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 […]
Tribes, residents find a solution in the Sandias
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 […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Monument presents a management morass
In Arizona’s Ironwood Forest, recreationists, ranchers and illegal immigrants vie for space
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
The Northwest’s diehard diplomat
Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber fought to bring a divided state together
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Republicans wave guns, but where’s the butter?
Western Colorado Congressman Scott McInnis occupies a congressional seat that until 1972 was the most powerful one in the West. It was owned by the late Wayne Aspinall, a Democrat who chaired the House Interior Committee in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the federal government was continuing the development of the Interior West. Federal […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Grass roots prevail in ANWR and Wyoming
Conservationists chalk up two big victories — but they’re bracing for a long war
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Debate rages over ‘de-listing’ wolves
Wolves may not be ‘endangered’ anymore, but have they recovered?
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Reopening the wounds in southern Utah
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, dusty towns around the almost 1.9 million-acre-monument, I found deep-seated anger. There was the rancher who predicted he would never again be allowed […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Dear Friends
Your chance to weigh in Spring is springing in Western Colorado, and work continues on the redesign of High Country News. We’re getting a stream of good advice from readers. “HCN has made its mark by doing the kind of in-depth reporting that dailies now do less and less, and at the same time has […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Change comes slowly to Escalante country
In the BLM’s showcase monument, local grudges and national politics create a nasty quagmire.
Posted inWotr
A California treasure shouldn’t hide itself
Four years ago, it seemed that one of the fiercest battles over West Coast timber had ended with the public’s purchase of the 7,000-acre Headwaters redwood forest in Northern California. But those trees continue to fuel controversy, this time over whether people should be allowed into the cathedral-like ancient groves located some 200 miles north […]
Posted inWotr
The West’s negligent landlord
Western Colorado Congressman Scott McInnis occupies a congressional seat that until 1972 was the most powerful in the West. It was owned by the late Wayne Aspinall, a Democrat, who chaired the House Interior Committee in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the federal government was pouring billions into the the Interior West. Federal agencies […]
Posted inWotr
New Urbanism is just growth by another name
It’s hard to tell whether New Urbanism best fits the definition of a cult or a conspiracy. It has elements of both. Either way, my advice is not to drink the Kool-Aid. Embracing a politically correct excuse for growth is suicide for the West’s small towns. New Urbanism is the name given to a collection […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
Motorheads sue over park’s seasons
Proposal would keep snowmobiles humming year-round
Posted inWotr
A national park in Utah should not allow laissez-faire climbing
In 1927, a gathering of huge sandstone windows in Utah was set aside by presidential proclamation and named Arches National Monument. Now a national park, its 75,000 acres welcome almost 800,000 tourists a year, who come from all over the world to look with awe. This marvelous place must be well protected by federal laws […]