Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, I am writing to express my appreciation for your excellent article, “Lack of Enchantment,” Feb. 5. I lived in Santa Fe for about five years between 1987 and 1992 and spent a year and a half as Santa Fe county attorney. I saw the decline of the middle class and the forced emigration […]

Dear HCN, Your articles describing the Cove-Mallard Coalition fall far short of your usual in-depth reporting. They also imply support of their activities (to halt logging of old-growth trees, HCN, 2/5/96). While the coalition’s goal may be worthwhile, their methods stink. The Cove-Mallard sale may or may not be perfect but the Forest Service has […]

Dear HCN, The “Hunting: Get Used to it” essay by Jim Fergus (HCN, 1/22/96) was exquisite – but Fergus shouldn’t be so hasty to stereotype HCN’s readership. Today I am a card-carrying environmentalist, but I am farm/ranch raised and hunting/fishing educated. I cut both my baby teeth and wisdom teeth on Outdoor Life. I believe […]

Dear HCN, In “Unarmed but dangerous critics close in on hunting” (HCN, 12/11/95), a Sports Afield columnist quotes Henry David Thoreau in support of hunting. To finish the conveniently incomplete quote, “This was my answer with respect to those youths who were bent on this pursuit, trusting that they would soon outgrow it. No humane […]

Dear HCN, Jim Fergus could’ve just typed something like: “Stupid, citified yuppies just don’t understand hunting. They never will, and they shouldn’t even try because hunters don’t care what they think.” (HCN, 1/22/96). Perhaps what non-hunters don’t get is how shooting the life out of a living creature can be such a positive experience. But […]

Dear HCN: One does not have to look very far or deep to discover that hunting is a sport for insecure egos and has nothing to do with sound biology, ecology or science (HCN, 12/11/95). Our game and fish agencies are for hunters by hunters and their feet have to be held to the fire […]

Dear HCN: Your comment about accident rates among four-wheel drives (Heard around the West, HCN, 12/25/95) was pretty amusing – especially so for us (liberal) East Coasters who rarely see any snow in the city of Baltimore. So many yuppies have succumbed to the need to buy these big gas hogs after being influenced by […]

Dear HCN: Your article on firewood cutting in New Mexico’s Carson National Forest (HCN, 12/25/95) correctly states that the Mexican spotted owl has only been found in one remote area of the forest. If we are to protect habitat for species that are not there, let’s start at the beginning: Protect the fragile dinosaur habitat. […]

APPLAUSE FOR SOME RANCHERS Dear HCN: I thought the only folks opposed to conservation easements were greedy land developers. Not so – it seems that reader Wano Urbonas of Durango has a “beef” with Jay Fetcher and other landowners who look for ways to keep family possessions in the family (HCN, 1/22/95). I’m definitely not […]

Dear HCN, I grew up with men; somehow, much to my mother’s disappointment, I ended up walking the fields with them instead of making pies in the kitchen. I shot the pheasant instead of staying in and stuffing the turkey. I spent weeks on the banks of rivers or the shores of lakes waiting for […]

Dear HCN, I am offended at the characterization of hunting as a sport; to me, it is serious business (HCN, 12/11/95). I have taken 25 large ungulates over the past 18 years, but I do not have any of their heads displayed on my wall. I hunt for meat, not for trophies, seeking the animal […]

Dear HCN, Your “Saving the Ranch” issue Nov. 27 really stunk. I guess I shouldn’t have expected an Aspen reporter to speak truthfully about Steamboat Springs. Your reporter states that “Nine out of 10 people surveyed in 1993 said they believe that ranch meadows and grasslands with grazing cows and horses enhance their lives.” And […]

Dear HCN, Your issue on forestry schools was rich in academic intrigue, the personalities involved and what they are arguing over (HCN, 11/13/95). I strongly urge you to present another special issue on what that argument is about: the ecology and economy of healthy forests. I also hope you will use the opportunity to teach […]

Dear HCN, Your article on massive tree thinning to make room for the return of ponderosa pine forests (Northern Arizona U. looks back, moves forward, 11/13/95) offers valuable insights to conservationists. The article’s claim that thinning is economically viable raises an interesting question, namely, viable for whom? Big mills have retooled to process the smaller […]

Dear HCN, Jon Christensen was prophetic when he wrote that the Forest Service would not replace Kevin Atchley with a “good old boy” (HCN, 10/30/95). (Christensen’s Great Basin story told of Atchley’s transfer within Nevada, following hostile incidents toward Forest Service personnel.) I’m living proof: the “new range con.” I’ve found if you deal with […]

Dear HCN, Mike Medberry’s report on big foundations, national conservation coalitions and grassroots conservation was thoughtful and respectful of the subject’s complexities (HCN, 10/16/95). The Pew Charitable Trusts was featured in Mike’s piece. Many conservationists are not wild about Pew. I have experience of Pew as an employee of a grantee and as steering committee […]

Dear HCN, The deal that Idaho’s Gov. Batt worked out with the DOE is a bad deal for Idaho and a bad deal for the rest of the West (HCN, 11/13/95). The pressure that Gov. Batt claimed to be feeling was coming mainly from Idaho’s congressional delegation and, I suspect, from his political funders. Without […]

Dear HCN, Dan Dagget’s essay (-It’s unAmerican, or at best unWestern, but cooperation works,” HCN, 10/16/95)is a clean and tidy one-size-fits-all solution to the environmental crisis. Certainly cooperation has its place in the scheme of things. Yet many environmental problems are international in scope and interconnected in nature. Suggesting that cooperation is the only or […]

Dear HCN, The take of Beltway green Paul Pritchard of the National Parks and Conservation Association on the national environmental movement is: “We feel like General Custer.” (-D.C. Green Power Brokers Look for New Home,” HCN, 11/13/95). An apt analogy, indeed – though hardly a grassroots, cross-cultural organizing sentiment. The genocidal Custer got what he […]

Dear HCN, It was fortunate that your 10/2/95 issue had in it both the essay by Dave Brown and a letter from William Dickinson. They allowed me to synthesize a new perspective on the effects of cattle grazing on riparian areas. It is now obvious that cattle are the victims of incredible bad luck. They […]