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,” […]
Ranch is a squirrel sanctuary
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! […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
No billboards, please
Dear HCN, It does no good when environmentalists such as Jon Marvel use billboards. I quote from him: “I loved it … the open spaces, the beautiful mountain vistas …” (HCN, 8/2/99). He hates to see pristine creeks sullied by cattle. How about pristine views? Many make the argument the billboards are already there. My […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Jon Marvel, elitist
Dear HCN, Despite Jon Marvel’s insistence that he is a lover of the land, his objective is not to improve the landscape in the West, but to play a game in which his unwillingness to entertain a holistic view of the issues endlessly entertains him. His agenda apparently dates back to the days he lived […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
The lessons of Jon Marvel
Dear HCN, Jon Marvel did not adopt his attitude toward ranchers or his extraordinary tactics overnight. As you report, his attitude was formed over the course of 30 years as a neighbor of ranchers and 20-plus years as a resident of Idaho (HCN, 8/2/99). This pattern is repeating itself time after time across the West. […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
He’s no Milosevic
Dear HCN, I know Jon Marvel, and he’s no Slobodan Milosevic. While Steve Stuebner’s profile of anti-grazing activist Jon Marvel in the Aug. 2, 1999 issue of HCN revealed a man rightly deserving of the title maverick or gadfly, he certainly is no Slobodan Milosevic. In that article, editor Betsy Marston mistakenly cited an anonymous […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Irresponsible journalism
Dear HCN, You owe Jon Marvel an apology (HCN, 8/2/99). It was irresponsible of you to have published an unattributed quotation comparing him to a war criminal. As an editor, I consider it a libelous statement. Jon Marvel is motivated by love of the West – the land and the people, including future generations – […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Go, Jon
Dear HCN, To Jon Marvel, anti-grazing campaigner: You just keep beatin” on “em, Jon, I love the sound of their squeal (HCN, 8/2/99). Fred Parkinson Oakland California This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Go, Jon.
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
The real facts from FREE
Dear HCN, Jon Margolis’ piece on the taking project (HCN, 8/2/99) is factually incorrect and mischaracterizes FREE’s Environmental Economics and Policy Analysis seminars for federal judges. Margolis accepts verbatim the assertions put forth by Douglas Kendall of the Community Rights Counsel. Margolis never contacted FREE regarding his story. If he had, I would have told […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Appraisals are the problem
Dear HCN, I read with interest and enjoyment your editorial about our former neighbor, Tom Chapman (HCN, 8/2/99). Of course, the problem is that when Congress created the wilderness lands in 1964, it chose to deal with inholdings sometime in the future. The value of those inholdings, like most real estate, has risen significantly since […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Wilderness inholders are victims of genocide
Dear HCN, To set the record straight, Tom Chapman is not an owner in TDX nor has he ever been. The TDX real estate brochures advertise private property for sale from one private party to other private parties. The TDX proposed homes are no different from other homes being constructed near Vail. The homes offered […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
The Wayward West
A golf course planned for a national forest has landed in the rough. In 1998, the Sierra Club legally challenged a 1997 decision allowing Dempsey Construction to expand Snowcreek Golf Course onto 95 acres of national forest (HCN, 2/16/98). This month, Inyo National Forest Supervisor Jeff Bailey withdrew the permission. “We have determined that there […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Grand Canyon development sparks debate
The Forest Service says a new 272-acre development near the south entrance of the Grand Canyon can control growth near the park. Critics, including some environmentalists, are not convinced. “They’re creating mass development … ext to one of our crown jewels,” says Sharon Galbreath of the Sierra Club’s southwest office. Canyon Forest Village, which got […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Horses shy from competition
Connie Berto was walking her horse down a wide fire lane in Marin County, Calif., when a mountain biker, traveling at high speed, missed her by inches. It’s not an uncommon experience on the West’s public trails. Pressed by other trail users, horses and their riders are finding themselves less welcome on some trails. “Equestrians […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Trappers set free in Big Sky state
After several months of debate, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners recently voted on new trapping regulations. Most of the rules will remain the same. “The trapping community in Montana has done quite well,” says Kevin Feist, a Kalispell-area man who advocates more stringent rules. “They only have to do a couple […]