Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Ed Quillen’s essay rings a bell here in our Carson Valley (HCN, 4/1/02: The ‘Niche West’ reconnects us to the land). We have a thriving native seed company, and during the last two years we have discovered native crops on several of the valley ranches. The development pressure has been enticing local ranchers […]

Dear HCN, The George Sibley article is one of the best I have ever read (HCN, 3/18/02: How I lost my town). He has summed up how we have given away the mountain towns we came to Colorado to enjoy. Most of us are just mad and can’t express our frustrations. George has expressed our […]

Dear HCN, I am skeptical of the concept of “Charter Forests” (HCN, 3/18/02: Can ‘charter forests’ remake an agency?), especially when I observe who is backing it – the timber industry and its supporters in Congress and the Bush administration. Under the guise of streamlining decision making within the Forest Service, the real intent appears […]

Dear HCN, After reading Erika Trautman’s article, “Will listing hurt the Colorado lynx?” (HCN, 1/21/02: Will listing hurt the Colorado lynx?), I decided to do more research about the reintroduction program in Colorado. One of the more crucial points of the article seemed to be buried at the end of the article. Tonya Shenk, head […]

Dear HCN, A very heartfelt essay by George Sibley (HCN, 3/18/02: How I lost my town). Unfortunately, Colorado is not the only place in the West which is suffering this plight. Before moving to Reno 12 years ago, I was a resident of Truckee, Calif., 30 miles “up valley” to the west. The former railroad/mill […]

Dear HCN, I want to belatedly thank you for Barbara Schuster’s fantastic article on silencing LDS trash talk (HCN, 2/4/02: Why the bad rap for Mormons?). I grew up in the Idaho end of Cache Valley and was never a part of the “Salt Lake Society,” thus missing things here in SLC at that time. […]

Dear HCN, A belated thank you for your coverage of the resort development slated for lands adjacent to our fine town of Roslyn, Wash. (HCN, 3/4/02: Development threatens historic town). Since your report, Trendwest Resorts, Inc., has been sold to the very large hotel and travel company, Cendant Corporation, for $894 million in stock. The […]

Dear HCN, While there’s no question that U.S. Forest Service management and decision making could use some progressive reform, the Bush administration’s proposal to establish “charter forests” takes it in the wrong direction (HCN, 3/18/02: Can ‘charter forests’ remake an agency?). Putting the future of our public national forests in the hands of any narrow […]

Dear HCN, I appreciated George Sibley’s essay, “How I lost my town” (HCN, 3/18/02: How I lost my town), and I can certainly empathize with his loss. In 1981, I spent a month near Crested Butte as a student on an environmental policy field course. Locals were celebrating AMAX’s cancellation of the proposed Mount Emmons […]

Dear HCN, An absolutely brilliant essay by George Sibley (HCN, 3/18/02: How I lost my town). Memorable lines, sweeping flourishes, paragraphs that could stand alone as poetry. But when you take it all in, Sibley never “had” a town or “had” any place else. Missing was some call to action. It was kind of nihilistic. […]

Dear HCN, I was amused by the vehemence of Ted Williams’ essay, “The Eucalyptus: Sacred or profane?” (HCN, 2/18/02: The Eucalyptus: Sacred or profane?) as a native Californian living on the other coast. My moldering 1968 copy of Munz’s A California Flora and Supplement lists four species of eucalyptus as native. At the time the […]

Dear HCN, As a long-time reader of HCN, I must say that your paper just keeps on getting better all the time. The last two issues were, in my opinion, great! Not to say all of them aren’t, these just seemed to appeal to me on a different level. Keep on doing what you do […]

Dear HCN, The issues of tourism and formal designation of special status for the San Rafael Swell have once again surfaced. As I remember, the last time the people of Emery County had this much debate about development issues was in the early 1970s. At that time there was a very tiny minority who spoke […]

Dear HCN, There is no need for condors to be dying of lead poisoning (HCN, 2/18/02: Condor program laden with lead). There are already several alternatives to lead bullets on the market. For more than a decade, solid copper bullets have proven effective on all game. Though currently expensive for shooters who do a lot […]

Dear HCN, Andy Stahl writes that William Dwyer was nominated for the federal bench “by liberal Democrat Dan Evans and conservative Republican Slade Gorton” (HCN, 3/4/02: ‘His courtroom was a classroom’). Actually, Evans is also a Republican. Stahl is probably confused because, in 1985, a liberal Republican like Evans would be more liberal than most […]

Dear HCN, Contrary to your suggestion (HCN, 2/4/02: No game plan for the public lands), the Bush administration has a very clear game plan: Drill, mine and log. Start with the all-out campaign to turn the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain into a sprawling oil field. The president also has expressed interest in drilling in the […]

Dear HCN, While Hal Clifford wrote a fairly objective article about the sage grouse brouhaha in the Gunnison Valley (HCN, 2/4/02: Last dance for the sage grouse?), he omitted a couple of points that would give readers a fuller understanding of the political landscape. First, Clifford forgets to mention that Andy Kerr is also executive […]

Dear HCN, This is a follow-up to a couple of articles on sage grouse (HCN, 2/4/02: Last dance for the sage grouse?). Sagebrush is an important species and vital to rangeland ecosystems, but there is a limit to how much sagebrush is enough before it begins to bring down the overall condition of rangelands. When […]

Dear HCN, Could we go from the general to the specific? How many hunting tags are issued in condor habitat? (HCN, 2/18/02: Condor program laden with lead). How much more does a lead-free bullet cost (how much is the bullet of total cartridge cost?), and how many rounds does the average hunter fire in the […]

Dear HCN, In the article on snowmobiles by Douglas Schnitzspahn (HCN, 2/4/02: Snowmobilers rev up for roadless riding) there was a glaring error which I felt emboldened to bring to your attention. Pat McKenna is quoted as saying “scientific studies have proven that the paths that snowmobiles create up there (Mount Jefferson, Mont.) disturb wolverines […]