Welcome, Beth Not wanting to admit that her hometown, Staten Island, N.Y., is known best for its garbage, new intern Beth Wohlberg would rather refer to the most recent city she has lived in – Missoula, Mont. But Staten Island, home to the largest landfill in the world, Fresh Kills, gave her an urge for […]
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Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Trickle of hope
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. An international border slices through the final stretch of the Colorado River, and for decades the region has been pushed to the political margins by both the United States and Mexico. The river only occasionally reaches the Gulf of California, and the once-lush wetlands […]
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
BOMBAY BEACH, Calif. – Steve Horvitz, the superintendent of the Salton Sea State Recreation Area, keeps a copy of the movie Chinatown on his office bookshelf. He’s seen the tale of ruthless Los Angeles water barons many times, and it still makes him angry, but he doesn’t watch it as often as he used to. […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Heard around the West
In the West, people sometimes find bears scrounging for food in the kitchen or cougars pacing the deck. In the East, a chubby house cat can spook the neighbors. Residents of Bensalem, Penn., became alarmed when they saw what they thought was a 50-pound wildcat or worse, a “mysterious monster,” reports The Denver Post. Seven […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Governor’s forum on Environment and Natural Resources
Government officials, environmentalists and ranchers will meet in Wyoming this summer to discuss how collaborative processes work, when they are appropriate and which tools are necessary for success. Case studies of successful and unsuccessful collaborations in the West will be used as examples. To attend the Governor’s Forum on Environment and Natural Resources in Riverton, […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Gold at What Price? The Need for a Public Debate on National Gold Reserves
A report by three environmental groups says national gold reserves are harmful both economically and environmentally. When governments lock up large gold reserves, they force new, often environmentally destructive mining to meet the market demand for the metal, says the 24-page study, Gold At What Price? The Need for a Public Debate on National Gold […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
The Continental Divide Trail Alliance
The Continental Divide Trail Alliance hopes to lure people to some of the most scenic and ecologically diverse areas in the West for a vacation of trail building, weed pulling or sign repairing. Volunteers can choose from 33 projects along the 3,100-mile trail. Contact CDTA, P.O. Box 628, Pine, CO 80470, or call 888/909-CDTA or […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
839 Ways to Move Colorado in the Right Direction
The nonprofit Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado is looking for people to repair trails, plant trees and work on a variety of projects this summer. Last year, more than 2,700 people joined VOC’s volunteer programs. To find out what needs doing, consult the group’s directory, 839 Ways to Move Colorado in the Right Direction, available from […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Fishtrap
Fishtrap, an annual writer’s gathering in Wallowa Lake, Ore., July 10-16, features Ursula K. LeGuin and Luis Alberto Urrea, among other writers. Contact Fishtrap at P.O. Box 38, Enterprise, OR 97828 (541/426-3623). This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Fishtrap.
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Western Issues Conference
Family histories will be told at the Western Issues Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, June 23-24. Writers Kim Barnes, Patricia Nelson Limerick, Philip Deloria and Vicki Ruiz are among those talking to 200 people about living in the West. Contact the Sun Valley Center for the Arts at P.O. Box 656, Sun Valley, ID 83353 […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Latin American Festival in the Mountains
More than 200 volunteers are needed at the 7th annual Latin American Festival in The Mountains, July 1 in Carbondale, Colo. The festival celebrates Latin American culture through food, arts, crafts and performances. Contact Adriana Chavira at 970/945-4060. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Latin American Festival in […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Help Hells Canyon
Managers of Hells Canyon on the Oregon-Idaho border, the deepest river-cut canyon in the world, are hoping for more direction in dealing with increasing numbers of visitors, longstanding grazing and logging and a mandate to protect the area. Until June 20, the public can have a say in the future of the canyon by commenting […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Hispanics have a new voice
A new publication in the Four Corners region, El Valle, combines Spanish and English to focus on Hispanic people. “We have a real strong Hispanic community in the Four Corners area and we’re growing,” says publisher and editor LaVerta Valdez-Johnson. “Not many hear about us because our events are not covered in local newspapers.” She […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Mining is forever
After a successful career as a hydrologist and consultant for mining companies in Montana, David Stiller decided to write a book. By looking at one mine in Montana that a prospector in 1898 named after his horse – the “Mike Horse” – Stiller says he hoped to alert people to the danger posed to Westerners […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
‘A natural calamity’
Through historical and eyewitness accounts, scientific analysis and amazing photos, Rob Carson’s Mount St. Helens: the Eruption and Recovery of a Volcano, takes us back to the blast of 20 years ago: “By the evening of May 18, Mount St. Helens was a smoking crater, hollowed-out and grey. It looked defiled, like the victim of […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Painting the prairie
Crowded Prairie: Four Painters, an exhibition at the Ucross Foundation Art Gallery in Ucross, Wyo., features 34 paintings by Karen Kitchel, Chuck Forsman, John Hull and James Lancel McElhinney. “Each (painter) has something to say that is very serious about the environmental impact of our technology on the land,” says Gordon McConnell, curator of the […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Arizona adds sunshine
Arizona’s plentiful sunshine will soon supply a small part of the state’s power. By the start of 2001, electricity providers in Arizona will be required to begin using renewable resources such as the sun, wind, biomass generators and landfill gas, for one quarter of 1 percent of total electricity used. By 2007, the state wants […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Grizzlies: going, going …
People are the greatest threat to grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park, according to a 73-page Sierra Club report, Rural Residential Development Trends in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Since the Listing of the Grizzly Bear. Writer Vanessa K. Johnson says rapid growth in the counties surrounding Yellowstone chews up what’s left of the bears’ habitat. […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Shakespeare in Montana
Montanans are proud of the state’s world-class trout streams, abundant elk herds and their ongoing love affair with Shakespeare. Hang around bars, billiard halls or restaurants across the state and you can easily strike up a conversation with the locals on which of the bard’s plays and characters rings true to their heart. Shakespeare was […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
The roadless tour begins
NATION Environmental groups and the timber industry are united for once. Both oppose the Forest Service’s plan for protecting roadless areas. The plan, released May 9, comes in response to President Clinton’s promise last October to protect undesignated wilderness in national forests (HCN, 11/8/99: A new road for the public lands). The proposal would ban […]