Dear HCN, Dan Flores’ essay on ranchettes in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley interested me, since I am a fellow Bitterrooter who makes a living working for the very ranchetteers he discussed (HCN, 5/10/99). I do tree planting, ecological restoration and native landscaping for them, and so I’ve done much brainstorming on what makes a “good ranchette.” […]
Stand in the place where you live
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
After the ranchers go, sprawl comes
Dear HCN, Your front page story on Jon Marvel points to the fact that you seem to have no clear vision of how to save the West from inappropriate development and urban sprawl (HCN, 8/2/99). I got the same feeling when I read your feature story on Wyoming a while back. You and your bright, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
They’re both right!
Dear HCN, I find the exchanges between Tom Power and Ed Marston perplexing (HCN, 8/2/99). They are both right! My colleagues and I have surveyed over 7,000 randomly selected persons in the West over the last 10 years. In all these surveys people consistently say they either moved to or live in the West for […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Lyons is a stereotyper
Dear HCN, Steve Lyons rips on the Aryan Nations as a pack of dimwits (HCN, 8/16/99). Fine, I’m with him there, but it seems Lyons is so blinded by his own politically correct views that he didn’t catch himself perpetrating yet more stereotypes. As an expatriate Montanan, I resented the “Ford-with-Montana-plates’ sound bite. Since when […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
The different faces of bigotry
Dear HCN, Regarding Stephen Lyon’s essay “An ugly message marches down an Idaho street” (HCN, 8/16/99): The rise to power of the Nazi Party in 1933 was both surprising and rapid. Few people then anticipated the process or magnitude of events to come. Just shortly before, Germany had been a refuge from the wave of […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Lyons is unfair to Idaho
Dear HCN, Stephen Lyons’ article on the Aryan marchers in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was terribly misleading and distorted against Idaho (HCN, 8/16/99). When I moved to this area in 1977, I had no idea about the Aryans. It wasn’t long before I learned of them firsthand. We would all like Butler and his group to […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Enough said
Dear HCN, Now that you have turned the bulk of an issue over to defending the prairie dog, and presumably you have it out of your system (HCN, 8/16/99), as a subscriber I can only hope that you will get back to the business of journalism and work on issues of true significance to the […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
The Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space
The title of a report from the Trust for Public Land says it all: The Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space: How Land Conservation Helps Communities Grow Smart and Protect the Bottom Line. As cities create parks, city economies usually improve and property values go up, say report authors Steve Lerner and William Poole. […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
New Millennium First People’s World’s Fair and Pow Wow
Organizers of the “New Millennium First People’s World’s Fair and Pow Wow” say representatives of more than 100 tribal nations will be present to help bring in the year 2000. It all happens at Rillito Raceway Park in Tucson, Ariz., Dec. 31-Jan. 9. For details, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to American Indians World Fair, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
1999 Congress on Recreation and Resource Capacity
The 1999 Congress on Recreation and Resource Capacity is bringing the public and private sectors together to discuss the future of recreation on the nation’s public lands. The congress will meet Nov. 29-Dec. 2 in Aspen, Colo. Sponsors include the Bureau of Land Management, Blue Ribbon Coalition and National Parks and Conservation Association. For details, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Twenty-five Years of Self-Determination and Economic Development
Native American nation-building is the topic of a Tucson, Ariz., conference, Twenty-five Years of Self-Determination and Economic Development: What Have We Learned? The Nov. 11-13 conference will look at problems Indian communities confront, including joblessness, touchy tribal-state-federal relationships, and how to manage natural resources. Contact the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, the University […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Continental Divide Trail
People who like to work hard in high places are needed to help maintain the Continental Divide Trail. Winding for 3,100 miles from Montana to New Mexico, the trail traces the rugged backbone of the Rocky Mountains. Volunteers, who will monitor and maintain 3- to 25-mile segments, can contact the Continental Divide Trail Alliance, P.O. […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Wilderness Act Handbook
A 68-page handbook helps decipher the nuances of the 1964 Wilderness Act. The Wilderness Act Handbook, published by the Wilderness Society, includes the entire language of the act with a section-by-section interpretation of the legalese. For a revised copy, send $5 to the Wilderness Society, 900 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20006 (202/833-2300), or buy […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
MINExpo International 2000
MINExpo INTERNATIONAL 2000 is billed as the largest mining exposition in the Western Hemisphere. It happens in Las Vegas, Nev., Oct. 9-12. For details, contact Kim Boscia, MINExpo coordinator, 1130 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036 (202/463-9799); e-mail: kboscia@nma.org or check out www.minexpo.com. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
The Northwest Environmental Defense Center
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 & […]
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 […]