OREGON Some farmers in the Klamath Basin are interested in selling their land to federal agencies and thereby freeing up water, not only for endangered fish, but also for their neighbors – although you wouldn’t know it from listening to their elected officials. This spring, the Klamath Water Users Association helped kill an amendment to […]
Who speaks for the farmers?
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Wasting disease sneaks south
NEW MEXICO Chronic wasting disease has reared its head in southern New Mexico, 600 miles from any previously known outbreaks. In June, an emaciated mule deer discovered at White Sands Missile Range tested positive for the disease. The state’s Department of Game and Fish was taken off guard by the discovery. Since 1999, officials have […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Yucca heads for the courts
NEVADA With the Senate’s 60-39 approval of a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain on July 9, the congressional fight over what to do with the nation’s spent nuclear fuel is finished. President Bush signed the bill into law July 23. But Nevada officials and politicians say that an array of legal and procedural hurdles […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
L.A.’s rivers get some respect
CALIFORNIA A new proposal could someday turn the lower Los Angeles River and the San Gabriel River – now little more than concrete-lined ditches – into one of the nation’s few urban national parks. In June, the U.S. Department of the Interior gave a tentative thumbs-up to a bill from U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Sound science or red tape?
A proposed amendment to the Endangered Species Act could weaken the roles of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service in deciding which species do – or do not – get federal protection. Since the Act was passed in 1973, the two agencies have been responsible for listing species and […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Don’t proclaim the West is dead until you’ve met a Mexican motorcyclist with a wooden leg
My dirty little secret? The one boyfriends can’t tolerate, the one my mother doesn’t know about, the one true friends accept but don’t approve of? When I’m upset, I drive and drink. Well, sort of. Though it’s not what it sounds like, it’s probably not the recommended way for a young woman to cope with […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Heard around the West
Yes, at first mention it seems bizarre, but it really makes perfect sense: CPR for wild salmon. Fish resuscitation is now a federal- and state-required skill for anglers who cast “tangle nets” on the Columbia River in spring. Chinook salmon can exhaust themselves to the point of death fighting the nets, and if tossed overboard […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Montana’s governor is a poor choice to lead the West
The Western Governors Association, one of the region’s leading political organizations, has earned a reputation for trying to take a moderate approach to divisive issues. Governors of 18 Western states and three Pacific islands have met regularly for years to devise regional policies on wildfire, energy development and other issues, such as environmental protection. They’re […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Another way to win back land
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. LEE, Nev. – South of Elko, on the west side of the Ruby Mountains, the shady meadows of the South Fork Reservation are thick with irises. Here, Raymond Yowell, who was appointed chief of the Western Shoshone in 1985 by the members of the […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Can money buy happiness?
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Nearly every tribe in the United States has been affected by the decisions of the Indian Claims Commission. The commission, and the claims court that took over its caseload when it shut its doors in 1979, heard more than 600 cases and paid out […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
N.D. court ruling rescinds tribal authority
Decision paves the way for dam construction on sacred burial ground
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Land plan attracts an anti-grazing gorilla
Plan would put 1.7 million acres in hands of local trust
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
River town gets into fish business
You’ve heard of Rocky Mountain oyesters — how about Yellowstone Caviar?
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Dear Friends
A historic, if confusing, moment The residents of Western Colorado’s Delta County, home of High Country News, had been on the edge of their seats for weeks. All eyes were on our three county commissioners, who, on Monday, July 22, would vote whether or not to allow Gunnison Energy Co. to explore for coalbed methane […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Land or money?
ELKO, Nev. – A panicked starling flaps under the rafters and the Beastie Boys shout from the overhead loudspeakers, but the tribal gymnasium seems as still and serious as a classroom before a final exam. On the edge of the basketball court, a young woman stands at a folding table, resting her forearms on an […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
Wolf killing hard to swallow
Dear HCN, It has taken me a week to bring myself to read the lead story “Wolf at the door” (HCN, 5/27/02: Wolf at the door). By the time “Ace” Niemeyer finished wiping out the Whitehawk pack, I was crying so much, I couldn’t see to read. That Defenders of Wildlife, to which I and […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
Matthews wrote wet-blanket litany
Dear HCN, In a recent article, writer Mark Matthews agonized over alleged radical shifts in philosophy and direction here at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (HCN, 5/27/02: Elk conservation group sharpens its ax). Our immediate response was, “Huh?” Bewildered, we’re still not sure how (or why) Matthews weaved his handful of scrap info into such […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
Feedlots story falls short
I appreciate the time and effort Karen Mockler put into writing the article on Wyoming’s feedgrounds (HCN, 4/29/02: Are Wyoming’s feedgrounds a hotbed of disease?) as well as the editing that was done to consolidate all the information on this complicated issue. Unfortunately, in that process, some of the essence of the interview was lost. First, the Wyoming […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
HCN offers bogus theories
Dear HCN, We had the fantastic “theories” of Columbus “finding” North America when as many as 140 million North Americans had not “lost” it. And the “stories” of Pilgrims encountering “wilderness” when indigenous people cultivated a wide variety of crops the colonizers’ pigs wreaked havoc upon. Now in the May 13, 2002, HCN, we have […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
Scientists uncover a weevil gourmand
COLORADO In the early 1990s, the U.S. Forest Service released approximately 500 flower-head weevils on the edge of Gunnison National Forest, near Almont, Colo., to control the invasive Canada thistle. Apparently, tastes change. In the 12 years since a 1990 study suggested that the weevil preferred Canada thistle to native species, the insect has been […]