Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Barbara Schuster’s confusion about the Mormons’ bad rap is not shared by many “Gentiles” who grew up in the Beehive state. Obviously she didn’t spend her childhood in a neighborhood where most kids are forbidden to play with non-Mormons. She was never dropped off at Primary (Mormon catechism) by a public school bus. […]

Dear HCN, When one reads the article by Hal Clifford in High Country News regarding cattlemen and sage grouse (HCN, 2/4/02: Last dance for the sage grouse?), it is very obvious that the ranchers in the realm of the sage grouse are in severe denial concerning their impacts on sage grouse. I would put the […]

Dear HCN, I read with interest Ray Ring’s article on environmentalism in Montana (HCN, 12/17/01: Bad moon rising) and have followed the comments others have made. Mr. Ring and all the writers make good points, but they all miss one reason environmental concerns have lost local support. To use Clinton’s campaign motto – “It’s the […]

Dear HCN, I liked Ray Ring’s recent article, “Bad moon rising,” about environmental organizations in Montana (HCN, 12/17/01: Bad moon rising). It gave some of the history of how progressive coalitions achieved significant legislative results on issues important to Montanans. It should be noted that during those years, Montana’s Legislature passed socially responsible statutes in […]

Dear HCN, Michelle Nijhuis’ “Finding the Words” (HCN, 1/21/02: Finding the words) leaves me struggling to “find words” to convey my grief, once again, for the injustice done to our native peoples. A well-sharpened spear to my heart; I have not wept with that sort of compassion and anger in a very long time, the […]

Dear HCN, It constantly amazes me how nasty a slant HCN can put on its articles. If you have to do that to sell your magazines, you should be ashamed of yourselves. The only thing truly ugly about the Pasayten Wilderness (HCN, 12/17/01: A crowded Washington wilderness gets ugly) is Martha Hall and the other […]

Dear HCN, Once a talented surgical team ready to save the world, the environmental movement has devolved into a school nurse dispensing sterile advice and used band-aids. Warning that “time is short,” editor Paul Larmer’s plea for the West as “an island besieged” (HCN, 1/21/02: The American West is an island besieged) presents a brief […]

Dear HCN, First off, I’d like to lavish HCN with praises for putting together such a jolly good read, for sure – then, secondly, for also being well-congealed with quotable info regarding the state of our Western environs … perhaps. Explanation: In his letter of Dec. 3, 2001, regarding Randy Udall’s opinion, “We are the […]

Dear HCN, I realize I’m a little late writing to you about your coalbed methane article (HCN, 11/5/01: Wyoming’s powder keg), but I wanted to provide a viewpoint that probably isn’t shared by many of your readers. What I understand from the article is that some landowners are upset at the development of coalbed methane […]

Dear HCN, We offer the following comments in response to Ed Marston’s cultural critique of our recent book, Post-Cowboy Economics: Pay and Prosperity in the New West (HCN, 12/17/01: Economics with a heart, but no soul). Healthy natural landscapes do not merely provide “playgrounds” and “pretty” amenities for “soulless” in-migrants. They provide a broad range […]

Dear HCN, Jim Downing’s article about the problem of salt in the San Joaquin Valley (HCN, 11/19/01: Will salt sink an agricultural empire?) suggests that, at the present time, the only solution is to complete the aqueduct to the delta. Considering the cost of what is happening now, perhaps one other solution, other than a […]

Dear HCN, I’d like to jump into the ongoing debate over which viewpoints are legitimate for HCN to publish. I understand that this publication was founded with passion for environmental preservation. Very important still, but surely the time is ripe to welcome ranchers and timber companies as potential allies instead of designated villains. I was […]

Dear HCN, I am writing in response to the letter from Courtney White (HCN, 12/3/01: Grazing story ignored radical center), wherein he chastised your paper’s failure to focus on the “radical center” in the public-lands grazing debate. He claimed, “There is a progressive ranching movement afoot, and there are plenty of good stories out there.” […]

Dear HCN, Ray Ring got it mostly right with his dissertation on the relationship of Montana environmentalists with “other” Montanans (HCN, 12/17/01: Bad moon rising). He really nailed it when he got past the “easy” answers and into “rural-thinking, rooted to an immense landscape, and every once in a while rebelling against domination by external […]

Dear HCN, I appreciated Ray Ring’s analysis of Montana’s political landscape. However, I was surprised that he neglected to mention the latest wave of progressive politics in Montana, the Green Party. Montana hosts a statewide Green Party and active groups in Missoula, Bozeman and Billings * that hotbed of radical environmentalism. The Green Party is […]

Dear HCN, As a longtime environmental activist living in Montana and involved in a number of collaborative efforts, I question Mr. Ring’s assumption that it is environmentalists alone who have failed to compromise or work towards shared solutions.After all, it takes two to tango. Looking at the environmental scorecard of Montana Conservation Voters, we see […]

Dear HCN, I believe Ray Ring’s piece on Montana environmental politics lacks a broader contextual framework that would provide insight and result in different conclusions. The suggestion that Montana’s progressive environmental legislation passed in the early 1970s due to greater collaboration with rural industries misses a big historical point. Although briefly acknowledged by Ring, the […]

Dear HCN, Ray Ring’s cover story on the environmental movement in Montana is a fascinating and instructive history which all Western environmentalists should study. But I can’t help feeling Ray missed one of the most important factors in the decline of Montana’s progressive coalition and the environmental movement in the rural West generally. Ring accurately […]

Dear HCN, In the West, water is a pervasive issue, and it is a common theme among HCN articles. “Bringing back the bosque,” and “Will Salt Sink an Agricultural Empire?” (HCN, 11/19/01: Bringing back the bosque) touch this subject. These articles leave one believing that the battle between agriculture and ecological water could never be […]

Ardeth Baxter’s letter commenting on the review of the book Riders of the West requires my response (HCN, 11/19/01: Romanticizing rodeo abuse). Animal-human relationships are the core ingredients in the settlement of the West. That relationship continues in the form of arena events – rodeo, team penning, cutting dressage, etc., and ranch work – gathering, […]