Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, In Southern California, Forest Service fees are implemented as an “Adventure” Pass. Passes are sold in retail stores, as well as Forest Service stations. Day-passes are $5. Annual passes are $30. Parking in the national forest without a pass on the dash is ticketable. Independent of the dollar amount, it’s an extremely annoying […]

Dear HCN, Your article on federal recreation fees (HCN, 2/14/00: Land of the fee) touched a nerve with me, so to speak. While beginning a hike into the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area near Granby, Colo., last summer, I paused to insert my fee stub into the collection box at the wilderness boundary. My groping fingers […]

Dear HCN, So my law school classmate, Debra Donahue, has applied her formidable legal mind to try to de-cow most Western public lands (HCN, 2/28/00: A prof takes on the sacred cow). Note to Wyoming ranchers: When you calm down enough to want to address the merits of her arguments, come prepared. Deb is a […]

Dear HCN, I read your Roundup on Cold War tourism in South Dakota with apprehension (HCN, 2/14/00: From missile silo to theme park) because you could come away with the idea that the Cold War is over. When I reread the article at 2 a.m., I realized this could be someone’s idea of the perfect […]

Dear HCN, Wyoming’s illustrious Senate president, Mr. Twiford of Douglas (HCN, 2/28/00: A prof takes on the sacred cow), needs to creep out of his cave, somewhere in the wilds of Converse County, and smell the roses. This is the 21st century, not the 1890s, and the times they are a-changin’. I flew with the […]

Dear HCN, I disagree that President Clinton’s 40 million-acre roadless area proposal represents “uncharted territory: (HCN, 11/8/99: A new road for the public lands). We have already done what the president wants – been there, done that! Each national forest has been through at least one forest plan. In that process we looked at each […]

Dear HCN, Lisa Jones’ cover article in the Jan. 31, 2000 High Country News essays the travails Lyle McNeal has encountered with his Churro sheep. While I can’t judge the accuracy of the whole article, the portion I have personal knowledge of is just plain wrong! The writer states that Dr. McNeal’s sheep were used […]

Dear HCN, I can’t quite figure why Peggy Godfrey’s story got front-page coverage (HCN, 12/6/99: Peggy Godfrey’s long, strange trip). While she is certainly an interesting person, her life and outlook are neither unique nor visionary. She appears to view the world through the same narrow slot common to many other ranchers. Her awareness and […]

Dear HCN, I was born and raised in Idaho near Sun Valley. The Wood River Valley was an incredible place in which to grow up; I was as carefree as Huck Finn. The fishing and hunting were fantastic, and it wasn’t considered politically incorrect then. Idaho’s scenery was beautiful and pristine, and the “undesignated wilderness’ […]

Dear HCN, Many thanks for Allen Best’s excellent feature story on the White River National Forest Plan (HCN, 1/17/00: STOP – A national forest tries to rein in recreation). On a related topic, a conference held in December in Snowmass, Colo., provided in-depth dialogue on many of the issues at play in the White River […]

Dear HCN, In “Experiment takes the cut out of logging” (HCN, 1/17/00: Experiment takes the cut out of logging), Mark Matthews writes, “Some environmentalists who have followed the (Flathead Forestry Project) group fear that, like the Quincy Library Group in Northern California, stewardship contracts put land that is owned by every U.S. taxpayer in the […]

Dear HCN, I have some problems with Jon Margolis’ Washington Watch (HCN, 1/31/00: Protesters raised the right questions): Some anti-WTO demonstrators’ arguments might or might not have been “silly,” but one adjective does not constitute a counterargument. Some of the costumes were “silly’? We readers and the protesters in the street struggles deserve more than […]

Dear HCN, If many families elected to have eight children, as Lyle McNeal did (HCN, 1/31/00: Searching for pasture), there would be no space available to pasture his Churro sheep. In fact, it will be “Standing Room Only” for humans on our fragile planet. Lew VavraLaramie, Wyoming This article appeared in the print edition of […]

Dear HCN, Your romantic piece of fluff about ranching in the San Luis Valley (HCN, 12/6/99) does a disservice to all of us who are trying to envision a positive future for the West. I have come to expect a much higher standard of journalism from you. We must, I repeat MUST, move away from […]

Dear HCN, I almost needed earplugs to read your cover story, “STOP: A national forest tries to rein in recreation” (HCN, 1/17/00); seems that some folks thought their oxen would never get gored, and are now caterwauling as if flesh wounds were fatalities. It’s kind of entertaining, and long overdue. Recreation has become, with our […]

Dear HCN, It is with a saddened heart that I read the article about the lawsuit against Naropa University (HCN, 12/6/99). I am a recent graduate (1998), and Eagle Cruz taught Environmental Studies, which is the degree I received. I enrolled in every course Eagle taught, and he was one of my favorite professors. He […]

Dear HCN, In the 12/20/99 “Hotline” column, HCN reported that “… at a Flathead forest meeting in Kalispell, conservationists were shouted down.” While it is true that we were shouted at, booed, hissed and told to prepare to shed blood, we were not shouted down. Testimony by conservationists in favor of the Clinton roadless initiative […]

Dear HCN, The revised White River Forest Plan does not sound that different from the revised Targhee Forest Plan, so it is not all that precedent-setting (HCN, 1/17/00). The Targhee Forest Plan closed 93 percent of the forest to motorized use of any kind, including all summer cross-country ORV use, eliminated nine livestock allotments, set […]

Dear HCN, Karen Mockler’s article, “Counties grab for control of national forests’ (HCN, 12/20/99) alerted me to a pair of bills being debated in Congress. HR 2389, the “County Schools Funding Revitalization Act” already has passed the House of Representatives, and its companion piece with the brotherly name, “Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination […]

Dear HCN, I applaud Annie Conner and the Clearwater National Forest in their efforts to erase roads and recreate some semblance of an ecologically viable system in north-central Idaho (HCN, 11/8/99). Although I, too, have used many a Forest Service road, I will gladly curtail my off-road driving time for the good of the system, […]