COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – It’s hard to imagine that an issue as sprawling and contentious as the effort to clean up a century of mining waste in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin could fit into a glass of water (HCN, 3/4/02: EPA wants to supersize Idaho Superfund site). But that’s the image that came walking […]
EPA puts cleanup in local hands
Posted inSeptember 2, 2002: Backlash
Farewell to a great mountain photographer
You’ve probably seen his work in National Geographic or Audubon – or in High Country News – as well as in his photography books. Famed for a transcendental approach to capturing the natural world, Galen Rowell was also an accomplished mountaineer, who inspired and awed his audience with breathtaking, seemingly impossible photographs. Rowell and his […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 2002: Backlash
Breaking all the rules
Breaking all the rules Here at High Country News, we have a loose rule that we avoid stories that happen too close to home. We figure we can be more objective about things that don’t fall – literally – into our backyard. And besides, the West is a big region. With this issue, we’re breaking […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Smokey is rolling in his grave
Smokey is rolling in his grave Dear HCN, There are no benefits to prescribed burns that cannot be duplicated by judicious logging practices, replanting and application of a little fertilizer. The air and water pollution, destruction of resources, property and loss of wildlife (and human life!) are not worth the “perceived” benefits of wildfires. Still, […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Remember Rocky Flats
Remember Rocky Flats Dear HCN, Several weeks ago, the White House asked Congress and the Senate to exempt the Defense Department from the environmental laws of our country in the interest of national security. Currently, Congress is evaluating this request to make the Defense Department exempt from both the Clean Air and Clean Water acts […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Why not put forests to good use?
Why not put forests to good use? Dear HCN, With the big summer fires in full flame, and all the talk of need for “treatment” of the forests to make them less fire-prone, the question comes to mind, “Why not use all the extra trees in the forests to fuel biomass power plants?” Has anyone […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
The author responds
The author responds Thank you, Chuck Hunt and Tom Theobald, for help on clarifying some facts. Bees cannot hear, but killer bees react to vibrations such as lawnmowers, sudden movements and exhalations of breath, so I would not recommend that anyone accompany Mr. Hunt if he shouts in the face of killer bees. The word […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Bee story belongs in a tabloid
Bee story belongs in a tabloid Dear HCN, I can’t let the cover story “The BUZZ business” (HCN, 6/24/02) pass without comment. While I wouldn’t dispute the fact that Africanized bees can react to disturbances with ferocity, the author chooses to take an unnecessarily hysterical approach to the subject. For example, while it may be […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Killer bee corrections
Killer bee corrections Dear HCN, As a commercial, sideline and hobbyist beekeeper (at different times in my life) for 30 years, it was interesting to see HCN cover the Africanized bee story (HCN, 6/24/02). Unfortunately, you did not cover it well. Let me try to indicate why I say this with quotes from your story […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Bikers waffle on wilderness
CALIFORNIA A new proposal to add two and half million acres to California’s 14 million acres of wilderness is gaining support, but not from the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., says her California Wild Heritage Act will protect the land from logging, oil drilling and road building. IMBA, however, is leery […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
A fish is a fish is a fish – or is it?
Are some fish created more equal than others? This conundrum is the subject of a draft policy released in late July by the National Marine Fisheries Service, regarding which salmon and steelhead deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act (HCN, 10/8/01). On one side of the debate are some Northwest farmers and landowners who bear […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Chinook tribe loses recognition
WASHINGTON In July, when members of the Chinook Tribe were invited to the White House for a kick-off to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, they came bearing gifts – a hand-carved dugout canoe and beads – for the Bush family. Two days later, the descendents of those who saved Lewis and Clark from starvation in […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Suit may hamstring wildland firefighters
MONTANA A $54 million lawsuit filed against the U.S. Forest Service in July may remove a valuable tactic from firefighters’ toolboxes. On Aug. 6, 2000, in an attempt to stop the Spade Fire as it burned toward houses near Connor, Mont., federal firefighters lit backfires to deprive the fire of fuel in its path. But […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Mi rio, mi agua
TEXAS Tension over Rio Grande water – or the lack of it – is rising to an all-time high. Under the terms of a 1944 treaty, Mexico owes the U.S. almost 1.5 million acre-feet (456 billion gallons) of water – a debt the country amassed over the last decade of drought. The shortage is leaving […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
The Latest Bounce
An emergency spending bill to fund the war on terrorism may bring some relief for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow (HCN, 7/8/02). The $28.9 billion bill, signed Aug. 2 by President Bush, includes $4 million for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to lease water from Albuquerque to maintain river flows in a crucial stretch […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Chasing hope amid the hedonists
Odonata was her name, the first woman I met at Burning Man. “Odonata …” I fumbled aloud. “Is that Norwegian?’” NO-wegian, brother. It was her playa name. Odonata, the Latin word that orders insects such as dragonflies. The woman Odonata was deep in discussion about totemic traits as I walked up. The dragonfly totem, she […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Heard around the West
Rancher Rod Hall was checking cattle when he stumbled onto a wild pool party in his stock pond in the foothills above Hotchkiss, Colo. It wasn’t people cavorting but 30 cow elk, beating the heat and having a blast. “One cow started charging around the pond and others followed in great bounding leaps with water […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Presidential hopeful plays with fire
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Could Tip O’Neill have been wrong? Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle may be about to find out, perhaps to his regret. With one artful insertion of law, the South Dakota Democrat demonstrated that even if “all politics is local,” as O’Neill famously said, the local and the national become easily enmeshed, with […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Hot town, summer in the city
Flash! “Did you see that?” She didn’t. Instead, my wife rolled over atop the sheets, too deep in half-sleep to witness the lightning ripping through the blinds. Lightning. Seems like years since we’ve seen any over downtown Denver. But sure enough, a third of the way into Colorado’s Summer of Fire, it might be working […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
The sod squad wants to soak you
Look out, you water scofflaws – it’s “water-efficiency month,” and enforcement agencies across the West will not look lightly upon water-wasting infractions. Water cops are tossing out tickets that range from a slap on the wrist (and a free how-to-conserve-water brochure) for leaky faucets, to a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail […]