Some fertilizer sold in Washington state since 1996 contained uranium and other wastes from the production of nuclear reactor fuel; in fact, before the state’s Department of Agriculture issued a stop-sale order on Feb. 17, over 390,000 gallons of the material had been distributed. State health officials found out about the product after a Seattle […]
Look at that big plant!
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Green and steel – together at last
When junk bonder Charles Hurwitz bought up Kaiser Aluminum and Pacific Lumber, then accelerated cutting of ancient California redwoods and locked out his employees, he didn’t know he was creating a new political movement. Yet outrage at Hurwitz’s tactics forged an unconventional alliance between labor and environmentalism. Just six months ago, locked-out United Steelworkers members […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Forest Service Volunteer Program
The Forest Service Volunteer Program for the Rocky Mountain region is looking for backcountry rangers, campground hosts and workers for research projects and trail maintenance, among others. For a copy of the agency’s Volunteer Directory, write Volunteer Coordinator, USDA Forest Service, 324 25th St., Ogden, UT 84401, call 801/625-5175, fax 801/625-5170, e-mail blyons@fs.fed.us, or visit […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Connecting Our Land and Cultures
The National Park Service and its parent agency, the Department of the Interior, are sponsoring a conference to help land managers on the Colorado Plateau develop effective resource education programs. Connecting Our Land and Cultures will be held July 9-14 in Las Vegas, Nev. Register through June 9 by calling Carol Kruse at 520/526-1157 ext. […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Conference on Tailings and Mine Waste
One-page abstracts are being sought for next January’s Conference on Tailings and Mine Waste in Fort Collins, Colo. Offer your ideas on milling, geotechnics, tailings management or related topics by June 2. For information or to present an abstract, contact Linda Hinshaw, Department of Civil Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1372, 970/491-6081, fax […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Take a load off
Forget llamas, goats or horses, says the Bureau of Land Management. Burros are better for packing equipment into the backcountry. That’s the message the federal agency is trying to get across to baby boomers, says Tom Taylor of Mesa, Ariz., a volunteer who takes his burro, Hualapai, to community events to talk up the adopt-a-burro […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Bart: Still a trooper
Bart, the 1,500-pound star of The Bear and most recently The Edge (co-starring Anthony Hopkins), missed out on the Academy Awards a couple of weeks ago. But the 23-year-old actor and coastal Kodiak grizzly will be appearing this month on the small screen as spokesbear for Colorado State University’s Animal Cancer Center’s new research facility. […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Montana’s anti-Indian movement multiplies
A report by the Montana Human Rights Network says groups dedicated to undermining Indian sovereignty and culture are on the rise. Formed in 1990, in response to white supremacist and other hate groups in Montana, the Human Rights Network calls the anti-Indian movement “racist to the core.” Ken Toole, who wrote the 47-page report, Drumming […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Beauty and Solitude
There are approximately 80 places in the United States where artists of all kinds can go to compose, paint, write, sculpt and photograph. These artists’ communities, which are mostly on the coasts, accommodate about 4,000 visitors a year. If all goes well, there will soon be a new one just outside Zion National Park in […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
BLM needs a new identity
Dear HCN, Your “Beyond the Revolution” articles about the future of the new West could have included mention of the long-discussed proposal to place the BLM-managed lands into a National Public Lands System, similar to the national forest, national parks, and national wildlife refuge systems that protect our forests, parks and refuges. The BLM lands […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
It’s a rotten revolution
Dear HCN, Judging from publisher Ed Marston’s April 10 article, “Beyond the Revolution,” High Country News has abandoned all pretext of balanced treatment of environmental news. For Mr. Marston to assume that the four Snake River dams will be breached, and for him to completely ignore the vitally important issue of Western private land intermixed […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
The fragmented West
Dear HCN, I read, carefully, each of the separate articles in the HCN special issue of April 10, and I’ve come to my own conclusion: We’re in a trap with no exit. Balkanization will be the model. Duke HaydukBluff, Utah This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The fragmented […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Extractive industries are not dead yet
Dear HCN, Ed Marston writes that the war between extractive interests and the environmental movement is drawing to a close and the enviro movement won (HCN, 4/10/00: Beyond the Revolution). Like the person who reads about his death in the paper, reports of the demise of extractive interests are greatly exaggerated. We will always have […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Spreading the news
Dear HCN, I’ve just devoured your excellent “Beyond the Revolution” issue. If you send me five or 10 more copies, I promise I’ll get it into the hands of the right people. Joel GarreauBroad Run, Virginia The writer is the author of The Nine Nations of North America. This article appeared in the print edition […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Where were the voices of women?
Dear HCN, I applaud your final installment of the series titled “The political dynamics of the Interior West” (HCN, 4/10/00). I thoroughly enjoyed all eight of the essays by guest columnists and their views on the future of the West. Creating the opportunity for dialogue on the future of our lands is critical, and I […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Politics and the bottom line
Dear HCN, Senator Laird Noh’s article “The Old West is small potatoes in the new economy” (HCN, 4/10/00: The Old West is small potatoes in the new economy) provided a clear view of the shifting power structure out West. Sen. Noh’s story is a lesson in political power, and the moral of the story is […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Will bears get a break?
MONTANA With all-terrain vehicle and snowmobile use skyrocketing in the backcountry, environmentalists fear the machines could spell disaster for grizzly bears. Several groups recently sued the Forest Service to force the agency to study the way ATV and snowmobile use affects endangered grizzlies in Montana’s Gallatin National Forest. “It’s time for them to step up […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Crater doesn’t come cheap
ARIZONA Conservationists are close to protecting a volcanic crater and wetland near Flagstaff, Ariz. All they have to do is raise $3 million. In March, the Flagstaff-based Grand Canyon Trust signed a land-swap deal with developers, in which the trust bought the 247-acre caldera known as Dry Lake. Developer Jim Mehen, who had first proposed […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Corps catches criticism
NATION A national storm is swirling around the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and some say it could rattle two of the agency’s most controversial projects in the Northwest: dredging the Columbia River and continuing operation of the Snake River dams. In February, The Washington Post reported that the agency rigged a $50 million economic […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
The Wayward West
President Bill Clinton designated another national monument (HCN, 4/10/00: Beyond the Revolution). Now 355,000 acres are preserved in California’s Sequoia National Forest, and that means existing logging rights will be phased out over the next three and a half years. While environmentalists celebrated the latest link in Clinton’s land-legacy chain, locals were upset. “We who […]