I may not be a fan of George Bush’s foreign policy, but I fully agree with one point the president repeatedly made in the months before the Iraq war. The president told us that “sometimes you have to fight.” As Mr. Bush explained, when the other guy just doesn’t get it, he needs a punch […]
Sometimes you have to fight
Posted inWotr
It’s buyer beware when it comes to Atlantic salmon
When Dan Wasil plucks a white package of “Fresh Atlantic Salmon” from the grocery store cooler, he hardly glances at its label. “I assume that it comes from the Atlantic,” says Wasil, a fundraiser who has lived in Portland for over 30 years. While he says he’s careful to check labels to see if chicken […]
Posted inWotr
Real ranches don’t have “ette” in their name
Listen up, folks, here’s a vocabulary lesson from a rancher and writer who’s tired of bad writing distorting Western history. A ranch is not just any patch of rural ground, and the saying, “All hat, no cattle,” is more than a joke. It’s true most ranchers prefer not to reveal the size of their places, […]
Posted inWotr
The West loses an unsentimental guide
Historian David Lavender was the best sort of guide a traveler in the West could have: A quiet man with a wry sense of humor, he was passionate about this region, refused to romanticize it and was happy to share his knowledge if asked. He was never sentimental about the West, writing about cowboys: “Although […]
Posted inWotr
Once more into the breach: Dams could fall in the Northwest
Many in the Northwest thought they’d killed the idea of breaching four dams on the Snake River in Washington when they convinced the Clinton administration to pass on it, and then elected George Bush president. They celebrated too soon. On May 7, U.S. District Judge James Redden in Portland threw out the salmon protection plan […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Leave wilderness to llamas
Dear HCN, Sorry, but this is one of the most ridiculous debates I know of (HCN, 3/3/03: Get off and walk — wilderness is for wildlife) (HCN, 3/3/03: Let bikers in, and we’ll atand behind wilderness). Mountain bikers in the wilderness? I am a llama packer. Our worst problem is people who bring poorly behaved […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
There are plenty of places for bicycling
Dear HCN, Jim Hasenauer makes the basis for a reasoned argument in his piece “Let bikers in, and we’ll stand behind wilderness” (HCN, 3/3/03: Let bikers in, and we’ll stand behind wilderness), but loses his focus as he perpetuates a number of fallacies in his argument to repeal the wilderness bicycle ban. Hasenauer cites that […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Stay divided, and the land may fall
Dear HCN, I’m writing in response to the letters about mountain bikes in wilderness areas (HCN, 4/14/03: Be careful what you ask for). I am an avid hiker/backpacker, mountain biker and horse owner and am conscientious about my actions in whatever mode of transport I use. I’ve seen destruction and rude behavior by all these […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Wilderness would have been better for ranchers
Dear HCN, From my kitchen window, I can see the Escalante River and Del LeFevre’s old grazing allotment. Since Del traded his grazing privileges here, parts of the river bottom have begun to recover from many years of overgrazing (HCN, 4/14/03: Change comes slowly to Escalante country). Cattle grazing is still the single most environmentally destructive […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Ranches: Wildlands or scenery?
Dear HCN, I am writing in response to a letter from Nathan Sayre, wherein he reiterated the often-heard claim from ranchers that the preservation of public-lands ranching will prevent sprawl, (HCN, 3/17/03: Ranching is preventing sprawl). I would like to respond to Mr. Sayre’s conclusion that, “Even under mediocre management, I’ll take one cow every […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
How safe is that fillet?
Most Americans — even those fanatical about eating only organic foods — assume that eating fish raised in the ocean is a healthy act that does no harm to the environment. Not necessarily. Some seafood varieties are overfished, and some are caught and farmed in ways that damage ocean ecosystems (HCN, 3/17/03: Bracing against the […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Hiking toward healing
Maybe it sounds crazy for us to have spent years getting me well from cancer, only to go out into grizzly bear country. But we wanted to be back in the wild country that I dreamed of when things were at their worst. Diagnosed with cervical cancer at 30, Katie Gibson of Bozeman, Mont., craved […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Healthy energy on public lands
Wind turbines and solar panels may be coming soon to a national forest near you. According to a new report, there are plenty of opportunities to develop renewable energy on millions of acres of federal land in the West. In Assessing the Potential for Renewable Energy on Public Lands, the Bureau of Land Management and […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Nevada: A diamond in the rough
Our country’s driest state does not treat humans gently. “The desert was one prodigious graveyard,” wrote Mark Twain about his arrival in Nevada in the 1860s. “And the log chains, wagon tires, and rotting wrecks of vehicles were almost as thick as the bones.” Today, many people perceive Nevada as a gambling mecca surrounded by […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Historic preservation vs. tourism?
Colorado’s ancient petroglyphs and pioneer-era courthouses might soon be left to the ravages of time. State Treasurer Mike Coffman wants to boost the state’s economy by redirecting funds earmarked for historic preservation to promote tourism. In 1990, Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment that legalized gambling in three towns — Black Hawk, Central City and […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Phelps tries to dodge bond
Phelps Dodge Corporation, the state of New Mexico and environmentalists remain locked in a conflict over the cleanup of an open-pit copper mine in southern New Mexico. In March, the New Mexico Environment Department approved a draft permit for the Chino Mine near Silver City, the fourth-largest copper mine in the country, with a suggested […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Farmland protection may dry up
As California faces its largest budget deficit ever, a nearly 40-year-old farmland-protection program could go to the chopping block. Reacting to a burst of mid-century sprawl, the state legislature passed the Williamson Act in 1965. Under the act, farmers promise to keep their land in commercial agriculture in exchange for county property tax breaks. The […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Missing Interior money: Piles or pennies?
American Indians who claim the federal government owes them billions of dollars are crying foul over a recently released report. In 1996, Indians across the country filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging the Interior Department mismanaged billions of dollars in royalties from oil and gas production, timber-harvesting and grazing on Indian land (HCN, 2/4/02: Indian trust […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Backcountry road deal runs over wilderness
A nearly three-decade-long fight over who controls backcountry roads crossing federal land in Utah may soon come to an end — and the resolution casts a huge cloud over the future of wilderness protection. In 2000, the state threatened to sue the federal government, claiming ownership of the roads under a Civil War-era law known […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
The Latest Bounce
Work on “the last great federal dam” is under way: The Bureau of Reclamation has begun building the pumping plant for the Animas-La Plata Project outside of Durango, Colo. (HCN, 8/27/01: A-LP gets federal A-OK). The station will pump Animas River water 510 feet uphill and two miles west to a reservoir site in Ridges […]