Dear HCN, The recent article by Steve Stuebner about wolves in Idaho demonstrates why wolf recovery is an ongoing failure (HCN, 5/22/00: Activist calls for cease-fire on wolves). If it were not for a few livestock-free safe havens like Yellowstone Park and the core of central Idaho wilderness, there would be no wolf recovery whatsoever. […]
Why wolf recovery is a failure
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Weeds don’t need cows to spread
Dear HCN, Thank you for the thoughtful coverage dealing with weeds across the West, and especially the discussion of the cheatgrass/fire cycle problem. A quick point of clarification, though. Your articles seemed to return to a theme of grazing as a central cause. In my experience, grazing may not be necessary for land to experience […]
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
In defense of ‘enviros’
Dear HCN, I am responding to several letters in the May 8 edition. One letter said that “enviros are mostly intruders funded by wealthy foundations.” Those foundations are set up by nonprofit corporations supported by the donations of many environmentally conscious citizens and companies. An individual cannot make any impact on the money-obsessed power structure […]
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Writer has an ATV agenda
Dear HCN, Jim Gerber, president of Citizens for a User Friendly Forest, has written several letters to the editor of High Country News in which he has neglected to identify his affiliation. CUFF supports motorized access to national forests. The vice president of CUFF, Adina Cook, is also the public-lands director of the Blue Ribbon […]
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Heard around the West
Could a man juggle 20 drinks sliding around a tray while walking in spike heels and looking sexy? Some cocktail waitresses in Reno, Nev., do that for eight hours at a time. They also say they’re sick and tired of it – the blisters, bunions and hammer toes caused by wearing high heels on the […]
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
The Wayward West
A bill that would have promoted tourism and allowed off-road vehicles to wheel across specified areas in Utah’s San Rafael Swell is on “life support” in the House after green-friendly amendments passed. Conservationists, who pushed for even more wilderness protection, describe this as a victory (HCN, 5/22/00: Stirrings in the San Rafael Swell). “We called […]
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Colorado considers a mining ban
In the wake of Summitville, Colorado could follow Montana’s lead and outlaw cyanide mining
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
The end of a water mine?
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article,”The Great Sand Dunes: the next new national park?“ A federal buyout of the Baca Ranch would erase the threat of a sale, by a private developer, of San Luis Valley water to the Front Range. But pressure […]
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
The Great Sand Dunes: the next new national park?
A park proposal aims to protect water as well as land
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Babbitt’s monument tour blazes on
Al Gore announces four new national monuments, while Republicans fight back
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Crawdads colonize the West’s waterways
Down South, they call them ‘Cajun popcorn.’ In the West, they’re a menace.
Posted inJune 19, 2000: Accidental refuge: Should we save the Salton Sea?
Dear Friends
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 […]
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.