MANY THANKS Happy New Year from snowy Paonia, and a huge thanks to all of you who sent cards and treats to the office over the holidays. They certainly lifted our spirits, and, in at least one case, reminded us what this enterprise is all about. Tracy, who gave no last name and identified herself […]
Dear Friends
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Lost in the wilderness of power politics
It’s easy enough to get lost in one of the West’s wilderness areas. Just hike off the trail for a half hour, close your eyes and spin around a few times, and you may have no idea where you parked your car. A similar disorientation afflicts anyone trying to navigate the complex thicket of wilderness […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Wilderness activists look on as the Bush administration gives oil and gas drillers first crack at the West’s last wild lands
Posted inWotr
Just bury me out on the lone prairie
It’s not easy being buried green, but here’s how I want it to happen: Someone, preferably an old friend, dresses me in my oldest, softest clothes.Let’s see, how about my favorite and virtually threadbare navy blue flannel shirt and my tatty black sweat pants? If shoes seem important, hopefully they’llgo for my sheepskin bedroom slippers. […]
Posted inWotr
Defenders of public lands are needed now
Gifford Pinchot, pioneer in American forestry and conservation, learned the hard way about political power and influence. In his autobiography, Breaking New Ground, he recorded going West late in the 19th century to study Western forests. Instead, he discovered that commercial interests controlled and exploited land and people. Pinchot wrote: “Principalities like the Homestake Mine […]
Posted inWotr
The next wars may be fought over water
Water has been called the oil of the 21st century. The World Bank predicts that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will not have enough drinking water. With scarcity making water an increasingly valuable commodity, private companies are tempted to corner water supplies and delivery. “We think there’ll be world wars fought about water […]
Posted inWotr
Wanted: queer eye for the rural guy
When the aspens reached their peak color last fall, my friend Diane and I drove from our tiny, western Colorado town into the nearby mountains. We sat at the side of the road to enjoy the snow-dusted peaks, tumbling scree fields and golden-and-peach aspen forests. Soon enough, a truck pulling a camper with Washington state […]
Posted inWotr
Here’s to an honest man
Chances are you’ve never heard of Jim Alderson, and I’m willing to wager that no toy company is going to model an action figure after him. He’s more than a little balding on top and he’s working on a middle-aged paunch. You won’t find charisma to match that of California’s movie-actor Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But […]
Posted inWotr
Have another pig-brain/beef-blood/chicken-spine hamburger
I ate my final burger the other day. It’s not that I don’t like burgers (my last one was juicy pure delight) and I don’t want to become a vegetarian (the tofu diet isn’t for me), but thanks to some recent discoveries, I no longer believe that my last burger, was, in fact, a burger. […]
Posted inWotr
Bark beetles are gnawing their way through our ponderosa-pine forests
When Mike Wagner took Northern Arizona University students to the site where he was trapping bark beetles near Flagstaff, he expected to show them a simple lesson: Once freed from a funnel-trap, the insects would find a juniper tree and burrow into it. But as the entomologist tipped the trap, thousands of beetles poured out, […]
Posted inWotr
No-growthers gain strength in Albuquerque
Albuquerque residents on Oct. 28 voted down a $52 million bond issue — the only bond issue to fail out of 10 on the ballot, and the first one to fail since 1985. The vote grabbed headlines because it meant the temporary defeat of plans to extend roads through a national monument dedicated to petroglyphs […]
Posted inWotr
The ego has landed on the California coast
If you ever want to see the epitome of what we in the West call a “starter castle,” I recommend you visit close to the real thing, the Hearst estate on the California coast. This once-upon-a-time bastion of privilege conquered by the California State Park system sits on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Close […]
Posted inWotr
The salting of the West – who cares?
If a Colorado mine were to dump a hundred thousand tons of chemical salts onto the ground, chances are good that residents nearby would be upset and local and state agencies would get on the mine operator’s case. Yet, the state of Colorado dumps 125,000 tons of chemical salts on its roads each year, and […]
Posted inWotr
Idaho grows out of its cowboy boots
Idaho politicians love to conduct the nation’s business dressed in cowboy boots. Their boots aren’t just for walkin.’ On the capital’s marble floors they ring out an attitude of cowboy values and ornery independence, of things being different way out West. Loafers they are not. Daandy as they may be, cowboy boots reflect life in […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Log onto Democracy!
Want to keep a closer eye on your state and federal lawmakers? Looking to find out more information about a bill before Congress? Eager to browse the hot topics debated in your state legislature? Look no further than www.statedemocracy.com. Run by the nonprofit State Democracy Foundation, the Web site allows users to compare how different […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
More than just a city on a river
In New Mexico, history is never an abstraction. Whether you are seeking shelter in a thick-walled adobe home, listening to the lilt of a native New Mexican’s words, tracing the path of acequias or tasting posole, you can sense history there. And there are few writers better able to tell that history than Marc Simmons. […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Calendar
The annual Colorado Agricultural Forum for 2004, “Profits Outside the Box: Agri-Energy and Beyond,” will be held in Denver on Feb. 19. Speakers and breakout groups will discuss how Colorado agriculture can harness renewable energy and other innovations to stay profitable. www.coloradoagforum.com 303-477-0076 ext. 210 Where will you be when the sun rises? If it’s […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Whose thousand words?
Print the Legend: Photography and the American West, is not another coffee-table gallery of black-and-white mountain vistas or solemn American Indian portraits. Rather, Martha Sandweiss’ book looks at how the new art of photography shaped the nation’s view of the West in the 19th century. Photos are not the accurate historical records they appear to […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
A disappointing story on Los Alamos
I write in response to your cover story on Los Alamos National Laboratory’s waste-cleanup practices (HCN, 11/24/03: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut). I was most interested in how you would approach the subject, being a subscriber to HCN and a great fan for roughly a decade, a conservation activist in northern New […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Story was biased against Los Alamos
Laura Paskus’ one-sided article, “New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut,” has largely parroted the viewpoint of the local anti-LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) organizations (HCN, 11/24/03: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut). I am a LANL employee, although the opinions expressed here are my own. The problems with this article begin […]