Watching the chaotic aftermath of repression andwar in Iraq hurts my heart. As an antidote, I conjure a vision of hope: a shimmering expanse of water and life that may once again grace the Iraqi desert. Until a decade ago, southern Iraq boasted one of the world’s largest wetlands, the Mesopotamia Marshes, almost 7,800 square […]
In Iraq, there’s hope of restoring the Garden of Eden
Posted inWotr
Like it or not, Utah’s controversial monument is here to stay
I visited the spectacular Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, when it was still a raw wound in the body politic of southern Utah. As I talked to people in the scattered towns around the 1.7 million acre-monument, I found deep-seated anger and mistrust. One county commissioner told me President Clinton cynically designated the monument […]
Posted inWotr
He taught us to see — but not the whole picture
One of the most celebrated photographers in American history began his career by snapping the kind of family vacation pictures that betray no hint of visual genius. This should hearten any teenager whose early accomplishments with pen, camera, guitar or paintbrush seem inadequate to support dreams of artistic triumph. Ansel Adams was 14 when he […]
Posted inWotr
Bruce Babbitt and I have seen the past, and it no longer works
“That was the biggest bunch of BS I’ve ever heard,” complained one man. His friend agreed: “Yeah, I’ll bet neither Babbitt nor Williams have ever been near a timber mill.” Those comments were overheard as the two young men heard left a University of Montana auditorium after I’d introduced former Interior Secretary of the Interior […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Ranchers are behind predator control
Dear HCN, Tom McNamee’s predator-prey article is one of the finest pieces on the subject of predators and predator control I have ever read (HCN, 3/31/03: Tinkering with nature). Typically writers who tackle this highly controversial issue are biased either for or against predators. Such articles seldom shed light on the issue, but do generate […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Wildlife Services must go
Dear HCN, In response to your cover story, “Tinkering with nature,” (HCN, 3/31/03: Tinkering with nature), one must remember that Animal Damage Control, now masquerading as Wildlife Services, was set up in the 1930s at the instigation of livestock operators for the sole purpose of killing coyotes, lions, bears and bobcats for the ranchers. (Wolves […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Mike Matz is a visionary
Dear HCN, While I applaud High Country News for sharing the recent success of Nevada wilderness advocates, and for reminding its readers of the approaching 40th anniversary of the landmark Wilderness Act, (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card), I was very disappointed by your characterization of the Campaign for America’s Wilderness, and its executive director, Mike […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Bikers are not entitled to unchecked access
Dear HCN, I appreciated the debate offered on both sides of the mountain bike issue (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). I have owned or managed outdoor-related retail businesses most of my life in all the beautiful parts of the country. One of my sons still makes his living running a bike shop. Since our livelihood […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
What about horses?
Dear HCN, As a dedicated mountain bike enthusiast and wilderness preservation advocate, I take keen interest in the divergent opinions expressed by Carroll and Hasenauer in “Do mountain bikes belong in the wilderness” (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). I frequently ruminate over both sides of this debate when enjoying wilderness outings, by foot, in designated […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Bicycles are machines
Dear HCN, I read, with bemused interest, the vaunted “face-off’ between Michael Carroll and Jim Hasenauer over allowing mountain bikes in wilderness areas (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). My puzzlement was engendered by the comments of Hasenauer. He explains that his pleasure is derived from “pedaling through wild places, experiencing the views, the changing colors […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Where do we draw the line?
Dear HCN, As both a mountain biker and a supporter of the idea of wilderness areas, I read your “Writers on the Range” debate on the subject of mountain bikes in wilderness areas with great interest (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). While I support the idea of allowing mountain biking in wilderness areas, I think […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Be careful what you ask for
Dear HCN, I am concerned that the mountain-biking community may be starting down the same trail already taken by many outdoorsmen. Hunters and fishermen, many of whom truly care about the environment, strongly support the Bush administration, due in large part to the emotional issue of gun control. The administration has betrayed them with unprecedented […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Off-roaders steer agencies with dollars
A proposal for an off-road vehicle (ORV) trail in central Idaho is kicking up dust. The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation wants to link 460 miles of existing routes already open to ORVs on federal lands. The agency says the loop trail, which would run through the Lost River Valley and the towns of […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Tribes, residents find a solution in the Sandias
Congress has settled a long-standing dispute between an Indian tribe, the federal government and private landowners over the western face of the Sandia Mountains (HCN, 11/9/98: Who controls the sandias?). Starting in 1976, Sandia Pueblo fought to reclaim about 10,000 acres of private and national forest land. Citing a 1748 Spanish land grant, the tribe […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Fate of the Red Desert up in the air
A new Bureau of Land Management plan could re-open the door to oil, gas and coalbed methane leasing on over 432,000 acres of the Jack Morrow Hills, the heart of southwestern Wyoming’s Red Desert. The hills are home to a migratory herd of 48,000 antelope, a rare desert elk population, and seven areas being studied […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Westlands farmers sell out
After being locked for years in a legal battle with farmers in California’s Central Valley, the federal government has decided to buy its way out. Westlands Water District irrigates more land than any other district in the country. But the salty, selenium-laced ground has grown increasingly less productive, because the district lacks adequate drainage for […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Forest thinning slows fires, increases concerns
Not only did forest thinning slow the spread of last summer’s Hayman Fire in Colorado, it helped prevent subsequent damage from erosion, according to a study conducted by the U.S. Forest Service (HCN, 7/8/02: The anatomy of fire). The blaze, which was the largest fire in Colorado history, slowed when it hit the sites of […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
The Latest Bounce
Rep. “Butch” Otter, R-Idaho, and 17 Republican co-sponsors have introduced the “American Wilderness Protection Act.” Under the act, all wilderness study areas would lose protection as wilderness either immediately, as determined by the secretary of the Interior or secretary of Agriculture, or within 10 years of the act’s passage (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). Taxpayers […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Of avalanche forecasting and snow haiku
Last winter in southwestern Colorado, on the kind of bluebird day when a ski-toting fellow endowed with more bravado than avalanche acumen could be seduced into believing the whole world was a benign winter playground, I found myself in good company in tricky terrain. The day began on a sub-zero morning before dawn in the […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Heard Around the West
Watch out, Satan, your number may be up. Route 666 in northwest New Mexico has been called the Devil’s Highway, Satan’s Highway and the highway to Hell — because 666 is “the number of the beast,” in the biblical book of Revelation. It’s also been called downright dangerous, reports the Albuquerque Journal: At least 15 […]