When I first visited “Carnage Canyon” in the 1970s, it was clear to me how it got its name. The place was a mess. It had become a racetrack for racing bikes and motorcycles that zipped up and down the sides of the canyon. A few years later, people dragged in old refrigerators, cars and […]
Growth & Sustainability
Posted inFebruary 19, 2007: One nation, under fire
The end of ‘analysis paralysis’?
The Forest Service overhauls its forest-planning process — but goes too far
Posted inFebruary 19, 2007: One nation, under fire
Two weeks in the West
Forests battered by budget cuts
Posted inFebruary 19, 2007: One nation, under fire
Ode to a public lands experiment
This could have been just another coffee-table volume full of stunning vistas and images of elk grazing in misty valleys. But by refusing to be yet another pretty book, Valles Caldera: A Vision for New Mexico’s National Preserve better serves the preserve’s long history and complicated beauty. The preserve’s abbreviated history goes something like this: […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 2007: The Efficiency Paradox
Condemned
Out on the range, old eminent domain laws erode private property rights
Posted inFebruary 5, 2007: The Efficiency Paradox
Red Feather builds homes and communities
NAME Red Feather Development Group HOMETOWN Bozeman, Montana FOUNDED IN 1994 FOUNDED BY Rob Young NOTED FOR Building straw-bale homes on Indian reservations across the West. In recent years, Red Feather has focused on Hopiland in Arizona, and the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. FAVORITE FOOD Pop-Tarts. Legend has it that the two-dimensional pastries fueled […]
Posted inWotr
Only reform in Mexico can stop the exodus to America
Angelica, a dark-haired young woman, smiled and looked straight ahead. She was wearing a new dress and shoes and sat behind a table in the schoolhouse of a remote village in the mountains of Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. “Mi esposo se fue al norte,” she replied, when a health worker asked why her […]
Posted inDecember 25, 2006: Confessions of a Methane Floozy
Chickens are roosting on private property in Oregon
Oregon’s infamous Ballot Measure 37 created an old-fashioned land rush as property owners, developers and opportunists raced to file claims for compensation before the recent deadline. An estimated 3,600 claims were filed, and it’s possible that the last-minute rush added 1,000 more. The total cost of the claims may top $7 billion, though no one […]
Posted inWotr
No surprises, and no solutions, from raids aimed at illegal immigrants
On the morning of Dec. 12, immigration and other federal officials launched a simultaneous raid — the biggest ever of its kind — at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants across six different states. At the plant in Greeley, Colo., about an hour’s drive north of Denver, agents surrounded the windowless, monolithic facility, then entered, carrying […]
Posted inDecember 11, 2006: Old but Faithful
Travels in a sublime wasteland
It is a gift when an author transports you to the place he loves most. Writer Bill Broyles and photographer Michael Berman accomplish this in Sunshot: Peril and Wonder in the Gran Desierto, an exquisite portrait of place. Arizona’s Cabeza Prieta and Mexico’s Sierra Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar lie at the heart of […]
Posted inWotr
A public-lands experiment needs to re-engage the public
Not long ago, a fat patch of private land lay isolated within the Jemez Mountains, surrounded mostly by Forest Service land. Though off-limits, many New Mexicans knew that this place, the Baca Ranch, supported an enormous elk herd and contained both geological and archaeological wonders. Today, that 89,000-acre private ranch is better known as a […]
Posted inNovember 27, 2006: The West: A New Center of Power
This dog believes
“Each week we’ll hear from a banker or butcher, a painter or social worker as they discuss the principles that guide their daily lives. We realize what a daunting prospect this is — to summarize a life’s philosophy in just 500 words and share it with a national audience. But that’s exactly what we hope […]
Posted inWotr
Scooter blues: When you’re environmentally correct and get no respect
I wish I knew why Harley riders stare straight through me when I’m coming down the street on my scooter from the opposite direction. Sadly, I’m beginning to suspect American motorcyclists of subscribing to a caste system in which Harley Davidsons occupy the top tier, followed by the Euro-touro blends, the bullet bikes, dirt bikes, […]
Posted inNovember 13, 2006: Bred for success
Two weeks in the West
“With no disrespect to the eagle, I’ve always thought that the horse should be our national emblem.” —Singer Willie Nelson, arguing against the slaughter of horses for human consumption Interior’s fuzzy science. If it were up to many U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists, the Endangered Species Act would now protect the Gunnison’s prairie dog, […]
Posted inOctober 30, 2006: Peace Breaks Out In New Mexico's Forests
Two weeks in the West
“It won’t be serving the Wal-Mart and Kentucky Fried Chicken crowd.” — Jeania Joseph, town clerk for Big Water, Utah, referring to the $200 million Amangiri resort slated for construction near Lake Powell. It will boast $6 million villas, $1,200 a night rooms, and a 100,000-square-foot-spa. EPA boots soot, sort of. Fine particles of soot […]
Posted inOctober 30, 2006: Peace Breaks Out In New Mexico's Forests
Peace Breaks Out In New Mexico’s Forests
Out of the angry thickets of the past, environmentalists and loggers cut a new path
Posted inWotr
These are my public lands, partner
“Somebody owns it,” my father said, sweeping his hand across the Pocono Mountains zipping by the windshield. I was a young boy when he told me this, and I can remember being puzzled by how someone could own a mountain. If you grew up in Pennsylvania as I did, you understood that just about everything […]
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Clinton-era roadless rule is back… for now
Federal court ruling creates more questions than answers
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
A deliberate life in the Rockies
If you’re feeling assailed by civilization — its cell phones, computers and telemarketers — David Petersen has an antidote for you. But be forewarned: It’s strong medicine. It’s taken Petersen more than two decades to acquire his hard-earned lessons, and the going hasn’t always been smooth. In 1981, he and his wife, Caroline, left behind […]