Gretel Ehrlich’s latest book, The Future of Ice, is an intimate “ode and lament” on the effects of global warming. The conclusions are dire, of course: In the Arctic, as billions of gallons of fresh water pour into places like the Greenland Ice Sheet and where, in 2002, “at least 264,400 square miles of ice […]
A beautiful ode to a melting earth
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
EPA pulls back on fish-killing rule change
A little attention from the media helped thwart an attempt by the federal government to do a favor for the mining industry at the expense of fish and birds. In question is the metal selenium, which is a byproduct of coal- and phosphate-mining, copper-smelting and agriculture. At low levels, selenium is an essential nutrient for […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Racetrack
ARIZONA Incumbent Rep. Rick Renzi, R, soundly defeated Democratic hopeful Paul Babbitt in a contest for the U.S. House seat representing the state’s largest — and predominantly Democratic — District 1 (HCN, 10/25/04: Dems stumble in Arizona race). Proposition 200, which passed with Hispanic support, prevents non-citizens from voting and requires proof of legal immigration […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Heard around the West
WYOMING A man working in a brushy area of his horse pasture in Big Horn, Wyo., looked over his shoulder and suddenly noticed he’d been stalked: A mountain lion stood 10 feet away. The man, who told the Cody Enterprise he wished to remain anonymous, did everything right: He straightened up, yelled and banged his […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
A mountain lifts a heavy heart
On a recent Saturday, with a heart heavy as concrete, I headed north, leaving my house in Portland, Ore., as rain pounded the windshield. The remnants of a recent breakup cast the world in dull hues. Mount St. Helens was busy spitting ash into the sky, and I figured, what else cheers the soul like […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Colorado voters snub coal for all things renewable
Not long after Enron, one of our larger humpty-dumpties, had its great fall, I heard a supporter say he missed its CEO, because “Ken Lay was a visionary. He wanted to cover parts of Texas with wind turbines and export that clean energy to the rest of the country.” Yeah, a visionary. Wind or natural […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
In Oregon, a lesson learned the hard way
Washington has apples. Colorado has football and hockey. Oregon? We have land-use laws. It’s what built our state’s reputation. Planning textbooks often feature a chapter on Oregon, and environmentalists and land-use planners throughout the West look longingly toward our state Legislature in Salem; it’s the place where smart people put a cap on sprawl. That […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Freewheeling wilderness proposal irks purists
Oregon bill would allow mountain bikers and chain saws in ‘wilderness’
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Election Day surprises in the schizophrenic West
The Interior West goes for Bush while the Coast goes to Kerry, but on the ground, it’s more complicated than ‘red’ vs. ‘blue’
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Dear friends
ELECTION DAY On election day, the phones at High Country News headquarters grew silent and the office seemed as still as a tomb, so we were delighted to chat with a visiting sculptor-pilot from Telluride, Colo. Richard Arnold told us he’d been a longtime reader, but what brought him to Paonia was the Zimmerman Foundry. […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Politics as a winner-takes-all game is a loser
There was a brief moment of civility the day after the bitterly fought presidential campaign. On that bloody Wednesday afternoon, John Kerry and George Bush both acknowledged each other and the need for the nation to unite again. Mr. Bush sounded humble when he said, “A new term is a new opportunity to reach out […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
A New Dialogue for Idaho
Environmentalist Rick Johnson and Republican Congressman Mike Simpson are crafting a new language for wilderness protection, but not everyone wants to speak it.
Posted inWotr
See a river through a child’s eyes
I live in Colorado near a river called the Cache La Poudre, French for powder cache. During the last school year, I was thrilled to take part in several field trips with my daughter’s fourth-grade class. Each time the children learned more and more about this local river. Twelve times during the school year we […]
Posted inWotr
A lesson in consensus from contentious Idaho
I can’t get too worked up about the national election’s impact on Western land issues. I don’t live in a state where oil and gas development is roaring through publicly owned lands the way it’s doing in Wyoming and Colorado. Democrats still have enough votes in Idaho’s Senate to stop legislation that fundamentally changes the […]
Posted inWotr
Terrible choices now confront the people of Oregon
On Nov. 2, when Oregonians closed the book on the most forward-looking planning law in the nation, they did not just amend a statute, they changed the ethos of a state that had for 30 years celebrated open spaces, greenways and livable communities over development. And they likely started a copycat war throughout the West […]
Posted inWotr
Surprise! Colorado’s senate race focused on the issues
In Colorado, we just endured the most expensive U.S. Senate campaign in our state’s history, with about $15 million spent to determine who would replace retiring Republican Ben Campbell, who was first elected as a Democrat in 1992. He changed parties in 1995, and easily won re-election as a Republican in 1998. There was more […]
Posted inWotr
Revolt rattles Oregon’s famed planning regulations
Washington has apples. Colorado has football and hockey. Oregon? We have land-use laws. It’s what built our state’s reputation. Planning textbooks often feature a chapter on Oregon, and environmentalists and land-use planners throughout the West look longingly towards our state Legislature in Salem; it’s the place where smart people put a cap on sprawl. That […]
Posted inWotr
Surprise! Conservation united Montana voters
Montana voters smashed the trash-can lid on the “blame the environmentalists” rhetoric so in vogue with right-wing Republicans earlier this year. To no one’s surprise, Montana voters went solidly for President George Bush and overwhelmingly reelected their sole Republican congressman, Dennis Rehberg. But in that light, consider this: Brian Schweitzer will become Montana’s first Democratic […]
Posted inWotr
Colorado snubs coal for all things renewable
Not long after Enron, one of our larger humpty-dumpties, had its great fall, I heard a supporter say he missed its CEO, because “Ken Lay was a visionary. He wanted to cover parts of Texas with wind turbines and export that clean energy to the rest of the country.” Yeah, a visionary. Wind or natural […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2004: Keepers of the Flame
An unfinished life in Wyoming
A new novel from Wyoming’s own Mark Spragg relies less on the distinctive landscape of the West and instead explores the more universal territory of a fractured family. Still, most of An Unfinished Life unfolds on a Wyoming ranch near fictional Ishawooa, “elevation 5,313, population 1,783.” Seventy-year-old Einar Gilkyson lives a lonely life on a […]