Critics say the new look will turn national forests into lawsuit magnets
Forest planning gets a facelift
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Dear Friends
A town reborn In the last issue of High Country News we told you about a mining town – Eureka, Utah – in a death spiral. This issue features Leadville, Colo., also a moribund mining town, but one that is climbing out from the tomb of its mining past. The author, Leadville-area resident Steve Voynick, […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
In search of the Glory Days
Two decades after the bust, Colorado’s last great mining town still gropes for a new identity
Posted inWotr
Life on the border, where education gets lost
Before I started my job this year as librarian and English teacher on the Tohono O’odham reservation, I visited the campus. A teacher looked me over and said, “You better come in that library like a gangbuster.” A gangbuster? Having just turned 25, I must have looked as young as I felt. But I’d studied […]
Posted inWotr
A Christmas tradition pueblo-style
At age 79, Vidal Aragon is moving strongly into his second century as perhaps the premier silver smith in the 12 pueblos of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. He signs his jewelry with the bear paw and “VA” merged together. His name commands top prices with the Santa Fe trade. He doesn’t have to […]
Posted inWotr
Public servants may go the way of the dodo
President Bush wants to privatize 425,000 federal jobs, one-quarter of the nation’s positions that are product or service-oriented in nature. Workers who exercise discretion, set policies and budgets, or perform other duties that are “inherently governmental” are immune from the process, for the time being. Does this sound good for private enterprise? Sure, for some […]
Posted inWotr
Running Green is a learning experience
“Green Party, huh? Well, I’ll vote for you, as long as you’re not a damn Democrat,” said my 70-year-old neighbor when I told him I was running for the Montana state Legislature. Few weeks later, I introduced myself to Tom, a local businessman and one of the Montana Freeman who’d gotten into trouble with the […]
Posted inWotr
Medical use of marijuana is a states’ rights issue
Medical use of marijuana is a states’ rights issue By Seth Zuckerman Like the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, marijuana advocates suffered a setback at the polls last month. By a margin of 2 to 1, Nevada voters trounced a much-publicized proposal to legalize cannabis for personal use. B ut the Bush administration would be […]
Posted inWotr
Like Butte, Montana, an old dog hangs on
(Note: a longer version of this essay is here.) On the dust-blown fringe of Butte, Mont., at the core of one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites, lives an amazing paradox. Its genus is Canus, but its species would have to be called extraordinarius. I doubt there’s another mutt like this on the planet. The […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Like Butte, a lonely dog hangs on
BUTTE, Mont. – On the fringe of this faded mining town, at the core of one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites, lives an amazing paradox. Its genus is Canus, but its species would have to be called extraordinarius. I doubt there’s ever been another dog like this on the planet. The mysterious, mostly wild […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
The push is on to privatize federal jobs
Thousands of park and forest jobs could go to private contractors
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Fees cut people out of public lands
Dear HCN, I have studied the Fee Demo program thoroughly as well as kept myself well-informed since its inception (HCN, 9/10/01: Congress may agree on fees). I am president of Seniors Outdoors!, a very active club of 430 members; we use the trails and parks for recreation at least three times a week year round […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Bay is an environmental treasure
Dear HCN, Susan Zakin’s article, “Delta Blues” (HCN, 9/30/02: Delta blues), is perhaps the best and clearest explanation of the complex issues involved in California’s attempt to be all things to all people when it comes to demands for water. She mentions that the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta region is “virtually invisible to most people […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Rowell devolved to kitsch
Dear HCN, The wording of your accolade to the late Galen Rowell (HCN, 9/2/02: Farewell to a great mountain photographer) was misleading. In recent years, his “transcendental approach to capturing the natural world” meant descending from fine art downward, past popular art into the dubious world of kitsch. His Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop, Calif., […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Gas debate needs common sense
Dear HCN, The “Backlash” article (HCN, 9/2/02: Backlash) was one of the best I have read yet concerning CBM development in the West. I have served as commissioner on the Colorado oil and Gas Conservation Commission, La Plata County Oil & Gas technical advisor and consulting environmental geologist to the gas industry and property owners […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Leave your political passions at home
Dear HCN, I’m pleased to enclose my first-year renewal card; however, I do so with a note of caution, prompted by the current issue in front of me. Be careful. One might get the impression, from headlines like “Democrats kick back” (HCN, 10/14/02: The politics of growth) to some of the election coverage inside, that […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Darwinism on the Klamath River
Dear HCN, I have seen several articles in your paper regarding problems with water on the Klamath River (HCN, 10/28/02: The mesasge of 30,000 dead salmon). All of the articles fail to mention just how much water is running into the lake behind the dam. The dam was built to store excess water for human […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Fish and wildlife have rights, too
Fish and wildlife have rights, too
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Klamath water worth more in river
Klamath water worth more in river
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Cowboys fight oil and gas drillers
Fed up with energy companies, frustrated by the Bureau of Land Management and worried about their land, several northwestern New Mexico ranchers locked their gates on Nov. 14, blocking private roads to natural gas wells. “We finally decided we’re tired of fooling with them,” says Tweeti Blancett. She and her husband closed a road leading […]