Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, One gets the impression that Andy Kerr would like us all to join him in his fundamentalism (HCN, 6/13/94). He tells us the world is divided into discrete units for us to hold in contempt: New Yuppie Scum, Elite Welfare Ranchers, and Old Land Abusers. He tells us they are bad, we are […]

Dear HCN, The issue of grazing on federal lands apparently is no longer a civil debate but, according to Andy Kerr (HCN, 6/13/94), a call to arms, the newest cause of ideological tribalism. The “greens’ versus the “grazers.” Eco-terrorists engaging in actual battle with People For The West. “Us’ against “them,” whoever they are. Polarizing […]

Dear HCN, Todd Wilkinson’s article on neo-Nazis and skinheads (HCN, 6/27/94) resonates in Idaho. This past April, activists from the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) surfaced in Idaho Falls, twice distributing racist leaflets in residential areas of the city. What is interesting about these events is the response of the city, population 45,000, which has tiny […]

Dear HCN, I must respond to the article “Home, home on the range where neo-Nazis and skinheads roam” (HCN, 6/27/94). I am a member of the most discriminated against group in this country – the white male. I am 77 years old and served in combat in Europe during WWII. I did not volunteer to […]

Dear HCN, In reference to what should be done about elk overpopulation in Yellowstone Park (HCN, 5/30/94), a study is the time-honored delaying tactic to postpone a decision that is certain to be politically unpopular. The summer of 1991, I took my grandchildren on a visit to the park. As a retired BLM range con, […]

Dear HCN, We are pleased that High Country News had the good taste to introduce Fred Wagner’s editorial “Scientist says Yellowstone Park is being destroyed” (HCN, 5/30/94) as “opinion,” because there certainly isn’t a lot besides opinion in it. His comments about the Yellowstone grazing issue are specious, riddled with errors, and overloaded with conspiratorial […]

Dear HCN, I would like to applaud High Country News for publishing and Frederic H. Wagner for writing the May 30, 1994, article about “natural regulation” policy in Yellowstone National Park. I have worked in and around the park off and on from 1969 to 1985 and continue to visit it periodically. As a soil […]

Dear HCN, Fred Wagner’s essay on elk in Yellowstone begs for a response. While I won’t suggest that the Park Service doesn’t occasionally attempt to control what is said or done with regard to park policy, I don’t think they are “destroying” Yellowstone as Wagner or his graduate student, Charles Kay, allege. Wagner’s ideas are […]

Dear HCN, Thanks for highlighting the long-term, extremely costly damage that hardrock mining has caused to America’s West in “Can Mining Come Clean?” (HCN, 5/30/94). David Mullon, the Mineral Policy Center’s Southwest Circuit Rider at that time, worked together with the Salt Lake County Water Conservancy District to oppose Utah’s sweetheart settlement with Kennecott of […]

Dear HCN, I am amazed to read that you still are hanging on to the totally erroneous concept that you printed several years ago about the land exchanges Dean Bibles did in Arizona (HCN, 5/16/94). One would think that after many savings and loans went bankrupt due to their “paper” values and transactions involving the […]

Dear HCN, Your recent article titled “Babbitt is Trying to Nationalize the BLM” (HCN, 5/16/94) provided many perceptive insights as to the possible future direction of that very important agency. I do encourage you to revisit the Indian School (Phoenix) Land Exchange brokered in the 1980s by then Arizona BLM State Director Dean Bibles, in […]

Dear HCN, As a not-so-recent graduate of Utah State University’s College of Natural Resources, I’ve known and respected Fred Wagner for years. His June 13 op ed on Yellowstone elk should be read by every environmentalist. However, a few points should be addressed. The Yellowstone Northern Range situation is not analogous to areas where livestock […]

Dear HCN, I was disappointed in a recent article about Silver City, N.M.: “A Struggle for the Last Grass’ by Tony Davis, May 2. Mr. Davis interviewed my husband and some of my friends. He asked questions which indicated he might be looking only for conflict, not for ways problems were being solved. I don’t […]

Dear HCN, I would like to respond to Roger C. Brown’s comment in a recent issue (HCN, 5/30/94) that, “(Rural Westerners) may joke about (urban migrants’) lifestyles, but they do not threaten us. On the other hand we, in our condescending and sometimes ill-informed arrogance, have made very concerted efforts to destroy them in the […]

Dear HCN, Rabbit Babbitt’s reported comment relative to Florida’s Everglades (HCN, 5/16/94) that “when sugar companies blocked us in the Congress, we went to the state legislature in Tallahassee and last week we got a law there,” absurdly misleads anyone hearing it. The statute Babbitt brags about only assures our Everglades remain polluted by Big […]

Dear HCN, I have long appreciated High Country News’ in-depth treatment of natural resource issues. While I have not always agreed with your conclusions, I have usually believed that articles were thoroughly researched and conclusions were based upon objective analysis of the facts as they were known. One recent exception was the May 2 “Opinion” […]

Dear HCN, Unless we markedly cut back on grazing in our arid Southwestern lands such as HCN wrote about May 2, we will continue the process of desertification that has been ongoing ever since large-scale overgrazing started in New Mexico. That long-time ranchers will be forced out of business by adopting prudent grazing policies is […]

Dear HCN, I would like to commend you for excellent coverage of the problems plaguing the Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico (HCN, 5/2/94). For too long, battles have been raging between environmentalists and wise-use proponents there without anyone sitting up and taking notice. Three years ago, my wife and I bought property in […]

Dear HCN, As a sometimes cross-country ski racer and mountain biker who occasionally dons lycra, I must say that I think T.M. Power misses the point when he examines the “caustic humor” that traditional Westerners seem to have for the newly arrived urban “services’ people (HCN, 5/2/94). Ranchers, loggers and miners produce real goods which […]

Dear HCN, My reaction to Rob White’s “Sacred Places’ (HCN, 3/7/94) was a bit different from Hannah Hinchman’s (HCN, 4/18/94). I felt White’s essay to be one of the most insightful I’ve ever read in HCN. Judging by Hinchman’s many fine points, I would guess that if she read “Sacred Places’ without prejudice she might […]