Flower aficionado Paul Ames is no pansy: Gathering wildflower seeds under a Utah sun is hot, back-breaking work. Besides, he dislikes the pansy. It and all exotic flowers, he believes, are pampered intruders that drink too much water and don’t belong in a desert state. For the past three years, Ames has been a champion […]
Utah’s flower child
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
All’s fair in smog and waste?
Ever wonder if being a renter increases your risk of cancer from hazardous air pollutants? Or whether your income level correlates to how far you live from a Superfund site? Now, by entering your ZIP code into a new Web site, you can get answers to questions like these, based on data collected from your […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Pedal where Lewis and Clark paddled
In 1976, a time when bikes were still mostly for kids and cross-country cycling was virtually unheard of, a few friends got together to map a bicycling route across the U.S. in celebration of the nation’s bicentennial. Twenty-five years and 25,000 miles of bike trails later, the group, the Adventure Cycling Association, is attempting to […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Ferrets weasel onto public lands
MONTANA The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that successful reintroduction of the black-footed ferret is nearly as rare and elusive as the weasel-like predators themselves. So when the Bureau of Land Management asked the agency this summer for an allotment of ferrets for release in less than ideal habitat, it ranked the request […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Navajo-Hopi dispute persists
ARIZONA In early September, the roar of bulldozers and chainsaws in the remote desert of the Hopi Reservation gave modern resonance to an ancient feud. Hopi officials destroyed a site sacred to Navajo Sun Dancers, even removing the site’s “Tree of Life.” The act was the latest in more than a century of dispute over […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
The Latest Bounce
Has the Department of Interior blown its last chance to straighten out the Indian trust fund fiasco (HCN, 1/31/00: Judge rules on Indian money mess)? Over the past several months, a court-appointed monitor has reported that the agency filed inaccurate and false reports about its progress in untangling the case. Now, the Native American Rights […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Heard around the West
Where’s Humpty Dumpty when we need him? The egg on the other side of the looking-glass told Alice that “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” The word in question these days is “organic,” whose definition counts a lot in the booming billion-dollar […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
The Arctic: A slave to luck
In politics, as in comedy, timing is everything. Sometimes you get lucky, but if you don’t get lucky at the right time, you might as well not have gotten lucky at all. The folks hereabouts fighting the Bush administration’s plan to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge got a lucky break recently […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Montana gets a crash course in methane
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The Powder River Basin doesn’t end at the state line; about one-third of the sprawling basin lies in Montana. Though the coal seams are thinner here than in Wyoming, coalbed methane development is expected to explode in the northern third of the basin and […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Mickey Steward, coordinator for the Coal Bed Methane Coordination Coalition
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Mickey Steward, coordinator for the CoalBed Methane Coordination Coalition: “The fastest way to kill the coalbed methane industry is for gas prices to drop below a dollar. The surest way to get significant attention paid to even the slightest (industry) concerns is for gas […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Defending the Red Desert’s desolation
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. OREGON BUTTES, Wyo. – “This is what the pioneers saw. This is what Wyoming was,” says Mac Blewer, a 30-year-old who works for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, an environmental group headquartered in nearby Lander. From the top of a sheer-sided cliff, Blewer is looking […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Miles Keogh, Wyoming rancher
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Miles Keogh, Wyoming rancher: “I’ve told them (drillers) all the same story. If you guys want to play hardball, I’ll play hardball. I’ve been around the block. So part of the terms and conditions of this agreement is you take total responsibility, so the […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Patricia Clark, Wyoming rancher
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Patricia Clark, Wyoming rancher: “We’ve had this place in the family for 105 years, and I’m looking to keep this in the family for another 105 years, and I want to keep it as pristine as I can. Once the damage is done, it’s […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Agencies tangle over Hells Canyon dams
Federal energy commission evades endangered species conservation
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Utah’s Grand Staircase turns 5
Locals still wondering if the monument will provide an economic step up
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Cattle make way for tortoises in the Mojave
Closures could spark a modern-day range war
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Wasting disease spreads in Colorado
Game farm shipped 400 exposed elk to 15 states
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Dear Friends
Never say never For decades, High Country News has monitored the rise and fall of extractive industries in the West. In recent years, we’ve joined a growing number of scholars and pundits in asserting that the West has turned a corner: Logging, mining and grazing are on their way out, even as a new amenity-based […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Wyoming’s powder keg
Coalbed methane splinters the Powder River Basin