While last year’s fires were torching Western lives, homes and trees, their accompanying fire bans were torching something else: the West’s camping plans. “I don’t want to camp without a campfire,” my wife informed me last season, while smoke from the Hayman Fire settled over Denver. Her feelings echoed those of thousands of Western campers […]
Put another tank on the fire
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
An inside look at the hardscrabble plains
An image comes to mind at the mention of the High Plains: an empty but picturesque farmhouse, roof sagging like the back of an old horse, porch falling off the foundation, and screen door swaying in the wind. There’s a wide, exposing sky, and an old windmill tilting toward the West. But what happens when […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
There’s a better way to clean up the RS 2477 road mess
The West’s public lands face many 21st century problems, including pressure from population growth and energy development. But they also face an old problem — the legacy of the Mining Law of 1866, which granted rights-of-way “for the construction of highways” on federal lands not set aside for other uses. That grant became section 2477 […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
State gets its way on a national refuge
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Sound science goes sour.” Endangered species management isn’t the only hot-point issue for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Political pressure is also affecting how the agency manages 540 national wildlife refuges across the country. In 1998, the state of Wyoming sued the Fish […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Off-roaders smash science
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Sound science goes sour.” Three years ago, a federal court settled a disagreement between the Bureau of Land Management, conservationists and off-road vehicle groups over the fate of a short-lived perennial plant in the pea family (HCN, 12/18/00: Feds fight chaos in a desert […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
‘Jeopardy’ opinions go the way of the dodo
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Sound science goes sour.” In the 1990s, a small greenish-gray bird with a yellow belly became the mascot for conservationists who were trying to keep cattle out of Southwestern rivers and streams (HCN, 9/15/97: Feds take on a sneaky species). When the U.S. Fish […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Are minnow scientists still under the gun?
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Sound science goes sour.” The silvery minnow, a two-inch-long fish that’s caused a big splash in the Rio Grande in recent years, used to swim the entire length of the 1,850-mile-long river. Now, its habitat is limited to a 157-mile stretch of river in […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Who needs critical habitat?
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Sound science goes sour.” At the end of May, the Interior Department announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was running out of money. Officials blamed the budget shortfall on the agency’s need to comply with court orders brought on by environmentalists’ lawsuits. […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
The Bush administration – Sinister motives, or just ‘veracity-challenged’?
One problem with environmentalists is that they tend to be reformers. They revere Good Government as much as clean air and wild land. This is a mistake, and not only because clean air and wild land can be protected by making deals — often behind those “closed doors” reformers hate — but also because the […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Is it a farm – or is it a pharmacy?
Western farmers consider the risks and benefits of ‘biopharming’
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Genetic engineering turns salmon into fast food
Transgenic superfish may be the next thing to hit supermarket shelves
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Colorado Supreme Court turns tide in favor of kayakers
Boaters get to keep water in the rivers while farmers watch in dismay
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Dear Friends
HCN in the spotlight Thanks go out to all the readers who have written e-mails, postcards and letters in recent weeks to comment on the paper’s new look. So far, the reviews have been mostly positive: “GREAT,” “easier to read,” “handsome and easy to handle,” “a job well done,” “I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Hear that whistle blow
Last year, Republican strategist Frank Luntz wrote a report, coaching Republicans on how to talk about the environment. Straight Talk is a fascinating, albeit nauseating, read — particularly the section about science. “Americans unanimously believe all environmental rules and regulations should be based on sound science and common sense,” it says. Then, Luntz does a […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Sound science goes sour
As federal scientists come under the gun from bureaucrats and politicians, some are becoming fed up, and one high-profile biologist has spoken out.
Posted inWotr
Once touched by drought, you never forget
From the mothers in my family I learned what poverty and drought were like during the 1930s. To them, these were experiences so profound they became proper nouns: the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl. Not quite 30 years later, when I was a boy verging on gangly teenager, a thunderstorm of unusual menace advanced one […]
Posted inWotr
Environmentalists have one big blind spot
I hope no one yanks my green card for this admission, but I’m beginning to hate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It’s not that I’m for drilling. There’s no reason to drill in a place set aside for wildlife when more efficient vehicles could eliminate demand for the oil. But as a Westerner newly relocated […]
Posted inWotr
Idaho’s Sen. Larry Craig should butt out of the whole dam business
The company that powers the computer I write on is getting the kind of attention corporations loathe. Idaho Power Co. and its three Hells Canyon dams on the Snake River have been thrust into the center of a controversy over a provision of the energy bill that would give power companies more control over the […]
Posted inWotr
Learning to love the power of fire
Thick weeds, old lumber, and brush surround our house, about a mile of dirt road from St. Ignatius, Mont., and about 45 miles north of Missoula. Neighbors and friends, accustomed to rural ways, suggested a fire to clean things up a bit. Despite childhood stints in the country, I am a Montana city person adjusting […]
Posted inWotr
Holes Western-style, from a century of mining
Gold has long been advertised as the “gift that lasts a lifetime.” True to the slogan, gold does last a lifetime, as demonstrated by the enduring shine that gold jewelry and coins display even after thousands of years of being buried or lost at sea. Unfortunately, gold’s shine isn’t the only thing that lasts a […]