WYOMING Last April, Wilson, Wyo., resident Mary Mitchell called the Jackson Hole News demanding to know more about plans to burn nuclear waste at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. But Jackson papers had paid no attention to the Department of Energy’s plans to build an incinerator in eastern Idaho, even though the facility […]
Incinerator plans go up in smoke
Learning to think like a region
Environmental issues have nothing to do with political boundaries
The infinite West reaches its limits
Undaunted optimism runs up against a finite landscape
In search of a politics of union
So far, a bigger table for decision-making has not led to more agreement, just more litigation
Notes from a fence-sitter
Though extremists on either side would never admit it, ranchers and greens care about the same things
How to get right side up again
Instead of propping up corporate agriculture, let’s subsidize small farmers
The Old West is small potatoes in the new economy
Local and state governments are no match for the massive corporations moving in on the West’s open spaces
Indian reservations: Environmental refuge or homeland?
To non-Indians, reservations look like vast de facto wildlife areas. But that’s not what they’re for.
The West’s power game
The West is caught between congressional representatives beholden to resource industries, and federal officials with a conservation agenda. Can we find a middle ground?
An industry booster becomes a supporter of Western land
There is nothing remotely radical about Alvin M. Josephy Jr., or if there is, he hides it in his memoir, A Walk Toward Oregon. There was a comfortable childhood in Manhattan; well-to-do relatives like his uncle, the founder of the firm that published this book; a couple of years at Harvard, until his father’s financial […]
Water deal could drain New Mexico’s small towns
Northern New Mexico farmers fear cities will suck their communities dry
Boss must pay for poisoning employee
A judge hands down the first-ever conviction for knowingly exposing an employee to hazardous waste
Gentlemen, stop your engines!
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Zion takes tourists out of their cars.” The Park Service philosophy of accommodating humans and their machines is changing. The first sign came on March 13, when officials announced that they were leaning toward banning snowmobiles in […]
Zion takes tourists out of their cars
One of the nation’s most popular parks invites visitors to ride the bus
The beauty of self-reliance
Reader Portia Masterson walked into the office on a drizzly day in late March. It was an unusual moment for a couple of reasons: first, Portia usually sticks close to her home in Golden, near Denver; second, when she’s out and about, she’s usually riding her bike. Masterson owns Self-Propulsion Inc., a bike shop that […]
Dear Friends
Interns go far Sometimes we think the most important thing High Country News does is provide a way station for interns. For most of them, it’s a stop after college and a series of less-than-satisfying jobs, before they decide what they will ultimately do. We had this thought most recently at the March meeting of […]
Beyond the Revolution
The struggle for the public lands is ending. Now what happens? Will the Interior West remain a rogue region, or will it choose to rejoin America?
Applause for reining in recreation
Dear HCN, I think the preferred alternative for the White River National Forest Plan is a huge step forward, though I prefer Alternative I (HCN, 1/17/00: STOP – A national forest tries to rein in recreation). I have yet to have visited a national forest that didn’t have more than enough roads and trails. Yes, […]
We need fees
Dear HCN, I am deeply disappointed in the Sierra Club for its stand against the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Yes, it truly would be much more desirable for Congress and the president to fund adequately and promptly our national treasures – but that is not likely to happen soon, if ever. As I sit at […]
The Cold War is over, but missiles remain
Dear HCN, I read your Roundup on Cold War tourism in South Dakota with apprehension (HCN, 2/14/00: From missile silo to theme park) because you could come away with the idea that the Cold War is over. When I reread the article at 2 a.m., I realized this could be someone’s idea of the perfect […]
