Environmental laws, designed to regulate the big boys, overlook some big messes
Small mines stay under the radar
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Telluride tackles ski town sprawl
It’s big money vs. big money in Colorado development battle
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Farewell, Marc Reisner
In 1995, when we first asked Marc Reisner to write an article for High Country News, we didn’t know what to expect (HCN, 3/20/95: The fight for reclamation). Would the man who had changed how America thought about dams and reservoirs accept suggestions from an editor of a small paper in a small town in […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Dear Friends
An unlikely lead Why, you might be asking yourself, would High Country News run a cover story on methamphetamines? One reason can be found on the front page of a recent Grand Junction, Colo., Daily Sentinel. “Pot-meth bust leads to 5 arrests.” Pick up any Western newspaper these days and you’ll find similar headlines. After […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
The makings of a meth lab
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Mike LaScoula makes sure I correctly write down the following quote: “Not everyone associated with meth is a dirtbag,” says the Spokane County Health District’s chemical and physical hazards adviser, “but they are all dumb asses.” To prove his point, LaScoula takes me to […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
‘There’s not much to do out there’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Erec Hopkins, 20 years old, is serving a year of work release for third-degree sexual assault. He works 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. four days a week at the Whitman County shop, where he assists in maintaining county vehicles. When he’s not on work […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Meth invasion
America’s drug of the moment wreaks havoc in the rural West.
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Don’t blame cows
Dear HCN, The recent issue on wildfires and exotic weeds continues a disappointing trend in your paper, of peddling panaceas rather than creating dialogue. In the opening page, the “usual suspects’ are rounded up – grazing, farming, roads, mines – and from there it reads like a tabloid account of the Jon-Benet Ramsey murder. One […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Expect the big burn
Dear HCN, After the forest fires in New Mexico and Colorado, I had to write. This could be nature getting back at the hobby ranchers and interlopers. On the Front Range in Colorado and New Mexico, you don’t have corporate tree farms, so most of the interface lands from the Plains to the U.S. Forest […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Delta water treaty needs amending
Dear HCN, I read with interest Michelle Nijhuis’ fine piece on the Colorado Delta. As HCN so aptly puts it, the issue is really whether or not environmentalists can find the means to change the Law of the River. While I support and applaud the legal efforts of the Delta coalition (Southwest Center for Biological […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Don’t ignore role of climate change
Dear HCN, I’ve just read Ed Marston’s column about the Los Alamos fire (HCN, 5/22/00: Yelling fire in a crowded West). I was disappointed to see no discussion of the impact of climate change on fire regimes and the occurrence of catastrophic crown fires in recent decades, despite the severe drought under which the New […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Carroll lives on imaginary planet
Dear HCN, In his essay, “Los Alamos is burning” (HCN, 5/22/00: Los Alamos is burning), Frank Carroll, formerly with the Forest Service and now with Potlatch Corp., presented us with two stretches of the imagination. First, he managed to avoid placing any blame for the Los Alamos fire on the Forest Service and other land-management […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Heard around the West
Are San Francisco residents rude to tourists? Of course! But just to make it official, the San Francisco Chronicle sent a reporter out with crutches. The hobbling reporter then stood in a crowded bus or train waiting to see if someone would give him a seat. The common response? “I got mine.” One of the […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
National Land Trust Rally
More than 1,200 open-space advocates will join forces at a National Land Trust Rally, Oct. 19-22 in Portland, Ore., for workshops on everything from fund raising to drawing up a conservation easement. Contact the Land Trust Alliance at 1319 F Street NW, Suite 501, Washington, DC 20004 (202/638-4725), or see the Web at www.lta.org/rally.html. This […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Society for Human Ecology
Scientists, educators and urban planners are invited to attend a conference sponsored by the Society for Human Ecology, Oct. 18-22 in Jackson, Wyo. The group looks at how humans interact with their environment – whether the “environment” is a forest or a city. Participants will discuss environmental policy and decision-making as well as urban ecosystems. […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Musicians United to Sustain the Environment
Musicians United to Sustain the Environment will give away an environmentally oriented CD in drawings four times a year. To register, visit www.musemusic.org. Michigan-based MUSE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization raising funds through music for grassroots efforts to protect wilderness and wildlife. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Communities Directory: A Guide to Intentional Communities and Cooperative Living
A new directory features maps, cross-referenced charts and an index of 700 religious, environmentally conscious, agricultural and artistic communities. For information about Communities Directory: A Guide to Intentional Communities and Cooperative Living, which sells for $30, call 800/462-8240 or go to http://store.ic.org/. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Volunteer Stewards
The state of Colorado is looking for “volunteer stewards” to be its eyes and ears in the field. The state’s Natural Areas Program asks stewards to visit areas such as the alpine meadows surrounding Gothic, Colo., and the desert Escalante Canyon, and report back on what they find. You’ll need a good pair of hiking […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
National Mountain Conference
Hiking and mountaineering clubs will sponsor a National Mountain Conference in Golden, Colo., Sept. 14-16. Land managers and outdoor recreation specialists will discuss human impacts on mountain ecosystems, and a field trip to ski area expansions at Vail Pass and Breckenridge is also available. Call conference coordinator at 603/466-2721, ext. 184, send e-mail to melhov@landmarknet.net, […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Riparian Ecology and Management in Multi-Land Use Watersheds
A conference on Riparian Ecology and Management in Multi-Land Use Watersheds Aug. 28-31 in Portland, Ore., includes international speakers who will discuss issues from salmon recovery to the effects of earthquakes on riverside habitat. Contact the American Water Resources Association at 4 West Federal St., P.O. Box 1626, Middleburg, VA 20118-1626 (540/687-8390), www.awra.org. This article […]