Any experienced summer traveler through the West might have pointed to my wife and me as classic examples of clueless tourism: “See what you get when you travel without an itinerary? When you think camping has something to do with owning a tent?” I can hear them stifling their snickers, trying to sound sympathetic but […]
John Muir, go home
Posted inWotr
Free advice for tourists traveling West
The West’s drought has made us so desperate for moisture, we go outside to sweat. Even sagebrush, a Western icon, is in danger. Experts estimate that 600,000 acres is dead or dying in Utah alone. But come West, Podnuh! Step up to that gas pump, pretend that nozzle is a Colt .45, and pump away […]
Posted inWotr
Enough is enough
The announcement this June that Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal opposed new oil and gas leases in the Upper Green River Valley startled both conservation groups and the oil industry. After all, Wyoming is one of the few states fortunate enough not to face a budget crisis because of oil and gas royalties. Yet, in the […]
Posted inWotr
Living with wildlife in an urban setting
The good news is, there are foxes in my neighborhood. The bad news? There are foxes in my neighborhood. Bad news for my cats, anyway, because I allow them to cruise outside for a few daylight hours on warm weekend days. Recently, like an overanxious mother, I panicked when my favorite lap cat, Sonar, failed […]
Posted inWotr
Lake Powell: When drought becomes opportunity
Drought is a rude reminder that in any given year the interior West is but a storm or two from that hydrological tipping point where farming, ranching and the presence of cities become not merely ill-advised but — impossible. The region is being reminded of this now in a big way: Five consecutive years of […]
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The risky business of fighting fire in the West
The 2004 fire season has not yet truly begun in the Rocky Mountain West, and already three fire-fighting pilots have died in crashes. While investigations into the causes of the accidents are under way, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself crushed between a rock and a hot place. On May 11, with aerial tanker-training in […]
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Why I won’t tell the BLM what I think about Otero Mesa
There’s going to be a decision soon about how much of our publicly owned land the Bureau of Land Management will lease to the oil and gas industry on Otero Mesa in New Mexico, but I don’t think I’ll be among those sending public comments. I’m thinking, instead, about writing a private letter to Linda […]
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Roadkill is a right and privilege, and don’t forget it
Driving through northern Idaho this summer? Bring a fork. A judge in Bonners Ferry recently stood up for the right of people to eat roadkill that even other roadkill fanciers might find inedible. It sounds like one of those jokes bluegrass musicians tell: “How many banjo players does it take to eat a possum?” The […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
How agriculture ate the earth
The next time you drink a Coke, take a second to consider that you’re suckling from the teat of evil. The culprit is not, despite what you’ve been taught to think, a soft-drink-peddling Fortune 500 company, but agriculture itself. And Richard Manning goes after it with a vengeance in his book Against the Grain: How […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Food on every plate, art on every wall
If I were asked to state the great objective which Church and State are both demanding for the sake of every man and woman and child in this country, I would say that that great objective is “a more abundant life.” —Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933 What would New Mexico be without its wind-worn mesas, without […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Perspectives on change — climate change
On the northern edge of Alaska, says journalist Charles Wohlforth, the impacts of human-caused climate change have become part of daily life. Spring is coming earlier, and Iñupiaq whaling crews are making ever-narrower escapes from cracking sea ice. In The Whale and the Supercomputer, Wohlforth looks at such changes from the perspectives of two very […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Avedon at Work in the American West
For six summers, from 1979 to 1984, Laura Wilson accompanied the New York-based photographer Richard Avedon throughout the rural West. Her job: Find beekeepers, oil-well drillers, vagrants, religious zealots, ranchers, coal miners and other iconic Westerners. One at a time, she’d line up these chosen people before a white backdrop and ask them to stand […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Easements aren’t easy
Jon Christensen’s article, “Who Will Take Over the Ranch?” is very timely, and covered a lot of ground (HCN, 3/29/04: Who Will Take Over the Ranch?). I own a small ranch in a sensitive area in northeast Washington, and have spent the last three years discussing conservation easements with a land trust located in another […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Don’t be afraid of easements
I have worked for a rural California land trust for five years, and wanted to respond to Mr. Gerber’s comments in his letter to the editor, “Caveats on easements” (HCN, 4/26/04: Caveats on easements). I wholeheartedly agree with his suggestion that landowners think long and hard before placing conservation easements on their property. Conservation easements […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
What grassroots wilderness movement?
The May 10th edition contained yet another article praising an effort to protect wilderness. HCN presents these efforts as being promoted by grassroots groups, and as a result, of this reporting, the typical HCN reader is likely to conclude that there is a true grassroots movement for wilderness in the West. Unfortunately, this is not […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
This isn’t your daddy’s Republican party, either
In a recent letter, Neil Snyder wrote that “today’s party is not your daddy’s Democratic party, and you’ll have a hard time attracting conservatives to support it” (HCN, 5/24/04: This isn’t your daddy’s Democratic party). His arguments were disingenuous on at least two counts. He alluded to the fact that two Democrats got us involved […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Border Patrol wants motorized access to wilderness
ARIZONA As part of a sweeping new initiative to fight illegal immigration and drug smuggling, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is pushing to give the U.S. Border Patrol regular motorized access to more than 330,000 acres of wilderness along the Mexican border. The Border Patrol wants unlimited cross-country access by motorcycle, the ability to […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Debate rages over firefighting airplanes
WEST Just as fire season arrived in the West, the federal government touched off a blaze of controversy. In May, citing safety concerns, the Interior Department and the Forest Service canceled their contracts for 33 privately owned large air tankers. The decision followed a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, which detailed three plane […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Mining law claims mountain
COLORADO For nearly 30 years, the people of Crested Butte, Colo., have fought mining claims on Mount Emmons, known locally as “the Red Lady” — a beloved backcountry skiing spot and the town’s breathtaking backdrop. The town’s determination to save the Red Lady heralded a shift in values in Western mining communities, from resource extraction […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
High-stakes logging plan gets go-ahead
OREGON In June, federal land managers announced one of the largest timber sales the Northwest has ever seen. Two years ago, the Biscuit Fire torched 500,000 acres in southern Oregon and California. Now, in a final environmental impact statement, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management propose opening parts of the burned […]