The ice cream cones were super-sized, and my two young daughters’ faces lit up as they held them in their hands. We walked out the door of the Old Faithful Lodge and headed down the paved path to the official viewing area. About 1,000 people had gotten there before us and were now sitting and […]
A tale of two Yellowstones
Posted inWotr
A Utah rancher’s secret was a gift to us
Trying to keep a secret is almost impossible these days, but rancher Waldo Wilcox kept a good one for half a century. Last month, when his secret was finally revealed, it became the second biggest global, online news story of the day. Here’s what it was: Since 1951, Wilcox has protected one of the most […]
Posted inWotr
Here come the wolves
Wolves are once again loping through Colorado and Utah, and I suppose I should be glad. More rapidly than it took to wipe out grizzlies, lynx and other competitor species, wolves are returning to the ark of the Southern Rockies ecosystem. But yet I pause, and an absorbing four-minute film I saw recently gets at […]
Posted inWotr
Bumper stickers and the politics of rage
“You’ll be lucky to get out of South Dakota alive,” the professor said, looking at one of my bumper stickers. He smiled, adding, “I may be kidding.” This was not my first warning that this bumper sticker might be dangerous. Leaving that small college campus, I was thoughtful. My cars have carried the same message […]
Posted inWotr
Once burned, twice shy
The more I learn about the Forest Service’s approach to the aftermath of the Biscuit fire in Oregon’s Siskiyou National Forest, the greater my sense that history is about to repeat itself. Some people might wonder why a 55-year-old man living in a cabin surrounded by Montana’s Bitterroot National Forest would have such a keen […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
An antidote to despair
Chip Ward’s first book, Canaries on the Rim: Living Downwind in the West, was decidedly grim, detailing his fight to keep the deserts of Utah from becoming a dump for toxins ranging from radioactive waste to defunct biochemical weapons. His new book, Hope’s Horizon, gives us a brighter view of recent environmental battles, taking an […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Calendar
The World Renewable Energy Congress and Expo will be held in Denver from Aug. 28 to Sept. 3. Workshops will focus on a wide range of renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, fuel cells, wave energy, biomass and more.303-275-3781 www.nrel.gov/wrec. Oregon State University is sponsoring a class on timber and forestland appraisal, “The […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
A new twist on urbanism
Few people would connect “New Urbanism” — dense, mixed-use buildings and public transit in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods — with the Latino barrios of Western cities. One Southern California-based group, however, sees this planning movement and Latino culture as nothing but simpatico. The Transportation and Land Use Collaborative has organized an annual conference and a series of […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Wilderness movement adapts to political landscape
Felice Pace’s assertion that there is no grassroots wilderness movement in the West is simply ridiculous (HCN, 6/21/04: What grassroots wilderness movement?). We have a thriving grassroots movement here in Colorado, one that long precedes the assistance of the Pew Charitable Trusts. The support of the foundation did not change our strategy one bit — […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Locals drive Arizona campaign
I am responding to Felice Pace’s letter, in which he portrays the Arizona campaign to designate wilderness in the Tumacacori Highlands as the brainchild of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the grassroots activists as Pew’s pawns (HCN, 6/21/04: What grassroots wilderness movement?). That perception couldn’t be further from the truth. The decision to promote the […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Grassroots wilderness movement is alive in Oregon
In a recent letter to the editor, Felice Pace argues that there are no true grassroots campaigns to preserve wilderness in the Western United States today (HCN, 6/21/04: What grassroots wilderness movement?). That would come as a surprise to the 900 people who appeared recently at three forums in Oregon to support new wilderness protections […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Can’t afford a home? Get out of the city
Oh, come on, Mark Matthews. As I started your Writers on the Range article “I’ve tried, but I can’t eat the view” (HCN, 6/7/04: I’ve tried, but I can’t eat the view), I expected an analysis of Tom Power’s anthem on how we make worthy sacrifices to live in the great West, trading some monetary […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Follow-up
For the first time since 1993, the Bureau of Land Management has revised its fees for mining claims (HCN, 3/8/93: Mining reform may hit paydirt in 1993). Now, to mine or drill a claim on BLM land, users will have to pay a $30 one-time claim fee, plus $125 per year — unless they’re “small […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Heard around the West
UTAH Filmmaker Michael Moore really knows how to energize people. His Bush-bashing documentary enraged so many Park City residents that a movie theater added a disclaimer, saying Fahrenheit 9/11 did not represent the views of the management. That a disclaimer was considered necessary disturbed several readers of the Park Record, who praised the film for […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
On a lonely road, time rolls to a stop
Three days after rumbling up out of La Guardia, four days before the summer solstice, I was finally there, as far from New York as I could get. I was driving through the spatial and sensorial opposite of my home city: Route 375 in the Great Basin desert, 30 miles southeast of Warm Springs, Nev. […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Backpacker, beware: Don’t boldly go where you don’t belong
I was dismayed when I read Backpacker magazine recently. I worked for the National Park Service for eight years, and I’ve been a guide in Yellowstone National Park. I know there are some places we can hike to and camp at safely, and some places we should leave alone. But now we have Backpacker magazine, […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
You can’t plant a prairie
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “The Greening of the Plains.” Once the sod has been busted, prairie restoration becomes extremely difficult, to say the least. “I always say that you can’t plant a prairie,” says Jim Stubbendieck, a grasslands ecologist and the director of the Center for Great Plains […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Speaking up for rural Oregonians: Judge Laura Pryor
JOHN DAY, Oregon — As hail pounds the concrete outside, more than 200 people cram into an Elks Lodge — replete with wood paneling and a smoky bar in the rear — to see Judge Laura Pryor, the chairwoman of the Gilliam County Commission and one of the rural West’s most outspoken champions. With her […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
Buying ecological leverage
Conservationists become land managers in northern Arizona
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
An icon of the Rio Grande has all but vanished in the wild
Consensus efforts and millions of dollars haven’t saved the silvery minnow