Dear HCN, Since when is standing firm on fundamental wilderness principles seen as counter to those very principles? “The wild card” by Matt Jenkins (HCN, 3/3/03″ The Wild Card) portrayed Wilderness Watch as an organization more concerned about “purity” than reality. The reality is: They seem to be the only organization that has the courage […]
Wilderness Watch stands firm
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
Wilderness Watch upholds the law
Dear HCN, I am deeply disappointed in HCN’s misrepresentation of the mission and efforts of Wilderness Watch (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). Contrary to what was reported, Wilderness Watch does not work to undo any special provisions that were “grandfathered” by Congress into wilderness legislation. The Wilderness Act itself allows a number of special exceptions […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
Forest Service fights red tape
When Philip Dechain-Saw, the supervisor of Colorado’s Big Fir National Forest, tried to approve a 30,000-acre clear-cut in 1997, his efforts to “bulletproof” the final decision against environmentalists’ appeals and lawsuits took a horrific personal toll. First, he experienced dizziness and ringing in the ears; now, he’s suffering full-blown “analysis paralysis.” Unable to cook meals […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
The Latest Wrinkle
Dubois, Wyo., has announced a name change. The town council voted in February to change the name of the community to “Doo Wah Diddy.” “We thought it sounded more American — you know, patriotic,” explained Mayor Roy Bungee. “We want our men and women in uniform to know we’re not a town full of Frenchies.” […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
The BLM’s conservation kingdom
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Change comes slowly to Escalante country.” The National Landscape Conservation System is a blend of new and old. It includes not only the 15 monuments designated by President Bill Clinton, but also some 800 protected areas that the BLM has managed for as long […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
A citizen soldier looks beyond war
During World War II, three infantry regiments and a light artillery unit with mules came together to form a special unit trained for mountain and winter combat — the 10th Mountain Division. The training grounds, Camp Hale, took up most of an s-shaped valley at 9,200 feet in the White River National Forest in central […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
Heard Around the West
Open a Wenatchee, Wash., phone book and you might want to take a bite out of it. A fragrance strip has been applied to the front cover, and instead of perfume, this one sends out succulent molecules of green-apple aroma. That’s fitting, says Jim Hail, co-owner of Hagedone Directries Inc., who came up with the […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
While the nation goes to war, the Pentagon lobs bombs at environmental laws
The first time I saw the movie Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Stanley Kubrick’s satirical depiction of Cold War America, I was too young to fully understand it. I watched it a second time while in college during the Clinton years, and found the flick brilliant, even […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
A small-town mayor challenges developers
Community discovers that once you’re on the growth train, it’s hard to get off
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
The hunt is on for a mystery killer
Leukemia cluster has Nevada town thirsty for answers
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
The best restoration tools are fangs and claws
The first thing I did when I got to Glacier National Park was go out for a run. It seemed like the obvious thing to do. I’d just graduated from college in New England, packed my belongings and spent three hard days driving West across the Plains. I was dying to get back to the […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
Dear Friends
This isn’t the first time … Just when you think you’re doing something really revolutionary, you learn it’s all been done before. In preparation for redesigning High Country News, we dug back into the archives to see what the paper has looked like over the 33 years of its existence. It turns out this won’t […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
Tinkering with Nature
Can we leave wildlife to its own devices, or must we continue to meddle?
Posted inWotr
Skiing with the oldsters
Today, I got on a ski lift with a man who turned out to be a World War II fighter pilot. I couldn’t believe my ears. Three elderly gents had lined up with me to take a quad chair up the mountain, my only time with company on the lifts all day. We did the […]
Posted inWotr
If wolves can return to the West, why not New York?
Eight years after a wolf walked out of a pen and howled in Yellowstone National Park, it is clear the predators are here to stay. The restoration of wolves to Idaho and Yellowstone in 1995 has been wildly successful, even though many Westerners remain bitter about an intrusive federal government. Now, a decision announced earlier […]
Posted inWotr
Mention planning in Oregon and get ready for a yawn
Advice for party-goers: If you’re hoping to enthrall acquaintances and potential dates, avoid the terms “urban-growth boundary or “transit-oriented development.” While working recently on a story about Oregon’s land-use system, I was eager to share my findings at social occasions. Bad idea. Few Oregonians understand how it works, and my attempts at conversation yielded polite […]
Posted inWotr
Motorized rafts bring the public to enjoy Grand Canyon’s wonders
The National Park Service is now designing a new plan for managing whitewater river trips through the Grand Canyon. But in pursuit of a no-compromise agenda, a small group of wilderness advocates would like the clean, quiet, low-powered and environmentally friendly motors used on these trips banned. They’d like most of the park, including 240 […]
Posted inWotr
Grand Canyon and motorboats don’t mix
Last fall, standing on the traditional scouting point high above Grand Canyon’s legendary rapid, Lava Falls, we debated our course. Low water relieved us of the agony of choice: The left run, a maze of boulders, was too treacherous; we resigned ourselves to paddling the right-hand run through Lava’s thundering mayhem. Thirty years of river- […]
Posted inWotr
Living with bison at the edge of Yellowstone
Forty bison mill about on the football field at the school in Gardiner, Mont. One of the shaggy beasts rubs her head vigorously against the goalpost. A light snow is falling. I walk over and sit on a nearby boulder. I feel that it is the least I can do — just sit in the […]
Posted inMarch 17, 2003: Bracing against the tide
Ranching is preventing sprawl
Dear HCN, George Wuerthner is a skilled photographer and a committed activist, but he’s a lousy economist. His letter (HCN, 2/17/03: Condos or cows? Neither!) and his recent book, Welfare Ranching, amply testify to this. Wuerthner asserts that “ranching isn’t preventing sprawl now, nor will it in the future.” Yet he also states that high […]