The outbreak of Norwalk virus on cruise ships grabbed national headlines last fall, but few have heard of the virus’s untimely arrival on rubber rafts in the depths of the Grand Canyon. Last summer, Norwalk infected at least 130 Grand Canyon recreationists, who spent their river trips vomiting and running for the groover (that’s river-speak […]
Virus attacks in the Grand Canyon
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
84-year-old bird law no match for the military
The United States has once again declared itself to be above international law — this time, a law aimed at protecting birds. Last April, a federal judge ordered all branches of the military to comply with the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a law that protects 850 species of birds through agreements with Mexico, Canada, […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Refuge back in the crosshairs
Republican victories in the midterm elections could mean it’s open season on Alaska’s energy reserves. President Bush targeted the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas development in his 2001 national energy plan. But legislation authorizing exploration and development in ANWR failed to pass the divided […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
The Latest Bounce
On New Year’s Eve, U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo ruled in favor of the Santa Fe, N.M.-based Forest Guardians and concluded that the Forest Service violated federal environmental laws when it neglected to study the long-term effects of grazing on the 25,000-acre Copper Creek allotment in the Gila National Forest. Though the cattle can stay […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
High tea in the wilderness and a toast to thelight
Solstice means “sun standing still.” Today is the darkest day, but tonight the moon will be full. Temperatures hover below freezing, and a skiff of snow hints at winter, although the colors are end-of-fall browns: brown bunchgrass, brown pine, elderly ponderosas. In western Montana, we are living the driest December on record, drier than the […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Heard Around the West
How do you distinguish between those “good” animals — native species — and the bad actors that stomp on the locals and conquer their turf? Animal rightists don’t like to make those distinctions, arguing that all animals deserve our respect. Just off the coast of California, there’s been a dispute about what to do on […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Tribes gain power through federal environmental laws
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “A breath of fresh air.” For many decades after they were forced onto reservations in the late 1800s, Native American tribes had virtually no control over their land and environment. But today, 15 of the more than 500 tribes in the United States run […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
A winter drive into oblivion
Sometimes it can’t be helped, that long drive across the West, rolling the odometer like a slot machine that promises to pay off with just one more spin. The gas gauge hovers around half and it looks like you’ll get there without stopping again in the middle of who knows where. Home is all you […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
One law, two bodies, two different decisions
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Tug-of-war continues over ancient bones.” Four years after the controversy over “Kennewick Man” first surfaced, the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada decided the fate of another ancient skeleton. In 1940, archaeologists found “Spirit Cave Man,” near […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Tug-of-war continues over ancient bones
Kennewick Man case undermines federal authority to decide who gets to dig
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
California’s water binge skids to a halt
Interior Department cuts off state from ‘surplus’ Colorado River water
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Dear Friends
A blizzard of mail The staff of High Country News returned from our holiday excursions to find the mountains above town buried in snow, and our desks — and e-mail boxes — piled high with mail from many of you. The holiday cards and fruit baskets and jerky and chocolates were wonderful — but it […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
A breath of fresh air
Surrounded by a massive industrial buildup, the Northern Cheyenne tribe defends its homeland
Posted inWotr
A timber mill’s demise shakes everybody up
I recently had the privilege of listening to the business manager of a lumber mill in Seeley, Mont., talk frankly about what to do when a small town’s major employer pulls the plug. Comptroller Loren Rose of Pyramid Lumber was invited to Libby, Mont., because that’s where Stimson Lumber had just laid off 300 workers. […]
Posted inWotr
On the road with Edward Abbey, chaos as usual
(Editor’s note: Renowned Western writer Edward Abbey, who died in 1989, would have celebrated his 76th birthday this Jan. 29, 2003.) About this time of year, almost 30 years ago, the writer Ed Abbey and I were laboring through the exurbs of Ajo, in the south of Arizona. We were driving on a miserable backcountry […]
Posted inWotr
Who are we?
I spend a lot of time alone. Most writers, if they are lucky, do. I’ve been fine-tuning a memoir, facing into truths about myself I would rather forget. As I turn to national newspapers and magazines in the deluded effort to unwind after too much time in my own company, I find myself wondering who […]
Posted inWotr
Changing the world, one person at a time
I was fresh out of college and green — in more ways than one — when I learned that not all environmentalists are created equal. I’d applied for a job with a 10-year-old national environmental organization, based in Boston, that recruits young people to work on grassroots campaigns all over the country. Invited for an […]
Posted inWotr
Two legs good in wilderness, two wheels bad
Like many mountain bikers, I’m happiest when I’m charging up and down hills through the West’s spectacular public lands. I live in Durango, Colo., arguably the mountain bike capital of the world, and I ride every day. While I’ve spent most of my cycling years on roads, in the last five years I’ve been spending […]
Posted inWotr
There’s a wilderness niche for mountain biking
I’m a mountain bicyclist. The pleasure of my life is pedaling through wild places, experiencing the views, the changing colors and textures of the plant life, the occasional animal sightings. On the trail, I’m renewed, and my commitment to public-land preservation is strengthened. I think that’s the way most mountain bikers feel, and historically, we’ve […]
Posted inWotr
When whiteouts in winter seem like forever
Sometimes it can’t be helped, that long drive across the West, rolling the odometer like a slot machine that promises to pay off with just one more spin. The gas gauge hovers around “half” and it looks like you’ll get there without stopping again in the middle of who knows where. Home is all you […]