Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Implicit in the late Wallace Stegner’s phrase, “a society to match the scenery,” is the belief that the West is built from the bottom up, and that the health and vitality of the land and its wildlife will be determined by the health and […]
The Hidden West
Posted inJune 7, 1999: Mining the past
Mining the past
Note: an introductory, front-page sidebar, “The hidden West,” accompanies this feature story. BUTTE, Mont. – George Bigcraft, John Bjornstorm, Daniel Budovinac. Near midnight on June 8, 1917, an electric cable caught fire at the 2,400 level of the shaft that served the Granite Mountain and Speculator mines here. Toyvo Kokkonen, Ben Konecney, Mike Kubilus. All […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
For the record – from Dave Foreman
Dear HCN, It is my policy not to comment on news coverage of me, but in this case I have to correct the record. A letter you mailed out to potential readers with the lead article on The Wildlands Project seriously distorts history (HCN, 4/26/88). I did not ever agree to not “speak out about […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Doom can’t be soon enough
Dear HCN, Is trapping doomed? (HCN, 4/12/99). Of course it is. When decent people like Liz Kehr and Kevin Feist are forced to haggle over how many days animals should remain in traps before they are bludgeoned to death or whether trappers should post signs to warn the public of their dangerous and cowardly practices, […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Land swap reporter comments
Dear HCN, Readers of Andy Wiessner’s letter about land exchanges (HCN, 5/10/99) might have been better able to evaluate his criticisms of Janine Blaeloch and the Western Land Exchange Project had he acknowledged that he was a consultant to Plum Creek Timber Co. on the Interstate 90 exchange. Yes, the I-90 exchange will result in […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Think forests, think water
Dear HCN, While Andy Wiessner did many environmentally heroic deeds in the past when he was counsel for the House Interior Committee, such as making sure that the California Wilderness Bill included many key lands in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, he seems to have let the big money his consulting work brings in color his […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Yellow Bay Writers’ Workshop
The 12th Annual Yellow Bay Writers’ Workshop will take place Aug. 8-14 on the shores of northwest Montana’s Flathead Lake. The event is sponsored by the University of Montana’s Center for Continuing Education and features writers Pam Houston, Jane Miller, Fred Haefele and Denis Johnson. Contact Lea Upshaw at 406/243-2094 or e-mail her at hhi@selway.umt.edu. […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Sustainable Development Speakers Series
The Environmental Protection Agency has been hosting a free Sustainable Development Speakers Series in Denver, Colo. Coming up: “Sustainable Community Design,” July 15; “Zero-Waste Manufacturing,” Sept. 16; and “Opportunities for the Next Millennium,” Nov. 11. To sign up, contact the EPA at 999 18th St., Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202-2466 (303/312-6241). This article appeared in […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
San Juan Citizens Alliance
The San Juan Citizens Alliance is calling on nonprofit and grassroots organizations around the Four Corners region to participate in a festival of community involvement. The celebration will be held at Gateway Park in Durango, Colo., June 19. Contact Carolyn Lamb at 970/382-9609 with questions. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Strategies in Western water law
Strategies in Western water law, from courts and coercion to collaboration, is the theme of the University of Colorado’s 20th annual summer conference, sponsored by the Natural Resources Law Center. Speakers include Patricia Beneke, assistant secretary of the Interior for Water and Science, and Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt. For more information about the June 9-11 […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Recreation doesn’t cut it
Many rural people hope that new industries such as tourism will offset the losses when timber and mining industries pull out of an area. Research conducted by the University of Idaho’s College of Agriculture found that for at least that one small county, recreation is not bringing in enough money to keep suffering economies afloat. […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
All about salmon
Our society’s struggle to save salmon in the Northwest is documented in daily headlines, but to read about the complexities of saving salmon, you might look to A Snapshot of Salmon in Oregon. This 24-page tabloid from the Oregon State University Extension Service begins with the past, the ancestors of today’s salmon that date back […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
‘Duck cops’ ruffle feathers
According to a confidential survey compiled by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), many law enforcement agents at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say their program is corrupt, understaffed and underfunded. “Protection of our resources is not as important as pleasing special groups,” said one special agent in the survey. “Our biologists and refuge […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Star parties
Exploding stars, colliding galaxies and random nebulae are the new attractions at Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park. There’s even the possibility of seeing the Mir Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope or the occasional spy satellite. “So we can look up at what’s looking down on us,” says Patrick Wiggins, the demonstration specialist at the […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Not just sheepherders
A Travel Guide to Basque America – Families, Feasts and Festivals, by journalist Nancy Zubiri, is a passionate and well-researched guide to the Great Basin country of the West. Zubiri traces Basque culture from its origins in the Pyrenees to strongholds today in southern Idaho, northern Nevada and California’s Central Valley and Sierra Nevada. Along […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Road ban stops a timber project
The Forest Service ban on road construction in roadless areas was proposed more than a year ago (HCN, 2/2/98) and went into effect at the beginning of March. Now, it’s finally having an impact on the ground. Last month, Dixie National Forest officials canceled a controversial timber sale because it conflicted with the 18-month nationwide […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Settlement reached in Tahoe takings case
In 1989, Bernadine Suitum had planned to build a retirement home on a plot of land near Lake Tahoe (HCN, 7/7/97). But instead of breaking ground, Suitum found herself deep in a ferocious legal battle with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the bistate office charged with overseeing development around the lake. Now, a decade later, […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
The Wayward West
The Bureau of Land Management is cracking down on stray cattle along the San Pedro River in southern Arizona. On May 8, the agency announced that cows that wander into the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area will be rounded up, and their owners handed trespassing fines, reports AP (HCN, 4/12/99). The Arizona Cattlemen’s Association’s […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Does a wilderness bill include a driveway?
Colorado Republican Sen. Wayne Allard hopes that a new wilderness bill will sail through Congress this year. But wilderness advocates have a big bone of contention: a road into the area that Allard wants to keep open. The Spanish Peaks Wilderness bill would designate 18,000 acres of wilderness in San Isabel National Forest, located on […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Walking the path between light and dark
Good guys. Bad guys. It used to be pretty clear which side was which. When I was a kid back in the straight-arrow ’50s, I knew that the Lone Ranger wore the white hat. He was on the side of justice, law and order. In the topsy-turvy ’60s, as I learned how the West was […]