The Northwest Environmental Defense Center holds its annual retreat on the Oregon coast at Westwind YMCA, Sept. 24-26. Keynote speaker is Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. For more than 25 years, the center has been a student conservation law organization, located at the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & […]
The Northwest Environmental Defense Center
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Indian Land Consolidation Symposium
-Taking a Stand on Indian Land” is the motto for this year’s Indian Land Consolidation Symposium, sponsored by The Indian Land Working Group. Workshops will focus on the group’s legislation aimed at consolidating ownership of land on Indian reservations, and the newly introduced tribal computer database called TAAMS. The symposium will be held in Palm […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Medicine Bow National Forest
In Wyoming, the Friends of the Bow, Biodiversity Associates and the Snowy Range Group Sierra Club are leading a hike to unprotected wilderness in the Medicine Bow National Forest on Sept. 18. To join this outing in the Rock Creek roadless area near Arlington, Wyo., call 307/742-7978. This article appeared in the print edition of […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Fur and loafing
Cartoonist Phil Frank, creator of the San Francisco Chronicle’s cartoon strip, “Farley,” has devoted a lot of ink since 1986 to the political travails of Yosemite National Park in California. This is a park so loved – and so roaded – it is visited by more than 3 million people each year. In hilarious fashion, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Pillar of Sand
Yes, we are in the post-industrial age, and the production of autos, houses, airliners and other “goods’ can be taken for granted. But Sandra Postel in Pillar of Sand warns that there is no such thing as a “post-agricultural age.” Because irrigated agriculture provides 40 percent of the globe’s food today, and because in the […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Quincy experiment to begin
The Quincy Library Group claimed a hard-fought victory last month after the U.S. Forest Service doubled logging on three California forests while protecting habitat for the northern spotted owl. After years of bitter battles against environmentalists, attorney and group co-founder and Michael Jackson can’t help gloating. “This is absolute complete vindication,” he says. The Forest […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Wolves and cows don’t mix
A pack of endangered Mexican wolves that developed a taste for beef headed back to captivity in early August. The Arizona Game and Fish Department captured seven wolves from the Pipestem Pack after they attacked cattle north of Clifton, Ariz. Three Pipestem pups have since died of parvovirus, a canine disease they apparently picked up […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
The Wayward West
Endangered chinook salmon have put the brakes on a new traffic light at a dangerous intersection in Puyallup, Wash. Because the light will be funded with federal money, the city must complete a biological assessment to determine if construction will harm salmon or other wildlife. Nearby resident Pam Bott told AP a two-month delay is […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Save the Earth! (Drop dead)
I have a plan to get us out of this environmental mess we’re in. But first I’ll need some volunteers. I’m looking for anyone who thinks there are too many of us, that our consumptive tendencies are squeezing the life out of this planet and that our very presence is a cancer. Environmentalists and zero […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Isn’t it about time for a New West celebration?
This summer, every town big enough to boast a high school, and more than a few that have trouble keeping a post office in business, hosted a festival. Even though these small-town celebrations go by different names – Wild West Days, Gold Rush Days, Pioneer Weekend, Founders’ Day, Old West Festival – they hold much […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Heard around the West
Two public officials hit the road recently. One had a great time, while the other groused. The fun was had by Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, who made his first trip ever to Yellowstone National Park. “Excitedly,” says the Salt Lake Tribune, Leavitt reported to the Western Governors’ Association that he had “walked right up to […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
A spray can is no substitute for smarts
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Bear spray manufacturers get a hit of reality.” Even if armed with an effective bear spray, backcountry users should not let down their guard, says Gary Moses, bear specialist at Glacier National Park. Grizzly attacks are infrequent, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Bear spray manufacturers get a hit of reality
MISSOULA, Mont. – One summer night in 1977, Bill Pounds awoke to chewing and grunting sounds outside his tent. The disabled Vietnam vet had set up camp near Hungry Horse Reservoir in northwestern Montana. “Coming from Arkansas, I thought it was a wild hog,” he says. Then he remembered that there are no wild hogs […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Ranch is a squirrel sanctuary
When cattleman Frank Anderson settled into a remote house in rural Idaho, ground squirrels were the furthest thing from his mind. But once the critters emerged from hibernation, he could hardly ignore them as they devoured the chow he left outside for his dogs. “The bloody things were eating more dog food than the dogs,” […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Tempers flare over winter plan
Gardiner, Mont., is a sleepy town in the winter. Yellowstone National Park’s northern gateway community virtually closes down when the park’s roads do. The local fly shop rents cross-country skis, and a handful of cafés serve burgers for lunch. A few sight-seers drive into the park at dawn and dusk in search of the park’s […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Dear Friends
Rendezvous The mountain men had their rendezvous; those who care about the West’s public lands have their High Country News potluck. If you have been to one, you know that while the food is good, the conversation is better. And no one will make a speech or ask you for money. The next potluck will […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Agency cheerleader
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. John Singlaub is the manager of the Carson City, Nev., office of the BLM. During his 20 years with the agency, he’s worked in four states at every level of the organization, and he’s known as a man of action. In Colorado, when the […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Speaking from experience
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Gary Nelson has been the Canoe Tour Director for the Mono Lake Committee for nearly 11 years. “We take people out here on Mono Lake and say, ‘Here are the shrimp, here are the flies, here are the birds who eat the shrimp and […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Troubled Oasis
Note: two sidebar articles accompany this feature story: “Speaking from experience” and “Agency cheerleader.” HAWTHORNE, Nev. – At sunset, Walker Lake glows from the floor of this desert valley, its silver-smooth surface reflecting the colors of the open Nevada sky. On the lake’s western shore, Mount Grant in the craggy Wassuk Range peaks at more […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Ranchers, get off public land
Dear HCN, As a former resident of Boise, Idaho, and having hiked, camped and hunted extensively for many years in the arid areas that are targeted by the Idaho Watersheds Project, in particular, southeast Oregon, southwest Idaho and northern Nevada, I agree 100 percent with their agenda. Get those *#@??*&^ cows OFF the public land! […]