I lived in Las Vegas recently for about a year, doing research at a large weapons-testing facility outside of town. Among all the places I’ve lived, from tropical islands to small towns to Western strip-mall communities, Las Vegas seemed uniquely American for its boosterism of get-rich-quick schemes and the sex industry — and for the […]
Leaving Las Vegas
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
A cheer for runaway bison and the Rocky Mountain Front
Anyone with a heart had to cheer the bison. One recent snowy day in Great Falls, Mont., three of the half-ton creatures were being loaded off a truck into a slaughterhouse. One of the half-wild bovines busted through a five-foot timber corral and — bingo! — led a buffalo breakout. The three beasts stampeded through […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Wilderness deals held hostage in salmon struggle
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Riding the middle path.” How tough do Idaho’s environmental negotiations get? Two months ago, when salmon advocates threatened to take control of the plumbing for southern Idaho’s gigantic farm-irrigation system, Norm Semanko held them off by taking a couple of wilderness deals hostage. Semanko […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
In Boulder-White Cloud mountains, another wilderness compromise
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Riding the middle path.” A hundred miles north of the Owyhee Canyonlands, another bold wilderness deal is brewing in Idaho, and the brewmaster is another conservative Republican congressman. “We have a rare opportunity to control our own destiny, by crafting our own legislation that […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
New nuke studies are in the works
When Congress passed the $27.3 billion Water and Energy Authorization Bill on Nov. 18, lawmakers voted to do more than revamp harbors and fund physics labs; they also set aside money for new nuclear weapons research, and reduced the time it will take to fire up the nation’s nuclear testing grounds. The bill included $6 […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Forest protection on the honor system
After nearly a year of contentious debate about how best to reduce wildfire danger, the House and Senate passed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act on Nov. 20 (HCN, 5/26/03: Congress jousts over forest health). Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who worked to craft the bill, is hailing it as a compromise and a bipartisan success, but […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Utahns beat back radioactive waste
With the help of some ugly political wrangling by the Utah congressional delegation, a hazardous waste disposal company nearly succeeded in its bid to bring 12,900 cubic yards of highly contaminated radioactive waste to the state. But on Nov. 18, after vociferous opposition at home, Envirocare of Utah pulled its federal application to dump the […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
As Congress adjourns, the environment is left in limbo
As Congress wraps up its business for the year, Western lawmakers will be heading home with a little bit of pork and a whole lot of change. That’s not pocket change, however: New laws passed this year could mean some big changes across the Western landscape. The 108th Congress has passed a significant number of […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
News flash: Fish do need water
Federal wildlife managers admit that a massive fish kill was caused, in part, by diversions of water to farmers
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Dear Friends
PARTY TIME The staff of High Country News cordially invites all readers and friends to HCN’s holiday open house at our Paonia, Colo., office (119 Grand Ave.) on Monday, Dec. 15. Knock back a few eggnogs with the entire HCN crew between 5 and 7:30 p.m. Please bring a treat to share. We’ll provide drinks. […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Save the middle ground: Hug a radical
Here’s a message for all the “radical centrists” out there, those who have decided that the best way to manage the public lands is to sit down at the table with ranchers, off-roaders and everyone in between, to come up with a plan everyone agrees on: The next time you run into a radical, thank […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Riding the middle path
In Idaho’s remote Owyhee region, an effort to protect wilderness and keep ranchers in business threatens to crack under pressure, or slip into oblivion
Posted inWotr
Sportsmen for Bush: Wise up!
Without enthusiastic support from most of America’s 50 million hunters and anglers, George W. Bush and his appointees would still be employed by oil, gas and coal companies. I still see bumper stickers that say: “Another Sportsman for Bush.” Yet as a lifelong sportsman myself, I wonder why even one sportsman, let alone “another,” would […]
Posted inWotr
A love letter to a sewage lagoon
At a neighbor’s house a few years ago, I saw a sphere of ruddy sandstone displayed on a ledge. Rolling it in my hand, I recognized the heft and grittiness of the ball. “We used to find these at Lake Powell,” I said, “Is that where this came from?” Our neighbor, a dedicated environmental activist, […]
Posted inWotr
Does Wal-Mart really need our tax dollars?
Typical of shopping centers built decades ago, Alameda Square in Denver is a cheap, single-story strip of stores. It’s ugly and rundown. But that does not deter shoppers. Mostly Asian Americans, shoppers come from miles around to patronize more than a dozen Asian-owned businesses, including two grocery stores, two restaurants, a hair salon, a clothing […]
Posted inNovember 24, 2003: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut
Butte ponders the power of Evel
BUTTE, MONTANA — This is a town that has stopped at nothing in its pursuit of a buck. It has fouled its water with mining runoff and demolished half its downtown for a gigantic open pit, all for a relentless red harvest of copper. It seems strange, then, that many longtime residents feel Butte has […]
Posted inWotr
Getting ready to wreck the vote
Let’s just get this out of the way: As a nerd, and an overly opinionated one at that, Election Day — not Thanksgiving — has always been my favorite “holiday.” Some kids couldn’t wait to turn 16 and drive; I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and vote. Simply put, I’m a maniac for democracy. That […]
Posted inWotr
Thanksgiving as a holiday of the imagination
There is a saying among the Lakota that when the Pilgrims first landed at Plymouth Rock, they fell on their knees and prayed, and then they fell on the Indians and preyed. Perhaps it is not surprising that the stories of this country’s founding are awash in error. As Napoleon reportedly said, “What is history […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Being a local doesn’t make you any better
“Where is this guy from?” I said to myself, flipping to the inside cover of the new book, “True Grizz,” by Douglas Chadwick. It said the author lived in Whitefish, Mont., a trendy town north of Flathead Lake. He may live there, I thought, but where’s he from? It’s embarrassing to recount my thought process. […]
Posted inNovember 24, 2003: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut
Six Modern Plagues and How We Are Causing Them
In recent years, we’ve watched droughts parch the West, heat waves claim lives, and tempests encroach on the nation’s capital. With the advent of plagues like West Nile and SARS, soothsayers have enough fodder to last until the apocalypse. But in Six Modern Plagues and How We are Causing Them, author Mark Jerome Walters takes […]