Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Thanks for providing an open and honest forum so that we can discuss the myriad issues, such as hunting, that affect the West. In recent issues I’ve read Stephen Gies’ whiny diatribe about the “macabre act of hunting” and Marc Gaede’s bizarre but hilarious evaluation of the human male. I fit their stereotype. […]

Dear HCN, I was disturbed and dismayed by your recent article about retired forest supervisor Jim Nelson (HCN, 12/21/98). I have never met Mr. Nelson and know him only by his reputation. I believe him to be a man of courage and vision, with a land ethic fully the equal of that possessed by two […]

Dear HCN, Your title “Fallen Forester” in the December 21 issue is unfortunate. It leads one to conclude that Jim Nelson is in some way tainted goods. To the contrary, he is a model of the passion, intellect and gumption the Forest Service needs to cultivate to accomplish its difficult mission. More fitting titles would […]

Dear HCN, The opinion expressed by Ted Williams on a “Fallen Forester” (HCN, 12/21/98) is not shared by those who are familiar with federal land exchanges in Nevada. What Mr. Williams didn’t say was, while Jim Nelson was “hustling around the countryside cutting land deals, adding 100,000 acres to the forest,” the taxpayers were losing […]

Dear HCN, About 15 years ago, I heard poet and anti-war activist Father Daniel Berrigan speak in Portland. Berrigan was a leader in the Plowshares movement, whose participants entered factories and government installations to physically damage nuclear weapons. After his speech, which was both passionate and supremely logical, Berrigan took questions from the audience. One […]

Dear HCN, I am unaware of any science that can demonstrate hunters are “subconsciously killing other male humans because of competition for females.” In my reading of the literature, killing and bringing in high-level protein packages in the shape of fish and game gets you more access to females, not less. More access means greater […]

Dear HCN, I resent Stephen Gies’ repeated references to manhood and the male ego, since I happen to be female and an avid hunter (HCN, 10/26/98). While condemning hunters as barbaric Neanderthals, Gies implies that hunting his way (with a self-fashioned stone knife or spear and wearing animal hides) would be OK. Who’s the Neanderthal […]

Dear HCN, Todd Wilkinson’s sad but necessary account of grizzly bear politics (HCN, 11/9/98) is as much an indictment of human nature as it is of organizational and personal conflict. The early Protestants used to talk about “speaking truth to power,” and power burned them at the stake. Times haven’t changed much. Speaking truth to […]

Dear HCN, The attitude of the writer of “Three cheers for the arsonists at Vail” (HCN, 11/9/98), that the end justifies the means, is exactly the same as the attitude of those who cheered the death of the gay student in Wyoming, the attitude that led to the murder of the doctor in New York […]

Dear HCN, As a former intern and longtime friend of the paper, I have often defended HCN’s journalistic integrity, even when your views didn’t happen to support my own. Paul Larmer’s recent article, “Idaho grizzly plan shifts into low gear” (HCN, 11/9/98), leaves me feeling painfully bereft of much defensible. Larmer focuses on the “ROOTS […]

Dear HCN, I regret to inform you that the Turtle and Tortoise Liberation Front takes exception to Mark Matthews’ report on “amphibian underpasses’ being considered for the Flathead Reservation ostensibly to reduce the “hundreds of painted turtles smashed” on Hwy. 93 (HCN, 11/23/98). Turtles, being reptiles, go through no demeaning gill phase, nor do they […]

Dear HCN, I was delighted to read, in “Wildlife crossings cut down on roadkill” (HCN, 11/23/98), that people are beginning to talk about wildlife bridges and underground highways. Just my cup of tea. But the Alberta overpass in your photo is ugly enough to set the movement back 10 years, though at least it is […]

Dear HCN, I was pleased to read HCN’s Oct. 26 profile of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and the state’s efforts to restore habitat for coho salmon by involving environmentalists, landowners, timber companies and others in a consensus-based process. A sidebar article correctly notes that Gov. Kitzhaber’s Oregon Salmon Plan serves as a model for Enlibra, […]

Dear HCN, I wish to respond to Marc Gaede’s letter “Hunting: Call it competition” (HCN, 11/23/98). In this complex, confusing world, it is a tremendous relief to find someone with the simple answers to difficult questions such as, “Why do we hunt?” From Mr. Gaede’s remarks, I now understand that I hunt because I am […]

Dear HCN, Kudos on HCN’s most recent issue covering the “Grizzly War” (HCN, 11/9/98). The piece by Todd Wilkinson is both timely and dead on target. I must say, however, that I was rather amazed to read under “Idaho grizzly plan shifts into low gear,” that “Environmentalists are silent on grizzly reintroduction.” Environmentalists, both in […]

Dear HCN, I have found recent letters to the editor and the latest essay by Stephen Lyons to contain some bits of hidden wisdom. The larger message that I get from these writings is that when all is said and done, at the end of the day, we’re all a bunch of selfish bastards. Opinions […]

Dear HCN, It was a pleasure to read in the Nov. 9 issue the letter by Michael E. Adams supporting the arson at Vail. This man and every member of the Earth Liberation Front should be canonized for their visionary efforts in advancing the environmental cause. I only regret that someone wasn’t killed in the […]

Dear HCN, As an anthropologist with an active interest in primatology, I find Stephen Gies’ letter of response (HCN, 10/26/98) to Ken Wright’s review of David Petersen’s hunting book Elkheart interesting (HCN, 9/28/98). Gies suspects that Petersen’s psychological need to hunt is based on “primordial revitalized manhood.” This is a pretty good intuitive generalization. A […]

Dear HCN, After reading Stephen Gies’ tirade against hunting (HCN, 10/26/98), I felt compelled to clarify the logic in his ethical position. From his letter, his position can be summed up in two statements: 1) Killing and eating domesticated animals is ethical, and 2) Killing and eating wild animals is unethical. That is, it is […]

Dear HCN, I found it ironic and disturbing that the same issue containing an article decrying the hate crime in Laramie had a letter cheering the hate crime in Vail and an opinion piece loosely excusing it (HCN, 11/9/98). Whether you like the Vail decision or not, it was shaped by public involvement and scrutiny. […]