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 […]
When whiteouts in winter seem like forever
Posted inWotr
A dispatch from the New West battleground
Early in April 2000, I attended the auction of a ranch near my own, in a rural western South Dakota county that has resisted zoning. This is my report from the front lines where the real battle of the West is being fought — with money. The ranch was advertised as a single unit of […]
Posted inWotr
An eco-wacko figures a few things out
The Gallatin National Forest, in southwestern Montana, recently ended a public comment period for revising its recreation plan, which, among other things, allocates trail use between motorized and non-motorized users. The debate was marked by more editorial spleen-letting and rude outbursts than I’ve seen since Gay Pride marched in Bozeman, years ago. Remember, I live […]
Posted inWotr
Real men head for Alaska
There is the West, and then there is Alaska, a region so wild and isolated as to make Wyoming appear tame as a strip mall. Flying to Kodiak Island (“America’s second largest island”) is risky on a good day. The day I chose to travel to the island on business was not a good day. […]
Posted inWotr
Snowmobiles are the people’s choice for Yellowstone
The Bush administration’s decision to upset the ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park has been met, as expected, with howls of outrage from both environmentalists and a lot of the media. After the millions of grant dollars spent lobbying and litigating to ban snowmobiles, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and other environmental groups should be […]
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Yellowstone should keep out polluting and intrusive snowmobiles
In 2003, Yellowstone will celebrate a centennial. It’s been 100 years since President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the famous stone archway at the north entrance of the world’s first national park. The Park Service plans to commemorate the event. I wonder what Roosevelt would say if he could attend. I picture him pounding his fist and […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
HCN’s agenda – envy and socialism
Dear HCN, Normally, when you read the paper, you should have the feeling of becoming informed on issues which affect us all. After reading the last few papers, concerning the issues of the LDS church purchase and the gated communities, I have to say these are not issues, but agenda items of your reporters. As […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Ego-pumping capitalism at its best
Dear HCN,I found the latest cover story about gated communities (HCN, 11/11/02: Behind the gate), both amusing and sad. Bob Arrigoni and the other “simple, low-key” Stock Farm residents like him exist in a different reality, and it reinforces my theory that in most cases, the more money people have, the less practical they become. […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Mormons don’t recognize history
Dear HCN,Bigotry is an easy label to apply to Ray Ring’s piece on the Martin’s Cove land exchange (HCN, 9/30/02: This land holds a story the church won’t tell), but most Mormons don’t recognize a lot of their own history. Of course, the violence against them in their years in Illinois was terrible. One of […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Seattle Times is not independent
Dear HCN, Freedom of the press is eroding before our very eyes. So speaks Stephen Lyons, citing as authority, Robert Blethen, publisher of the Seattle Times (HCN, 11/11/02: Freedom of the press is eroding before our eyes). Couldn’t he have found a better example? Blethen’s idea of independence is to run full-page ads in his […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Building off the grid
“If you’re reading these words, it’s because you’re a dreamer. You dream of living where you don’t, and doing things you’ve never done.” Rex and LaVonne Ewing, authors of Logs, Wind and Sun … Handcraft Your Own Log Home … Then Power it with Nature, have written the book they searched for when building their […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
How to go with the flow
In 1996 and 1997, the Yellowstone River in Montana surged forth in back-to-back, record-breaking floods that caused millions of dollars in damage (HCN, 3/27/00: The last wild river). Floodplain landowners scrambled to secure their property in an epidemic of bank-stabilization measures. But many river scientists believe that stabilization measures actually exacerbate floods, and can accelerate […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Ranching conference secrets revealed!
Ever wonder what transpires at a ranch and reform conference, but lacked the chance to see for yourself? Now, you can: “Ranching West of the 100th Meridian,” a landmark conference held at Colorado State University, is available on four 50-minute videos. For three days in spring 2000, conferees chewed the cud about ranching in the […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
A gilded wrinkle in time
In his first work of historical fiction, planetary scientist William K. Hartmann digs into the history of the American Southwest and finds a unique and compelling mystery. The main character in Cities of Gold is the 16th-century Spanish explorer and friar Marcos de Niza, who was accused of spreading fables about the Southwest’s “seven cities […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Wild tiles
More than 25 years ago, a group of wildlife-film enthusiasts started the International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Mont. This year, organizers for the event have reopened the historic Roxy Theater in downtown Missoula as a media center that will provide year-round screening of the festival’s films. To celebrate the purchase and renovation of the […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
An ode to the Marstons
Dear HCN, Your readers are probably drowning you in Marston tributes, as they should. Here’s mine: Ed and Betsy: Thanks for coming West, And caring so much, and working so hard, on behalf of the paper and the region. You cared about the people here, and about all our prickly Western dilemmas. And you loved […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Cheap shots at Cheney
Dear HCN, Cheap-shot personal hatchet jobs such as Paul Krza’s article “What Dick Cheney might have learned in Rock Springs, Wyoming” (HCN, 12/9/02: What Dick Cheney might have learned in Rock Springs, Wyoming) are out of order for a quality publication. You need to understand that your readership embraces a wide swath of thinking united […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Oregon: Love it or leave it
Dear HCN, Lynn and Janis Wood of Lebanon, Ore., display an insidious perspective emblematic of the contemporary West (HCN, 11/25/02: Planning’s post child grows up). Oregon formed its bedrock land-planning policies over 30 years ago. The Woods moved to Oregon three years ago. They knew — or should have known — the rules when they […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Oregon has been mis-zoned
Dear HCN, Rebecca’s Clarren article about Oregon’s 30-year-old land-use system was well-done and covered many of the pluses and minuses (HCN, 11/25/02: Shadow creatures). However, it did not include some basic statistics that reveal the widespread mis-zoning imposed on rural landowners throughout the state. The reality is that 97 percent of all rural private land […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Wayward wolf nabbed in Utah
A gimpy 2-year-old wolf that once charmed wildlife watchers in Yellowstone National Park recently gave Utahns a wake-up call of the wild. “Wolf No. 253” from the famous Druid Peak Pack in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley stumbled into a leghold coyote trap 30 miles northeast of Salt Lake City on Nov. 30. He had trekked 200 […]