Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Although Jon Christensen’s story on weeds, fire, and the Great Basin was informative, he left out an important ingredient to the story (HCN, 5/22/00: Save Our Sagebrush). The same tools that he attributes to the ecological collapse of the region – fire and grazing – can be used to restore the region. Spring […]

Dear HCN, I’m disgusted with the tone and inaccuracies of Adam Burke’s article, “One dam, two rallies” (HCN, 4/24/00: One dam, two rallies). “What’s the best way to build support for tearing down a dam?” he wrongly asks. None of the organizations at the rally ever supported “tearing down a dam’; they were advocating the […]

Dear HCN, Apropos the item “Guides may get guidelines” (HCN, 3/27/00: Guides may get guidelines), Idaho, after long and mighty labors, has produced a draft “Wolf Management Plan.” Among other bemusing provisions in the plan is one which would provide monetary compensation to guides and outfitters for “economic harm caused individual outfitting businesses by decreasing […]

Dear HCN, I read with interest your March 13 article about Jim Catron, “The Last Celtic Warlord lives in New Mexico” – which leads the reader to believe he is some kind of hero of the West. Many of us here in Catron County see it otherwise. We see him as a pompous, hot-headed little […]

Dear HCN, In Debra Donahue’s opinion, “The writing is on the wall: Livestock grazing on semi-arid public ranges is uneconomic and unsustainable. The only solution is removing livestock altogether” (HCN, 2/28/00: A prof takes on the sacred cow). I’m not familiar with the implications of that statement in the state of Wyoming; I do know […]

Dear HCN, Larry Warren said in the April 10 High Country News that, “Beginning May 23, Zion (National Park) becomes the first Western park, and just the second in the national park system, to go carless. Acadia National Park in Maine was the first.” Mr. Warren should check out the history of Alaska’s Mt. McKinley […]

Dear HCN, In a back-page essay, you show a photograph of Sen. Gale McGee, William Ruckelshaus, and me: Nathaniel Reed (HCN, 3/27/00: HCN at 30: ‘On faith alone’). I was serving as Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The story of how the poisoned eagles were located, the intense investigation that followed, […]

Dear HCN, I read, carefully, each of the separate articles in the HCN special issue of April 10, and I’ve come to my own conclusion: We’re in a trap with no exit. Balkanization will be the model. Duke HaydukBluff, Utah This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The fragmented […]

Dear HCN, Judging from publisher Ed Marston’s April 10 article, “Beyond the Revolution,” High Country News has abandoned all pretext of balanced treatment of environmental news. For Mr. Marston to assume that the four Snake River dams will be breached, and for him to completely ignore the vitally important issue of Western private land intermixed […]

Dear HCN, Your “Beyond the Revolution” articles about the future of the new West could have included mention of the long-discussed proposal to place the BLM-managed lands into a National Public Lands System, similar to the national forest, national parks, and national wildlife refuge systems that protect our forests, parks and refuges. The BLM lands […]

Dear HCN, Senator Laird Noh’s article “The Old West is small potatoes in the new economy” (HCN, 4/10/00: The Old West is small potatoes in the new economy) provided a clear view of the shifting power structure out West. Sen. Noh’s story is a lesson in political power, and the moral of the story is […]

Dear HCN, I applaud your final installment of the series titled “The political dynamics of the Interior West” (HCN, 4/10/00). I thoroughly enjoyed all eight of the essays by guest columnists and their views on the future of the West. Creating the opportunity for dialogue on the future of our lands is critical, and I […]

Dear HCN, I’ve just devoured your excellent “Beyond the Revolution” issue. If you send me five or 10 more copies, I promise I’ll get it into the hands of the right people. Joel GarreauBroad Run, Virginia The writer is the author of The Nine Nations of North America. This article appeared in the print edition […]

Dear HCN, Ed Marston writes that the war between extractive interests and the environmental movement is drawing to a close and the enviro movement won (HCN, 4/10/00: Beyond the Revolution). Like the person who reads about his death in the paper, reports of the demise of extractive interests are greatly exaggerated. We will always have […]

Dear HCN, As a recent graduate of Utah State University in Logan, Utah, I must report my bewilderment upon reading your characterization of my former home: “Nowadays, Logan is a smaller version of Boulder, Colo. Trophy homes glisten along the foothills of the Wasatch Range; students buy double lattés before class, and go jogging on […]

Dear HCN, Alan S. Kesselheim’s lead story on the Yellowstone River hits the nail on the head (HCN, 3/27/00: The last wild river). A classic, one-of-a-kind, free-flowing river gets ruined because of greed and stupidity. The fact that anyone can build anything in a 100-year floodplain is insane. Look at the Mississippi if you want […]

Dear HCN, Hypocrites. How many times have we heard the demand that the extraction industries (mining, grazing and logging) pay fair market value for the use of public resources. The cry goes forth from those that supposedly care about the West, “why should citizens shoulder below-cost subsidies for special interests.” In fact, it is well […]

Dear HCN, One of the people you interviewed for the fee demo feature article (HCN, 2/14/00: Land of the fee), Gary Guenther, asked, “Where’s the money going?” I can provide a partial answer to that question, and it’s mind-boggling. The river activist group Riverhawks and the Northwest Rafters Association have conducted an extensive audit of […]

Dear HCN, It is clear that even flush times don’t lead legislators to significantly increase base funding when programs like “fee demo” appear to be working. When federal appropriations decline again, and belts have to tighten, these fee programs will be an excuse for reducing base appropriations. Managers would be better served by clearly explaining […]

Dear HCN, Lisa Jones’ profile of Jim Catron describes quite accurately the philosophy and attitudes of one of several British cultures that reached what is now the United States during the 17th and 18th centuries (HCN, 3/13/00: The last Celtic warlord lives in New Mexico). But the one thing that Jim Catron’s culture is not […]