distinctions — would determine their […]
Posted inWotr
Ski areas must move to end white on white
It certainly isn’t obvious when you arrive at a ski resort in the West, but nearly all are located primarily on publicly owned lands. It is, to use the U.S. Forest Service’s pet phrase, a “partnership.” The federal government provides most of the land; the ski area operators run the lifts and cafeterias. In theory, […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Immigration is the real issue
In “Taking the West Forward,” you bashed both the Bush administration and the Republicans in Congress over energy policy and their perceived failure to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, but you failed to even mention the driving force behind increasing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, namely immigration (HCN, 12/6/04: Taking the West Forward). The increase […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Drought + Population Growth = Disaster
Regarding Matt Jenkins’ otherwise excellent article, “A crisis brews on the Colorado”: To talk about water without discussion of population growth is a bit like planning a wedding reception without knowing how many guests will be there — doomed to failure (HCN, 1/24/05: A crisis brews on the Colorado). I am a firm believer in […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Remedies for roadkill
The misty-eyed author of “The Asphalt Graveyard” (HCN, 2/7/05: Caught in the Headlights) apparently does not realize that not only have paved highways, numbers of vehicles, and speed increased over the past number of years, but so have the numbers of large animals. Elk have increased almost exponentially in Arizona’s mountains, and deer populations throughout […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
A member of the roadkill community
The cover of HCN caught my eye as I sorted through the mail yesterday evening. I opened it and began reading Eliza Murphy’s article, “The Asphalt Graveyard,” while putting away groceries (HCN, 2/7/05: Caught in the Headlights). I was so gripped by it that I didn’t make it to the dining table but just spread […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Eliza Murphy captures the West
I would like to commend HCN on running Eliza Murphy’s story, “The Asphalt Graveyard,” as the cover story (HCN, 2/7/05: Caught in the Headlights). I’m embarrassed to say I had never thought much about roadkill before meeting Eliza, last year at the University of Montana’s Environmental Writing Institute. I was struck then, as I am […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
As if We Were Grownups: A Collection of ‘Suicidal’ Political Speeches That Aren’t
As if We Were Grownups: A Collection of “Suicidal” Political Speeches That Aren’t Jeff Golden, 147 pages, softcover $12. Riverwood Books, 2004. Sick of endless political spin? Oregon writer Jeff Golden is, too. He makes the case that politicians need to treat voters like adults and tell us the difficult truth, even if it’s not […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror
The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror David W. Orr, 172 pages, hardcover $20. Island Press, 2004. David Orr, professor of environmental studies and politics at Oberlin College, explains how our centralized, industrialized, corporate way of life makes us more vulnerable to acts of terrorism. But he offers a […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Western Voices: 125 years of Colorado Writing
Western Voices: 125 years of Colorado Writing Edited by Steve Grinstead and Ben Fogelberg 396 pages, softcover $19.95. Fulcrum Press, 2004. Editors from the Colorado Historical Society chose the essays in this diverse collection, and they chose well. There’s Muriel Sibell Wolle describing the intense two-year lifespan of a mining town too high to endure […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
On the dark side of the park: a ranger’s memoir
Park ranger Jordan Fisher Smith dreamed of a career in Yosemite or Grand Teton, but fate led him to California’s Auburn State Recreation Area, a place he calls “the inverse of Yellowstone.” During his 14 years as a ranger in the canyons of the American River, the long-planned Auburn Dam loomed over the place, always […]