Has Colorado’s oil and gas industry met its match?
Colliding forces
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
A park rediscovers a surprising asset
Springdale, Utah – Though some still question the wisdom of spending $11.8 million on 350 shuttle buses for Zion National Park (HCN, 4/10/00), practically everyone agrees that they allow an unexpected experience to emerge from the surreal canyons of Utah. Quiet strikes tourists when they step off a propane-powered bus at any of the seven […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Looters beware: Tribes are fighting back
Lori Watlamet can’t hold back tears when she talks about the looting of an old Native Indian village site in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia River Gorge. In May, with a reporter in tow, the law enforcement officer walked over a bluff that protects the site from plain view and her heart sank. Watlamet, a member […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Fires bring on a flood of federal funds
As this summer’s massive wildfires wind down, the West still can’t decide who’s at fault. Yet nearly everyone agrees on one thing: A century of fire suppression has disrupted the cycle of frequent fires in dry conifer forests, replacing old-growth pine stands with thickets of small trees. When the fuel buildup collided with drought and […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Dear Friends
Our Boise get-together The latest meeting of the High Country Foundation board was in Boise Sept. 8-10, and although all of the subscribers who attend the paper’s roving potlucks are good cooks and convivial company, Idaho subscribers have ratcheted that high standard up a notch. The food was wonderful and plentiful, and the turnout was […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Who needs “ersatz consensus’?
Dear HCN, Your article on coal mining in the North Fork of the Gunnison River was interesting in its happy-happy spin on ersatz consensus and collaboration groups (HCN, 7/31/00: Out of the darkness: A Western Colorado community meets a coal boom halfway). As an environmental activist, the main question I had was this: “Was the […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Wilderness fans need compromise
Dear HCN, Just a short comment on Susan Tixier’s letter (HCN, 8/28/00: Wilderness needs strong advocates). It’s deceptively easy to airily dismiss the entire body politic from the wilderness debate by saying, “It’s about the land, not the people.” Many Utah activists have embraced this view, with the predictable result that no new wilderness areas […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Wilderness is the key
Dear HCN, Perhaps after losing one too many a battle, Steve Hinchman has lost his will to fight for what “should be,” and now advocates for what he thinks “can be,” given political realities and resistance from local communities (HCN, 7/31/00: Rural Green: A new shade of activism). Where would we be today if the […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Mollusks run through it
Dear HCN, Thanks for running Guy Webster’s item on the Kanab ambersnail (HCN, 7/31/00: The snail that stands like a dam). All too often “endangered species’ are pegged as furry, feathered or scaly. There are lots more, all parts of the big story, like the ambersnail. And it’s amazing just how much mileage scientists have […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
About meth and other highs
Dear HCN, If Erec Hopkins, the small-town meth reformee pictured in your Aug. 14 issue, is going straight, then why is he shown wearing a 420 T-shirt? Is it possible that Stephen Lyons doesn’t know that 420 is the drug users’ code for smoking marijuana? I teach high school English in rural Utah, and was […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
ORVs named one of top threats
Off-road vehicle use is one of the most serious threats to wild places, according to a Wilderness Society report outlining the 15 most endangered wild lands in the United States. Jerry Greenberg of The Wilderness Society says that although mining and oil drilling industries can’t be ignored, soil erosion and pollution from ORVs are fast-growing […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Salmon Corps
In the Northwest, where thousands of people have rallied to save salmon, the salmon are helping young, at-risk Native Americans. The Salmon Corps – a partnership of five tribes, the federal Americorps, the city of Portland, government agencies and several corporations – trains Native Americans, aged 18 to 25, in stream restoration work, while they […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
‘Weed’
A marriage of the arts and government took the stage Aug. 4 as Weed premiered at the Creede Repertory Theatre in Creede, Colo. The Colorado Rural Development Council commissioned the play last year, hoping to present a nonbiased – and entertaining – view of land-use issues. During playwright Micki Panttaja’s research for Weed, she toured […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Cold can knock out whirling disease
New research on whirling disease, the malady killing trout populations in the West, has scientists crossing their fingers (HCN, 9/18/95: The West’s fisheries spin out of control). The disease targets fish less than nine weeks old, destroying cartilage and causing the young fish to swim in circles. In search of a remedy, Richard Vincent, a […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Faith found in forests
Religion and the Forests, a new publication by the California-based Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation, illustrates the trend of religious groups going green. In the first edition of the magazine, personal essays and biblical references show the relationship between forest conservation and moral responsibility. The publication aims to end all commercial logging on public forests. […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
GAO blasts land exchanges
A recent audit report by the General Accounting Office found that land exchanges by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are rarely in the public’s best interest. In fact, the report says that both agencies often agree to exchanges that undervalue public lands and overvalue private holdings. The report, BLM and the Forest […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Natural History and Environmental Issues School
To kick off the Colorado Mountain Club’s new Natural History and Environmental Issues School, on Sept. 19, HCN publisher Ed Marston will speak about collaboration in the West and on Sept. 26, nature photographer John Fielder will discuss sprawl in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Contact Sean or Kirstin Pack at 303/279-3080, ext. 6, or e-mail […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Drowning in Noise: Noise Costs of Jet Skis in America
The authors of a new report conclude that the only solution to noise annoyance from motorized water skis is an outright ban. Charles Kamanoff and Howard Shaw found that at an average beach, recreationists say they’d pay $47 to shut up one noisy machine for the day. To order a free copy of Drowning in […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Voices in the Wind
Inspired by the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park located in southwestern Alberta and north-central Montana, a collection of short stories, essays, poems and editorials depicts life in the mountainous border region. Tales of the Blackfeet tribe, hailstorms, grizzly bears and fur poachers illuminate the history of this wild place. The 236-page Voices in the Wind […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Environmental Performance at the Bench: The EPA’s Record in Federal Courts
A report on Environmental Performance at the Bench: The EPA’s Record in Federal Courts says that unlike most federal agencies, the EPA rarely wins lawsuits. Author Jonathan H. Adler says the agency’s poor record signals a need for management reform because EPA regulations aren’t solving environmental problems. The 22-page report costs $15 from Reason Public […]