One theory about the collapse of the Maya civilization in Mexico some 1100 years ago is based on evidence that they had perfected a bureaucracy of corn. Exhaustive rules governed how corn was grown, distributed and consumed. A rigid hierarchy defined every individual’s social position and allotment of corn, and this cultural arrangement lasted 650 […]
Essays
Posted inWotr
Here comes change
Recently I had the opportunity to watch a short but very moving video about an elderly Dine woman named Pauline Whitesinger from Big Mountain on the Navajo Nation. In it, she speaks about who she is, where she lives and what informs her life. Her nephew, Danny Blackgoat, translates her words, listening and speaking quietly. […]
Posted inWotr
Stream access wins decisively in Montana
The long slog is over. The Montana Supreme Court has finally settled a dispute over who controls access to a side channel of the Bitterroot River known as the Mitchell Slough. The verdict: The public does; Mitchell Slough is a natural waterway, and that means access is guaranteed for the people of Montana. You may […]
Posted inWotr
It’s time for a ceasefire on guns
Gun owners represent at least 4 million of the nation’s most dedicated voters, and in election after election, they affect the outcome. Sometimes they elect politicians who are corrupt or unabashed lackeys of corporate interests — people whose only appeal to gun owners is that they promise to leave the Second Amendment alone. Now, however, […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2008: Out in the cold
Night: not just for astronomers
Let There Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the DarkEdited by Paul Bogard208 pages, softcover: $21.95.University of Nevada Press, 2008. Many of us in the rural West still get to enjoy dark skies and bright stars, but in urban areas around the world, night is not as black as it once was. Paul Bogard has […]
Posted inWotr
How to survive the lean times
In 1976, circumstances beyond my control forced me into temporary homelessness. For six months, I alternated between relying on the couches of friends and camping out in my car. With the proper gear, it’s surprising how well you can fend for yourself. Of course, it helps to live in a region of the country with […]
Posted inNovember 21, 2008: Ultimate solution?
Real work
Depending on your perspective, my partner Laurie’s resume is either impressive or disturbing. In her 20s, she worked as a wilderness ranger, hiking miles with a too-heavy pack, digging drain dips and toilet holes. In her 30s, she worked on a trail crew, chopping roots, sawing logs, clearing brush. Nowadays she works in an historic […]
Posted inWotr
A chance to do it right in the West
The 2008 election took the West another big step down the path of political realignment that has been underway since the turn of the century. By 2000, the Rocky Mountain West had become essentially a one-party region. All eight of its governors were Republicans, as were 13 of its 16 senators. In the 2000 election, […]
Posted inWotr
The persistence of bigotry, Western-style
Q: What’s Barack Obama’s new Chinese name?A: Coon Soon Die. Work on it a little bit. You’ll get it. I got it while I was eating eggs over-medium, hashbrowns and bacon at a restaurant in Hotchkiss, a town of less than 2,000 people in western Colorado. The waitress who was pouring coffee asked who we […]
Posted inWotr
We’re in this together
There is a house in Rawlins, Wyo., that won’t sell. It’s a bargain, too, at $135,000. In fact, there are 43 houses in Rawlins selling for under $150,000. This is a booming energy town with a housing shortage. People in Rawlins have money. Wyoming has, in fact, the fastest growing median household income of any […]
Posted inWotr
The names of things and why they matter
If there is one thing Westerners like, it is naming things. Open up a topographical atlas and take a look: Every creek, butte, ridge, wash and reservoir has a name. We are fond of naming creeks Spring, buttes Pumpkin, ridges Red, washes Dry, reservoirs Cow, lakes Lost. We even re-name places that had already been […]
Posted inWotr
Everybody wants to move to my town
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance was hardly telling Boiseans anything new last summer when it ranked the city fourth among the nation’s 10 best places to live, work and play. Over the last few years, we’ve gotten pretty used to being at or near the top of such lists: Forbes, Money, National Geographic Adventure, Inc.com, MSN BestLife, […]
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Conscientious objectors 65 years ago
During the Vietnam War, I registered for the draft as a conscientious objector willing to serve in the military. Along with many other college students, that is how I protested the war in Viet Nam. Now we’re mired in the sands of Iraq — our desert Vietnam. But this is a different time; the Iraq […]
Posted inNovember 21, 2008: Ultimate solution?
Welcome to hard times
First, there’s the dark cloud: The economy of the Mountain West is going into the tank for a few years, and there’s not much that anybody — including the Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama — can do about it. But then there’s the silver lining: As our regional economy tanks, the West will become […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2008: Still Howling Wolf
The Doc is in
Rural folks find common ground at the vet’s office
Posted inWotr
Victory came from the bottom up
By the weekend before the presidential election, I was starting to feel important. People were at my front door. The telephone ran morning, noon and night. The calls came from Ohio, Utah and California. Everybody wanted to know: “Would I vote, and would I vote for Barack Obama?” By Sunday, I had taken to answering […]
Posted inWotr
Democrats rise again in the Rockies
Election night was a smashing success for Democrats in the Mountain West. But there’s a big difference between the national results and those that came out of the Rockies: Up until now, the Intermountain West was considered home turf for the Republican party. This election, of course, wasn’t the first time Democrats have had success […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2008: Still Howling Wolf
Let it mellow
One does not expect to learn about conservation via the sight of one’s 85-year- old great-grandmother hunkered down bare-bottomed under the rosebushes, but there it is. In my formative years, “Grandmary” taught me to reduce, reuse and recycle everything from bacon grease to urine. “Pee makes the roses bloom bigger,” she told me when I […]
Posted inArticles
Mayberry and Peyton Place
Given that the vast majority of Americans (almost four out of five) live in urban areas, we small town residents might well feel flattered by the attention we received during this presidential campaign. Not all the attention was complimentary, though. Democratic nominee Barack Obama observed that “You go into some of these small towns in […]
Posted inWotr
Can the Forest Service get back on track?
It’s been a dismal eight years for the U.S. Forest Service. When the Bush administration took office, it immediately suspended a popular measure to protect 58 million acres of backcountry public forests from new roads. Instead, the agency became consumed by firefighting. Since 2001, stopping fire has grown from about 15 percent of the agency’s […]