Dear HCN, I was astounded to read Bob Hartley’s letter, which seems to declare that the issue of prairie dogs is not “of true significance to citizens of the U.S. West” (HCN, 9/13/99). Where has he been living? I greatly appreciated your article, as many communities which I have lived in over the past couple […]
The prairie dog deserves its day
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
‘Appropriate balance’ not pertinent at Petroglyph
Dear HCN, I was glad to see your coverage of the crisis at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque (HCN, 10/25/99). While in New Mexico three years ago, I spent a day exploring that monument. With its eloquent, ageless images, it impressed me as a treasure of transcendent value, affording civilization a new and better way […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
We need a new vision for the wild
Dear HCN, In his interesting piece on disputes about creating new wilderness areas, Jon Margolis dubs the William Cronon critique of the wilderness ethic post-modernist, meaning that it’s mostly about an impressionistic appraisal of wildlands (HCN, 9/27/99). Margolis misses the point here; Cronon’s analysis is more substantive than that. The modern wilderness movement believes that […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Save land now
In 1948, the state of Montana bought a 67,000-acre ranch near the southern flank of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in order to protect land for wintering elk and deer. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks manages the tract, known as the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area, but private inholdings are increasingly susceptible to […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Rivers among us
Even in the arid West, water wars aren’t inevitable, according to a new study by Reason Public Policy Institute in Los Angeles. Collaborative local planning efforts are an effective method of balancing water needs while protecting the environment, according to the 35-page study Rivers Among Us: Local Watershed Preservation and Resource Management in the Western […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Hard times in rural Idaho
Some portions of rural Idaho that suffered economically 15 years ago are doing well today. Formerly sleepy spots like the Teton Valley are faced with exploding populations, and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Spokane, Wash., are growing together along a corridor of development. But not all of Idaho is booming. The state’s third Profile of Rural […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
A trickle of hope
A thirsty system of dams, growing desert cities and irrigators may never allow the Colorado River delta to be the mecca of animal and plant diversity it once was. But Mexican and U.S. researchers working with the Environmental Defense Fund say the brackish and often polluted flow that does reach the delta could help revive […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Water crusader wants allies
Perry R. Wilkes Jr. has been quietly working to change Albuquerque’s water policies for 25 years. An aeronautical engineer, Wilkes may lack formal training in water, but he reads, goes to meetings and in the last year, he’s gotten organized. He and his wife, Bette, founded the nonprofit Citizens for a Rational Water Policy. What […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Pumice mine is a test case
The U.S. Forest Service is suing an Arizona mining company for taking pumice from the San Francisco Peaks. If Tufflite Inc. loses, it could owe the government up to $300,000 for illegally mining on the Coconino National Forest northeast of Flagstaff. The mining company insists it owes nothing because pumice is considered unique and therefore […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
‘Spiritual hucksterism’ attacked in Boulder
A former Naropa University student sued the Boulder, Colo., liberal arts college this fall, claiming “cultural genocide” and “spiritual hucksterism,” amid threats of a campus occupation by American Indian activists. Lydia White Calf and her Oglala Lakota husband, Royce, accused the co-founder of Naropa’s Native American Studies program of illegally practicing sacred ceremonies in the […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
A bighorn dilemma
Should predators be killed to protect prey? That’s the strategy in New Mexico, where the state’s Game Commission says killing mountain lions is the best way to bolster dwindling populations of desert bighorn sheep. To save the remaining 220 sheep, most of which have been reintroduced by the state’s Fish and Game Department, the commission […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Fossil Creek will flow again
What was planned as an angry protest turned into a jubilant celebration on Nov. 18, after Arizona Public Service agreed to restore Fossil Creek, nearly dry for more than 80 years (HCN, 11/22/99). “It’s huge,” says Lisa Force of the Center for Biological Diversity, which had planned to picket APS headquarters before the decision was […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Battling over the bottom line
Congress and the Clinton administration have finally called a truce on the national budget. On Nov. 19, the House and Senate approved a $385 billion spending package, including $14.9 billion for the Interior Department. Both sides are claiming victory, but Will Hart, spokesman for Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, calls the process “frustrating.” “(We were) dealing […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
A river too warm
Three environmental groups have sued the Environmental Protection Agency over the warm wastewater that flows out of the Potlatch Corp. pulp and paper mill in Lewiston, Idaho. The Lands Council, Idaho Rivers United and the Idaho Conservation League say bull trout, salmon and steelhead can’t survive when the Snake River heats up. All the fish […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Babbitt’s wish list grows
Some western Colorado locals were nervous when Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt visited the Colorado National Monument in November to announce his latest land-protection initiative. “Any time the secretary of the Interior comes to little Grand Junction, you’re apprehensive about what he’s got on his mind,” said Warren Gore, a third-generation grazing permittee. “The last thing […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
The Wayward West
Colorado River water is going to the bank. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says a final plan allows Nevada, California and Arizona to negotiate deals for storing surplus Colorado River water. The three states will soon be able to store the water in underground aquifers for later use or even sell it for cash, which Babbitt […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Peggy Godfrey’s long, strange trip
MOFFAT, Colo. – Peggy Godfrey is driving her 1988 Oldsmobile across the San Luis Valley. She is staring straight ahead. I am sitting in the passenger seat, watching the speedometer needle sweep past 60, past 70 and hover just shy of 75. On a dirt road. At night. It’s good this valley is as flat […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Heard around the West
Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura isn’t a bit afraid of inconsistency. He bragged about visiting a Nevada brothel as a young man in his autobiography, I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed, yet a few decades later, his lawyer hints at legal action unless the brothel, the Moonlight BunnyRanch, stops using the governor’s name in its advertising. […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
An angry, compassionate memorial to a mysterious tragedy
A new book reconstructs and analyzes all that led up to the deadly firestorm on Storm King Mountain where 14 firefighters died.
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Proulx shoots holes in mythic Wyoming
You won’t find a loving couple or a child nurturing a 4-H animal in Annie Proulx’s collection of short stories set in rural Wyoming. Her briskly selling Close Range: Wyoming Stories is populated mostly by lowlifes and losers who cobble together a living in a state that is synonymous these days with limited economic opportunities. […]