COLORADO On August 16, seismic “thumper trucks” were poised to explore for oil and gas in the Canyons of the Ancients, a national monument in southwest Colorado, home to several rare lizards and more than 5,000 archeological sites. But four environmental groups sued to stop the 30-ton trucks from rolling across the landscape, and in […]
Thumpers hit a speedbump
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Nuclear waste road accidents don’t faze WIPP
NEW MEXICO August, a drunk driver crashed into a truck in southern New Mexico that was hauling 28 55-gallon drums of nuclear waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in Carlsbad, N.M. (HCN, 4/12/99: Nuclear waste dump opens). Less than two weeks later, the driver of another truck carrying waste to WIPP blacked out, hurtling […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
BLM gets a land-swap lemon
COLORADO/UTAH In early September, Bill Rodgers, a Buick salesman in Knoxville, Tenn., landed a great deal. Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., introduced a bill to Congress ordering a land exchange that would give Rodgers 3,888 acres of Bureau of Land Management land, mostly in Utah on the Colorado border. In exchange, Rodgers would give 2,048 acres […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Environmentalists fight chemical weapons burns
OREGON Plans to burn Cold War-era chemical weapons in northeastern Oregon have environmental groups up in arms. Before burning the more than 3,000 tons of sarin and mustard gas that have been stored at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility since 1962, the Army must first test its furnaces by burning “surrogate” chemicals. At the […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Golfers may oust eagles
WYOMING A developer’s plan to install a golf course and 71 houses along the Snake River near Jackson has raised convoluted legal questions that sound more like bad jokes. One example: How many eagles does it take to build a golf course? That question came up when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service granted Dick […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
The Latest Bounce
Federal forest boss Dale Bosworth’s complaints about citizen appeals of forest projects hit a crescendo in mid-September, yet appeals continue to pop up across the West. In Colorado, 11 groups appealed the White River Forest Plan, released in June (HCN, 7/8/02: White river). This time, Bosworth can’t lay all the blame on environmentalists: Appellants range […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
This land holds a story the church won’t tell
MARTIN’S COVE, Wyo. – As politicians in Congress, interest groups and Mormon bishops battle in the far distance to decide the fate of this place, a sad wind ruffles the tall grass and sagebrush here. It’s sad for those who know the story. In this sandy cove nestled amid the rocky hills overlooking the Sweetwater […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Heard Around the West
A reader swears he’s seen this bumper sticker: “Support gun control or I’ll kill you.” At the recent sheepdog trials in Meeker, Colo., top-selling signs for the rears of vehicles included: “My border collie is smarter than your honor student,” and “If it’s not a border collie, it’s just a dog.” But for the first […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Flow charts for the Golden State
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Even for the state’s water wizards, it can be tough to get a handle on how California’s natural and extremely unnatural water systems fit together. But a series of maps published by the nonprofit Water Education Foundation helps make a normally arcane world accessible […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Dam busters win symbolic victory
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. AUBURN, Calif. – Tom Aiken guides his old pickup along a crumbling road, past a steel gate, past a weathered shed filled with drilling cores, past heaps of gravel. Stopping at a pullout, he parks and leads the way to the canyon’s lip. The […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Idaho seeks a reputation – and a reality – free of hate
Nothing irritates us more in Idaho than our reputation as a haven for neo-Nazis. Our tolerance of hate-mongers in the past brought us this sorry legacy. These days, we can make a case that Idaho has become a place that stands up for human rights. That case was strengthened this summer, when Boise residents dedicated […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Independent ranchers fight corporate control
Lawsuits seek to eliminate mandatory checkoff payments
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
It’s open season on New Mexico’s bears
Despite dire warnings, state maintains an extended hunting seaason
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Balancing act, part 2
Balancing act, part 2 The cover story of this issue is the second in our series, “California’s Water Balancing Act.” In it, veteran journalist Susan Zakin writes about the state’s water hub: the California Delta. The delta, just inland from San Francisco Bay, collects a mammoth one-half of the state’s rainfall and snowmelt each year. […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Delta Blues
California struggles to get a massive restoration project off the ground
Posted inSeptember 16, 2002: The Royal Squeeze
Fire story was propaganda
Dear HCN, Normally informative and refreshing, the paper stepped in a hole with “Anatomy of Fire” as a cover article (HCN, 7/8/02:The anatomy of FIRE). As a wildland firefighter and Forest Service employee, I had hoped for the arrival of some scientific (“anatomy” made me think we were really going to get into it) exploration, […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 2002: The Royal Squeeze
Carroll’s nonsensical diatribe
Dear HCN, High Country News disappointed readers of Writers on the Range last month by printing the nonsensical diatribe of Frank Carroll (“Logging is Beginning to Look a Little Better,” Jackson Hole Guide, 7/31/02). He blames the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity, and “their actions over the last two decades” for the recent […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 2002: The Royal Squeeze
High Plains Films
High Plains Films, creator of such documentary gems as the prairie dog classic, Varmints, is screening its latest film This is Nowhere at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival in Temecula, Calif. The film investigates the philosophies and motivation of RV enthusiasts who like to camp out in Wal-Mart parking lots. The piece also explores […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 2002: The Royal Squeeze
With golden cottonwoods
With golden cottonwoods and monsoon-raised waters, fall is a great time for a boat trip down the San Juan River. So Canyonlands Field Institute, working with the national Elderhostel organization, will leave Bluff, Utah, Oct. 5, for a seven-day trip, exploring Ancestral Puebloan sites and the geology and watershed of the river. The trip is […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 2002: The Royal Squeeze
Learn about everything
Learn about everything from fueling your car with vegetable oil to how Aspen, Colo., manages its “alternative building” at the Fourth Annual Sustainable Communities Symposium, Sept. 20-22 in Crested Butte, Colo. The conference kicks off with words from Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature (HCN, 7/6/98:Defining a scientific movement), and features workshops […]