Arizona activists shop for wilderness by congressional district
Small steps for wilderness
Posted inMay 10, 2004: Shooting Spree
Dear Friends
Visitors Spring weather has brought a stream of friends and luminaries to the High Country News office in western Colorado. Lyman Orton spent an afternoon with us. He and his sons own the Vermont Country Store, famous for its old-timey black-and-white catalogs, featuring everything from rubber galoshes to cheddar cheese. The store now puts out […]
Posted inMay 10, 2004: Shooting Spree
Rednecks and hippies unite!
In my town, you’re either a redneck or a hippie. It’s a wildly simplistic view of the world, but for some residents, it’s reality. Rednecks are folks who can claim, “My great-granddad chased the Utes out of this valley” — or who drive pickup trucks, drink Budweiser and vote Republican. Hippies are the folks who […]
Posted inMay 10, 2004: Shooting Spree
Shooting Spree
The Bush administration is perforating our basic environmental laws. Can a cadre of seasoned green lawyers stop it?
Posted inWotr
Wilderness is as American as apple pie
Wilderness, as the conservationist Aldo Leopold put it, is “the very stuff America is made of.” As pioneers settled our continent, their encounter with wilderness shaped our national character. Today, as Americans flock to our national forests, parks and other federal lands, many seek the wilderness, savoring its scenic splendors and a quiet that’s increasingly […]
Posted inWotr
Pink Floyd and the Great Salt Lake
The first time I stood on the shores of Great Salt Lake, I spotted something pink in the midst of what seemed like a bazillion different species of bobbing waterfowl. “Are there supposed to be pink flamingos in Utah?” I asked my biologist wife while looking through a pair of binoculars. “It’s plastic,” she said, […]
Posted inWotr
Blowing the whistle on Yucca Mountain in Nevada
Don’t ask questions when you don’t know the answers: That’s the rule of thumb for trial lawyers who don’t want courtroom surprises. The Bush administration has a different rule of thumb when it comes to the science of storing nuclear waste: Ask as few questions as possible and ignore answers you don’t like. Until last […]
Posted inWotr
Wolves may be the education of us
Carter Niemeyer raises a shotgun to his shoulder and squeezes the trigger. An instant later, a rubber bullet bounces off a cardboard target. Niemeyer, Idaho’s coordinator for wolf recovery, is demonstrating non-lethal means of stopping wolves from preying on livestock. His audience is 200 Westerners at a meeting of the North American Interagency Wolf Conference. […]
Posted inWotr
Forest Service duplicity stands out like a clearcut
Perhaps it was an act of intentional deception when the U.S. Forest Service used old photos of a Montana timber lease to make the case for logging in California to reduce fire danger. It’s just as likely, however, that laziness and bureaucratic ineptitude are to blame. Either way, the incident raises doubts about the agency’s […]
Posted inWotr
Is Glen Canyon Dam pulling the plug on itself?
The engineers have had their say on the Colorado River, plumbing it with dams and diversions, so as the drought continues, we have no choice but to turn to poets. As A. R. Ammons wrote, “If anything will level with you, water will.” Glen Canyon Dam is currently leveling with us. The last time I […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Making rivers work
The problem with books about Western water history is that — being books about how we’ve dammed, diverted and even reversed the flow of rivers all over the West — they’re full of bad ideas. Every once in awhile, though, somebody dares to offer some better ideas for the future. Sandra Postel and Brian Richter […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Calendar
New Mexico-based Quivera Coalition has scheduled its 2004 workshops. The workshops will be held throughout the state and include topics such as “Upland and Riparian Management for a New Rancher” and “Water from Roads Less Traveled: How to design and maintain low maintenance ranch roads.” 505-820-2544 projects@quiveracoalition.org. The Pikes Peak Library District’s Special Collections is […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Songs in the key of life
Earthjustice is best-known for the free legal services it provides for environmental causes. But its lawyers know how to pick songs as well as witnesses, as the organization’s recently released CD shows. Titled Where We Live, proceeds from the album benefit a campaign for “the universal right to clean air and clean water” that includes […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Caveats on easements
The article by Jon Christensen about conservation easements was very interesting, but failed to mention a few important points about easements (HCN, 3/29/04: Who will take over the ranch?). One, conservation easements are made in perpetuity. Forever is a long time. If you need a heart transplant in 10 years, or college tuition for the […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Conservation easements don’t make the grade
Your recent article, “Who Will Take Over The Ranch,” turned out to be a big disappointment (HCN, 3/29/04: Who will take over the ranch?). The term “conservation easement” borders on being an oxymoron. In the entire article I failed to find anything that actually indicated such an easement had anything to do with conservation. Livestock […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Environment is a political issue
Why is it that the environment is almost a taboo subject in American political campaigns? Voters need to know the candidate’s stand on environmental issues! You can bet we will learn a candidate’s stand on same-sex marriage, but not their stand or views on the amount of toxic pollution power plants emit into our air. […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Don’t apologize for Bush
I strongly disagree with Jon Margolis’ apology for George Bush (HCN, 3/29/04: Bush is a man of his word: He’s audacious, but should that be surprising?). There used to be qualities such as decency, broad-mindedness and vision in our leaders. Having won the presidency with less votes than his opponent, only because of the quirky […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Indian water giveaway
Daniel Kraker’s assertion in “The New Water Czars” that Indian tribes lease their water for more than $1,000 an acre-foot is inaccurate (HCN, 3/15/04: The New Water Czars). Yes, Del Webb Corporation leased 10,000 acre-feet of water from the Ak-Chin for $12 million — but it was a one-time, up-front payment for 100 years’ worth […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Greenhouse gases go underground
WYOMING Carbon dioxide, produced by burning fossil fuels such as oil and coal, is the major culprit in climate change, trapping heat and warming the planet. Now the federal government wants to remove it from the atmosphere by burying it all over the West, starting at the Teapot Dome oil field in Wyoming. The Department […]
Posted inApril 26, 2004: Outsourced
Drought forces Las Vegas to reach deeper for water
NEVADA Remember shoving your straw deeper into a pop bottle to slurp out those elusive last drops? Faced with the fifth year of drought, the Southern Nevada Water Authority plans to do something similar in Lake Mead, which supplies drinking water to Las Vegas and surrounding areas. Water officials are hurrying to extend an intake […]