Life was much simpler when I viewed the battle to “save” the West through a black-and-white lens. As a young environmentalist, it was easier for me to condemn my adversaries’ land ethics and beliefs when I was unwilling to honestly scrutinize my own. And it was easier to attack my adversaries when I didn’t know […]
Essays
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Spring
My friends warn me of the perils of moving to the mountains outside Boise, Idaho, in December, just as winter rolls into the Northwest. “You’ll get depressed,” they say. “And don’t expect to see us until spring.” My friends are city folk. The worst they can imagine is snow piling in the drive and power […]
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Gov. Schwarzenegger is the nation’s newest Progressive
Heeee’s back. Only this time, Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t come from the future as the Terminator. He’s come from the past, a time when some politicians took contentious issues straight to the people. Schwarzenegger has announced that he’s fed up with the Democratic-majority state Legislature and will appeal directly to voters to impose a cap on […]
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You’ve come a long way, bison
With its return to the nickel after 67 years, the bison bears messages that went unmentioned during the coin’s recent unveiling. The new nickel was designed to commemorate the government’s 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition — initiated by Thomas Jefferson — whose face also appears on the coin. But although bison provided […]
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Ski areas must move to end white on white
It certainly isn’t obvious when you arrive at a ski resort in the West, but nearly all are located primarily on publicly owned lands. It is, to use the U.S. Forest Service’s pet phrase, a “partnership.” The federal government provides most of the land; the ski area operators run the lifts and cafeterias. In theory, […]
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Those who choose risk should bear the cost
Americans are not generally regarded as fatalistic. Christianity, the prevalent religion in America, teaches that individuals possess free will and are therefore responsible for their actions. The nation was founded and shaped by immigrants intent on building new lives in which they — not oppressive governments, intolerant clerics or class distinctions — would determine their […]
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The secret of Wyoming winters is the snow-eating chinook
I’m often asked by relatives and friends back East how I stand the winters in northwestern Wyoming. I put on a stoic facade and tell them: It’s tough, but we Cody folks can suck it up. What I don’t mention is that an average of 300 days of sunshine annually isn’t hard to take, nor […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Easterners tilt at windmills while Westerners joust with a real foe
While Wyoming ranchers and hunters are facing off with gas companies eager to drill their rangelands and hunting grounds, Massachusetts lobster barons are facing their own showdown with an energy juggernaut. Has the West found an ally in Eastern blue bloods and politicians such as Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.? Not exactly. In Wyoming’s Powder River […]
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Libby tested environmentalists, who came up short
“Goofy logic” from “Ray Rong,” one critic charged. “The most ridiculous piece of journalism I have read,” said another. “Trash” and “rubbish,” said others. Those blasts came from angry environmentalists. They’re criticizing a piece of news analysis I wrote recently, about an environmental-health disaster in Libby, Mont. I intended it to be provocative. In that […]
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You don’t need a motor to experience Yellowstone
While I disagree with Interior Secretary Gale Norton’s agenda for Yellowstone National Park, I have to admire her political smarts. She showed great form during her recent snowmobile and snow coach tour of the park this winter. Secretary Norton charmed reporters with her grit, gamely bouncing through sub-zero temperatures on a three-hour snowmobile excursion, and […]
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Don’t call shooting from the sky hunting
The small airplane circles in the sky, its pilot and passenger peering out the windows as the plane banks to the left and right. They see a dark-colored dot moving against the snow below, and quickly, they circle tighter and downward until, yes, they realize it’s a wolf. The circling then changes to a slow […]
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The Far East yearns for the Wild West
When my friend Kevin passed through South Dakota on a cross-country road trip a few years back, I did the decent thing as a host and took him to see Mount Rushmore. Why pass by the ninth or tenth wonder of the world and not at least stop by? Still, it’s one of those things […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
A Lively Exchange with the Interior Department
HCN GOT IT WRONG ON THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION To the Editor: The Dec. 6 feature article, “Taking the West Forward,” contains a thoughtful overview of issues facing the West but it grossly mischaracterizes the Bush Administration’s policies and programs. The article states the administration has “opened the region’s resources to development” when in fact public […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
Of Chiles, Cacti, and Fighting Cocks: Notes on the American West
Of Chiles, Cacti, and Fighting Cocks: Notes on the American West Frederick Turner 297 pages, softcover $16.95 Fulcrum Press, 2004 First published in 1990, this book of deft essays is back in print and as engaging as ever; it even includes some new work. Whether he’s describing cock fights, the artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s solitary ways […]
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What New York needs is a few million prairie dogs
Everybody but me is celebrating Lewis and Clark’s achievements, but I’m too peeved at William. Among other feats, those two travelers from Virginia named about 1,528 places, plants and animals. Captain Lewis, who studied science especially for the trip, correctly named one of the creatures they encountered a “barking squirrel.” William Clark changed the name […]
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Where did the Northwest’s moisture go?
For years I’ve hated the winter rains of Oregon’s Willamette Valley — hated the way they start in late October and continue well into April. Soaking the landscape and leaving everything wrinkled and rotted, the rain was something to hide from, something to make me hold my breath, shut my eyes and imagine a drier […]
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Gay people seem to threaten more people than Osama
Lately, I’ve been feeling like I need to apologize to every gay person I know. I didn’t vote that way, I want to tell them, and I’m not obsessed by your presence. I can’t fathom all this horse-pucky about gay lifestyles. I have no idea how so many voters, letter-writers and politicians can exist in […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
Let’s not ram more boats through the Grand Canyon
Each year, nearly 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon, most of them traveling to the South Rim, where they spend as much time looking for a parking place as they do looking at the canyon. Only a small fraction venture below the rim on a trail. Another 22,000 people a year see the canyon […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
Evolution of a timber family
My family owns a timber company in Washington state, and for us, money grows on trees. Every time we buy something, we see the physical signs of our consumption in our backyard. Paying for my recent college education, for example, took about 300 truckloads of second-growth Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock trees. A $60 pair […]
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Environmentalists do a great job of preaching to the choir
This is an open letter to Yoga Lady: Nothing personal, but you’re making it hard to sell the green lifestyle. I first beheld you a few months ago, gracing the invitations that a local environmental group gave us when we agreed to host an “eat local” party at our house. They were professionally designed invitations […]