Have cows been getting a bad rap? Do their bovine exteriors hide graceful interiors? Peoa, Utah, resident Randy Barton did not know, but he hoped that dressing cows for the ballet would at least draw an audience and help raise money for the town’s two parks. “Clad in nothing but tutus,” the Cow Ballet drew […]
Heard around the West
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
Bones of Contention
For reasons still debated among scientists today, Anasazi culture in the Southwest had collapsed by 1300, creating what is known to academics as “The Great Abandonment.” According to Navajo oral histories, the Anasazi were dispersed by a whirlwind because they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors. Whatever the causes, the eastern part of […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
Water starts fires in Tucson election
TUCSON, Ariz. – Late one fall night in 1992, car dealer Bob Beaudry awoke to the sound of water gushing from a burst pipe. The water spilling into his basement, bedrooms and his front and back yards came from the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a long-awaited, $4.7 billion concrete canal that […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
Harsh words from inside the Beltway
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another article, “Keeping ’em down on the High Plains.” On Oct. 6, 1999, Wyoming got another scolding from the outside. After attending a University of Wyoming-sponsored conference titled “Leadership and the Future of Wyoming,” Washington Post columnist David Broder chided […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
Keeping ’em down on the High Plains
It’s a largely Old West fantasy that if Wyoming just had more access to federal lands, fewer environmental regulations and minimal taxation for industry, the state would thrive. Right now it isn’t. Wyoming has missed out on the boom (HCN, 7/7/97). While most state coffers bulge, Wyoming expects a $183 million revenue shortfall for the […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
Nevada rebellion ends with a whimper
JARBIDGE, Nev. – Is this is the way a Sagebrush Rebellion ends: not with a revolution, but with one more barbecue to clean up? The latest skirmish began with great promise, at least according to organizers. More than a thousand people were supposed to show up with picks and shovels to open a washed-out Forest […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
A man to match our mountains
The West lost a legendary mountaineer and outdoor educator Oct. 6. Paul Petzoldt, founder of the National Outdoor Leadership Training School (NOLS) and Wilderness Education Association (WEA), died at 91. “Paul was a tireless visionary,” said Jeff Liddle, former director of WEA. “He was one of the first people to draw a line in the […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
Dear Friends
Getting it right Mount Evans, Mount Elbert, they’re not the same, many readers note. The former, which we’d called highest (HCN, 9/27/99) is merely 14,264 feet; the latter, near Leadville, Colo., is number one at 14,431 feet. In gently correcting us, Roger Williams of Boulder, Colo., adds that Mount Evans boasts a herd of Rocky […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
It should embarrass the Park Service
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Dave Simon, who is based in Albuquerque, is the Southwest regional director for the nonprofit National Parks and Conservation Association. Simon helped draft the bill that established the monument. Dave Simon: “Given current circumstances, turning over total control of the monument to the National […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
You have to show you care
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Matthew Schmader is the assistant superintendent for Albuquerque’s Open Space Division, which manages about 4,000 acres of city lands within the monument acquired by the city through a local, dedicated open-space tax. Matthew Schmader: “A lot of sweat and blood has gone into protecting […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
An overall poor attitude
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. A Park Service team, composed of employees from other monuments in the region conducted an “oversight review” of Petroglyph National Monument, submitting its 20-page report on Sept. 25, 1998. The group, chaired by Linda Stoll, asked 19 employees the question, “What is working well? […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
We’re the good guys
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. A 24-year staffer with National Park Service, Petroglyph National Monument Superintendent Judith Cordova came to Albuquerque, N.M., from Grand Junction, Colo., where she was superintendent of Colorado National Monument. She is the only female Hispanic superintendent in the Park Service. Judith Cordova: “We’re here. […]
Posted inOctober 25, 1999: Monumental chaos
Monumental chaos
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The shooting has stopped at Petroglyph National Monument. Established in 1990, the park protects 17,000 petroglyphs that Native Americans pecked into volcanic boulders on what is now the city’s west side (HCN, 11/1/93). Yet just a few years ago, weekend joyriders and even the National Guard drove to the monument for target […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
Recreation drives a forest
Colorado’s White River National Forest is a busy place. It hosts 11 ski areas – two-thirds of the state’s downhill skiing – and attracts about 8.4 million visitors a year (HCN, 12/7/98). Recreation use has boomed, with four-wheel drive devotees wanting more roads, and cross-country skiers hoping for more huts for winter use. Now, a […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
An ancient ditch hits a glitch
For about a year, pollutants from a defunct gold mine have been leaking into the Rito Seco Creek near San Luis, a small farming community in southern Colorado. The creek feeds the San Luis People’s Ditch, the oldest irrigation ditch in the state, and many farmers fear their water supply is being destroyed. The Texas-based […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
Dooming a dam saves dollars
Dooming a dam saves dollars The operator of the Condit Dam in southeastern Washington recently concluded that what’s good for the salmon is also good for the company’s bottom line. On Sept. 22, it agreed to demolish the dam by 2006. In 1996, the federal government told dam operator PacifiCorp that a new license for […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
Resort may crowd Mount Rainier
Ashford, Wash., a rural town of about 1,500 people that is only a stone’s toss from the western gate of Mount Rainier National Park, may soon have a big, new neighbor. Earlier this month, Pierce County endorsed plans for a $70 million, 400-acre resort that would more than double the number of housing units in […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
Dudes on the dunes
-We struggled to scramble up near-vertical walls of loose sand,” writes Mark North in the online magazine Explore. “Still, the weight of the tent, beer, snowboard and snowboard boots on my backpack didn’t topple me over … At the summit, we’d swap snowshoes for snowboards … spray on a coat of Pledge to increase glide, […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
Developer told to scale back
Developer Jim Mehen hoped to build a golf course and gated community of 300 luxury homes on his 407 acres near Flagstaff, Ariz. He’d revised his plans repeatedly in the past two years to meet county concerns. But misgivings about development in the volcanic caldera and wetland remained, and opposition to the project gathered momentum. […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
The Wayward West
Idaho Lt. Gov. Butch Otter can’t stay out of hot water. The Environmental Protection Agency recently socked Otter with an $80,000 fine for dredging 2.7 acres of wetlands and a stream channel without a permit. It was his third EPA violation since 1992. Otter told the Idaho Statesman he accepted responsibility for failing to secure […]