The Northwest looks at a soggy summer, while the Southwest may just burn
Western weather waffles
Wanted: experienced firefighters
The Forest Service discovers it’s hard to find good help
Dear Friends
Spring visitors Glen Miller, a retired geologist from Grand Junction, came by to say hello and to talk about how guilty he felt because he’d let his subscription lapse. We’re always interested in why people drop their subscriptions, but he couldn’t tell us. “It just happened,” was as close as he could come. We could […]
Restoring our future
Note: This essay appears in the print edition of this issue as a sidebar to a feature story. Moments of affirmation are rare in Washington, D.C. So I was pleased to run into a friend, living now in Los Angeles, whom I last saw in college, and to hear her excitement about the Forest Service’s […]
‘Specialists in diversity’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Is RBM Lumber a one-of-a-kind operation, or could there be many such firms at work in the Northern Rockies? Judge for yourself. RBM originally stood for three Thompsons, Roy, Ben and Malcolm. Malcolm, Ben and Roy’s father, is a philosopher-ascetic who has returned to […]
‘It shouldn’t be all or nothing’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Evelyn Thompson is co-owner of RBM Lumberin Columbia Falls, Montana. In 1997, she was recognized as Montana’s Businesswoman of the Year by the Small Business Administration. Evelyn Thompson: “One of our biggest principles is to eliminate waste. We developed a lot of our products […]
‘The emphasis is on what’s best for the land’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Tom Kovalicky, a 30-year veteran of the Forest Service, was the Nez Perce National Forest Supervisor from 1982-1991. He still lives in Grangeville, Idaho, where he is the volunteer chairman of Stewards of the Nez Perce, a collaborative community group working with the Nez […]
‘We still have the opportunity to practice wild forestry’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Bob Love is a hunter, naturalist, writer and logger in Columbia Falls, Montana. His company is Confluence Timber Company. Bob Love: “Our public forests in the past were corporatized, and now you could say we’re trying to communitize our forests. We need to invest […]
‘We don’t need a revolution’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Teresa Catlin of Priest River, Idaho, is involved in a community forestry project called Forest Community Connection. She is an ecologist for the Colville National Forest in eastern Washington. She also operates a forest consulting company in Idaho called Total Land Management. Teresa Catlin: […]
Change is coming
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. John McCarthy is conservation director of the Idaho Conservation League. He lives in Boise. John McCarthy: “The big message in the forest today is, “change is coming – hard and fast.” We know the days of towns built around big, wasteful sawmills that required […]
After the fall
As big timber companies leave the Northern Rockies, a family mill turns to restoring forests
The Winds of Change
With the White House seeking to more than double the number of power plants, the best hope for a clean energy future lies in local communities
Shaky truce on the Rio Grande
Amid a political dust storm, an agreement keeps endangered fish alive
‘Molycorp hasn’t been a good neighbor to us’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Joe Cisneros will tell you proudly that he was the model for the feisty protagonist in John Nichols’ novel The Milagro Beanfield War – and Nichols concurs. Cisneros has been Molycorp’s most belligerent and outspoken critic since a botched 1968 attempt by the company […]
Heard around the West
“Quirky” is how the American Journalism Review describes the mottos of many newspapers, and in the West, one of the longer missions is stated by Washington’s Wenatchee World: “Published in the apple capital of the world and the buckle of the power belt of the great Northwest.” An in-your-face message comes from the Aspen Daily […]
Besieged river
Dear HCN, Alan S. Kesselheim’s lead story on the Yellowstone River hits the nail on the head (HCN, 3/27/00: The last wild river). A classic, one-of-a-kind, free-flowing river gets ruined because of greed and stupidity. The fact that anyone can build anything in a 100-year floodplain is insane. Look at the Mississippi if you want […]
Make mine a double cone
Dear HCN, As a recent graduate of Utah State University in Logan, Utah, I must report my bewilderment upon reading your characterization of my former home: “Nowadays, Logan is a smaller version of Boulder, Colo. Trophy homes glisten along the foothills of the Wasatch Range; students buy double lattés before class, and go jogging on […]
Then and Now, 1870-2000: The Jackson/Fielder Photos
An ongoing exhibit at the Colorado History Museum in Denver, Colo., Then and Now, 1870-2000: The Jackson/Fielder Photos, showcases the works of two renowned Western photographers through Aug. 6. John Fielder photographs the same landscapes William Henry Jackson first captured over a century ago. Admission is $3 for adults. Call 303/866-3682 for more information. This […]
Biographical profiles of American envirommentalists
The editor of a reference book/CD ROM seeks contributors to write 700-1,400-word biographical profiles of American environmentalists. Contributors may choose their subjects from the editor’s list, and must be able to submit profiles via e-mail, and agree to make revisions. Pay is $50 per entry; write to (e-mail address removed by request). This article appeared […]
Water and Growth in the West
The University of Colorado School of Law’s summer conference, Water and Growth in the West in Boulder, Colo., June 7-9, will feature a barbecue on Flagstaff Mountain and case studies from around the region. Contact Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law, Campus Box 401, Boulder, CO 80309-0401, 303/492-1272, e-mail: NRLC@spot.colorado.edu, or […]
