Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, I was pleased to see your feature on “Evangelical Christians preach a green gospel” (HCN, 4/28/97). Too often those in the environmental movement blame Christianity for promoting ideas that lead to degradation of the earth. There have also been too many Christians who have not understood that the environmental movement has been doing […]

Dear HCN, Hopi Tribal Chairman Ferrell Secakuku announced on April 1 that the Navajo squatters remaining on Hopi land would be given until Feb. 1, 2000, to sign 75-year leases, yet Cate Gilles’ article (HCN, 3/31/97) portrays the Hopis as villains in this sad affair. The truth is that the U.S. government created the problem […]

Dear HCN, I suspect High Country News will soon have its fill of communications about Olympic Mountain goats, but Mr. Markarian’s letter of May 12 should not go unchallenged. All of the evidence he cites in support of the idea that the goats are native to the Olympic Mountains is suspect. First, the Gilman expedition, […]

Dear HCN, While visiting our newest national monument last weekend, we stopped at a small store in Boulder, Utah, to buy gas, dog food and a few groceries. When we asked if the store had a microwave and sold frozen burritos for a quick lunch, the pleasant saleswoman replied, “Sorry, we’re not really into fast […]

Dear HCN, I am offended by Louise Liston’s statement, “I love the land, and it’s different from an environmentalist’s love. We have a deep, abiding love; they have a weekend love affair …” (HCN, 4/14/97). It is presumptuous to assume that other people’s enjoyment of the nation’s public lands is any less legitimate than one’s […]

Dear HCN, I doubt if you will print this, but I must object strongly to Scott Stouder’s story on the Hells Canyon Rim, a terribly distorted and prejudiced piece (HCN, 4/14/97). The truth of the matter is easy to discern if one merely reads the act creating the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Wilderness […]

Paul Larmer responds: Tom Power may be correct in his assertion that the employment numbers I used – and cited by county officials – are exaggerated. I should have been more careful before using them. The economist who has worked on Kane County’s economic plan, Gil Miller, says Power’s information merits a closer look. But […]

Dear HCN, Paul Larmer’s story on the president’s new monument (HCN, 4/14/97) is a pretty unfortunate piece of work, reprinting the same tired and unsupported information that has been circulating around the Intermountain West for the past few months. Most of this folklore is, of course, lies created by the extractive industries and swallowed by […]

Dear HCN, The sidebar editorial by Louise Liston, “A proud and defiant native,” (HCN, 4/14/97) regarding the recent creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, was disturbing. It made me uncomfortable. It made me stop and think. Liston characterized an environmentalist’s love of the land as a “weekend love affair,” quite different from her deep […]

Dear HCN: Your cover story on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (HCN, 4/14/97) stated that the challenge facing the Bureau of Land Management in planning for the monument is “to protect the land and make it accessible.” Wrong. The comment incorrectly assumes the BLM is confronted with the same bedeviling mandate adopted by some national […]

Dear HCN, After 10 years of monitoring the Diné-Hopi land dispute (HCN, 3/31/97), I’ve never really faulted the Diné (Navajo) for their tactics, since I would probably do the same things if I were faced with losing my home (though I cringe at the rhetorical excess: Buying someone a $70,000 home in Flagstaff is not […]

Dear HCN, Your piece on the mountain goats in Olympic National Park perpetuates the myth that environmental groups should stick by Park Service propaganda (HCN, 3/3/97). Park officials continue to declare the goats were brought to the Olympic Peninsula by settlers in the 1920s. They were embarrassed, however, when the Fund for Animals unearthed an […]

Dear HCN, Thank goodness for Ted Williams – -Hunters Close Ranks, and Minds’ – he’s a national treasure (HCN, 3/3/97). I would like to point out to your readers that Orion-The Hunters Institute has recently initiated a project called “Winsor Dinners,” named after a Colorado hunter who first held a potluck at his home for […]

Dear HCN, I am writing in response to Jane Braxton Little’s article regarding the Quincy Library Group legislation (HCN, 3/31/97). Little incorrectly characterizes the struggle over the legislation as one between grassroots and national groups. That is not true. A host of grassroots groups, many of them based in the Sierra Nevada, have signed on […]

Dear HCN, I’m dismayed at the anti-gun propaganda in your recent issue on hunting (HCN, 3/3/97). Elizabeth Manning’s NRA-bashing diatribe was out of line. The ignorance of those extolling gun control is amazing; the matter of bullets capable of penetrating body armor is a non-issue; many hunting bullets are capable of this. No policeman has […]

Dear HCN: Many different voices have been raised in northern New Mexico of late. While Sam Hitt expressed his opinion in “Green Hate” (HCN, 2/3/97), typical of what we heard and received is the letter sent by Tim Mylet, who had earlier presented a petition with 250 signatures to us expressing frustration over firewood restrictions. […]

Dear HCN, I just finished skimming the Escalante article (HCN, 4/14/97) and while I found the stories interesting, it seemed that they were more of what has become common in High Country News – anecdotal reporting without investigation. On page 10, Roger Holland says that the Andalex coal company would only disturb “2.5 million tons […]

Dear HCN, Jon Margolis’ article on the Teaming With Wildlife initiative (HCN, 12/23/96) was accurate with only one slight error: The states would pay 25 cents, not 30 cents, to get the matching 75 cents of each dollar provided by the initiative. Since snowmobiles and ATVs are not on the list of recreational products to […]

Dear HCN, In your issue devoted to the sadly divisive but, I fear, century-old conflict between conservationists and environmentalists – preservationist John Muir couldn’t stand conservationist John Burroughs, and vice versa – Ted Williams quoted one of my cultural heroes, Roderick Haig-Brown, who described the faults of the outdoor press as timidity and conformity: “It […]

Dear HCN, When Jon Christensen writes about the new lord of the West who will replace the old lords of extraction (HCN, 12/23/96), it is clear what the name of this new lord is: Midas! Under the magic touch of the recreation industry, public lands will turn to gold. Nature as ATV commercials, ecosystems as […]