Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Steven Stuebner’s recent article “Global market squeezes sheep ranchers” (HCN, 11/19/01: Global market squeezes sheep ranchers) has to rank as one of HCN‘s worst articles of the year, or silliest. What might have been an informative report on the situation of the sheep industry, if only Stuebner would do a little research, turns […]

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, […]

Dear HCN, The Pueblo of Santa Ana sincerely appreciates the extensive coverage in the Nov. 19 issue to highlight our efforts to restore the Rio Grande bosque and river channel within our reservation lands. While we understand that the purpose of the article was to highlight Pueblo efforts, we feel it is important to acknowledge […]

Dear HCN, As someone with a great interest in energy issues I greatly enjoyed Randy Udall’s article, “We Are the Oil Tribe” (HCN, 11/19/01: We are the Oil Tribe). One fact that was presented is definitely incorrect; the number of rigs drilling in the U.S. According to the Baker Hughes monthly rig count (the industry’s […]

Dear HCN, Even as a wildlife student in the early 1970s, I was appalled when I learned that a 400-pound animal that can survive without free water (the oryx) had been introduced into the White Sands Missile Range (HCN, 10/22/01: A graceful gazelle becomes a pest). The potential for an ecological disaster seemed all too […]

Dear HCN, After a brief look at a picture of Steve Stuebner (HCN, 9/24/01: Nature hits a home run for salmon), I had to feel a pang of disbelief that an old adversary of mine would do such an unnatural act. All adiposed salmon and steelhead caught in Idaho waters must be immediately released. Smolts […]

Dear HCN, I had to chuckle at California BLM official Gail O’Neill’s lamentation that her staff is spending weeks away from normal duties to ensure that cattle stay out of Mojave desert tortoise habitat (HCN, 11/5/01: Cattle make way for tortoises in the Mojave). What possible duties could the BLM, the nation’s largest public-land and […]

Dear HCN, As a displaced Montana native and student of Western history, I only began subscribing to HCN last year, although another Yellowstone Park buff had recommended it to me some time before. I’ve enjoyed reading about water, wildlife, ranching and other environmental issues covered in your paper. At the same time, I’ve been trying […]

Dear HCN, I would like to register a firm objection to the recent cover story, “Healing the Gila” (HCN, 10/22/01: Healing the Gila). I was distressed by its old-fashioned, polemical, “Good Guy vs. Bad Guy” tone, which seems out of character with recent cover stories in HCN. You’ve done a very good job recently covering […]

Dear HCN, In his rush to support environmental activists and ignorance of ecological processes, Tony Davis unwittingly reveals two major fallacies of the anti-grazing movement (HCN, 10/22/01: Healing the Gila). The first involves ecological site potential and the misconception that all you have to do is take the cows off and stand back. “It will […]

Dear HCN, I was shocked to find myself quoted as saying that environmentalists are “bayoneting the wounded” in your piece on the Eagle Timber Sale (HCN, 9/24/01: The timber sale that won’t die). These were not my words and I thought that I had made that clear to the reporter. In retrospect, I regret having […]

Dear HCN, Paul Larmer’s opinion, “The enduring Endangered Species Act,” left me bewildered (HCN, 9/24/01: The enduring Endangered Species Act). From the trenches of the rural West, the ESA doesn’t seem to be accomplishing nearly the wonders that you claim. In fact, it appears to be doing the opposite. You wrote, “We need both litigation […]

Dear HCN, Rebecca Clarren’s review of the book Riders of the West (HCN, 10/8/01: Indians are cowboys), about the Indian rodeo circuit, contained a sentence I found most disturbing: “It depicts how rodeo helps Indian youth create a legacy of hope and pride, transcending the severe poverty and rampant alcoholism that often await them beyond […]

Dear HCN, As an American who immigrated to Canada a couple years ago, I was curious to read your story about efforts to protect the Rocky Mountain Front on our side of the border (HCN, 10/8/01: Whoa! Canada!). While I thought the article was generally fairly good, there were two obvious errors of fact that […]

Dear HCN, Your article on alleged “ecoterrorism” is misleading and perpetuates the propaganda of polluting industry representatives who have already co-opted mass media (HCN, 10/8/01: Terrorist attacks echo in the West). The Vail fires of 1998, which are better categorized as sabotage, have little to do with terrorism. Terrorism is “best defined as the use […]

Dear HCN, Although I long ago gave up hunting, it was refreshing to read such a sensitive, respectful view of nature, wilderness and wildlife as was depicted in Tom Reed’s essay, “In the house of the grizzly” (HCN, 9/24/01: In the house of the grizzly). I wish many more hunters and people out for recreation […]

Dear HCN, As one involved in political discussions that led to the Elwha River legislation, and to progress made for dam removal, I think Adam Burke deserves an A- (nobody is perfect) for his article “River of dreams” (HCN, 9/24/01: River of dreams). I am sure Burke discovered this is a complicated story with many […]

Dear HCN, It’s clear that Ben Long simply used his impression and interpretation of something that happened nearly 60 years ago to write an article about an unfortunate event in American history that, I’m sure, all Americans wish had never occurred (HCN, 10/8/01: Lessons of an intolerant past). Was it wrong to intern those Japanese […]

Dear HCN, I want to take this time to comment vociferously about a trend I see in HCN‘s Writers on the Range columns. And I am not at all happy with it! There have been at least three columns published this year in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that are a bunch of bull! If I […]