Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, The problem with George Wuerthner’s comments in a recent issue (HCN, 3/24/94) is that while he appears to be correct in his criticism of the extractive industries, in reality he’s about 10 percent correct and 90 percent missing the point. Our choices lie not between urban subdivisions and traditional grazing. Nobody’s talking about […]

Dear HCN, My friend Jeff St. Clair listed me as a “grazing abolitionist” in an op-ed piece published in the 3/21/94 issue of HCN. As a candidate for Commissioner of Public Lands in New Mexico, I feel I need to clarify my position on this subject. I am not opposed to public-land grazing, provided it […]

Dear HCN, Jeffrey St. Clair complained in the last issue that no “abolitionists’ were included in the Colorado grazing reform working group. Of course they were excluded! That decision was deliberate. The sharing of goals is a necessary preliminary to any successful resolution of conflict, and the abolitionists declare outright that they don’t share the […]

Dear HCN, A short correction to the article by Tony Davis in the Feb. 21 edition, Western Roundup section: In the first article on Jim Baca, the last paragraph mentions acting BLM director Mike Dombeck. Mike is not a career BLM employee … in fact, as recently as 1990, Mike was a staff fish biologist […]

Dear HCN, While the aluminum vs. dams article (HCN, 2/7/94) was good it was short of basic information: what the aluminum industry pays for power. People can understand grazing fees – try to get a horse fed for $3 per month or pay for patent land at $5 per acre – but we should know […]

Dear HCN, After reading Ed Marston’s Comb Wash “A Stark Victory in Utah” editorial in the January issue of HCN, I am very disappointed. I am a long-time BLM employee but am not personally involved in Comb Wash. However, I know enough about the issue and BLM to know that your editorial is full of […]

Dear HCN, As retirees and industries flock to the West, many fear the loss of the region’s open spaces and wildlife habitat. Officials from extractive industries such as farming, ranching and timber capitalize on this fear, warning that if environmentalists and others who are demanding an end to subsidies are successful, subdivisions will proliferate as […]

Dear HCN, Yes, house hunting in Bozeman can be frustrating (as described in the Jan. 24 HCN, “Montana Town Puts Out the Unwelcome Mat”). But unlike others profiled in that story, I don’t exclusively blame footloose entrepreneurs, Californians or Hollywood stars for this and other growth-related problems. While not always to our liking, change is […]

Dear HCN, A recent letter to the editor in HCN belittled collaborative groups that try to solve natural resource conflicts as being too small and too slow. I ask, which is more effective: slow, steady progress, or rapid suit and countersuit that characterize our current attempts to control resources? Are the salmon making a comeback […]

Dear HCN, Grateful thanks to Rep. Kelly Atkinson, D-West Jordan (Utah), for his expression of concern regarding Umetco Minerals’ plan to bury radioactive waste in Uravan, Colo., on the San Miguel River and a short 20 miles from the Utah-Colorado border (HCN, 11/29/93). While it’s true we all live downstream, I would suggest that Utah […]

Dear HCN, WAKE UP High Country News! How loudly does the land have to scream before you come to your senses? The Western public lands you so graciously sacrifice to the rancher only account for 2-to-3 percent of the annual forage of livestock. Pocket change. Get all cows off public lands permanently and watch 300 […]

Dear HCN, Rifts like the one in the Northwest environmental community described in Kathie Durbin’s article (HCN, 12/27/93) are often portrayed as moral questions: hardliners vs. sellouts or realists vs. idealists. In fact, these splits are perfectly predictable given the rules of the political game. Organizations such as the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society work […]

Dear HCN, A major blow to Hells Canyon prehistory has been soil erosion caused by over-grazing domestic stock, mainly sheep. Soil provides the context and something close to a set of rules or guidelines for making sense out of archaeological remains. Without the soil that surrounds them, artifacts are like words in a language without […]

Dear HCN, In your recent article (“Beauty and the Beast,” HCN, 4/14/97), Paul Larmer painted a rather bleak picture of the Kane County, Utah, economy. That negative economic portrait was part of an effort to explain why it was “no wonder everyone was hopping mad when the president took that hope (of the Andalex coal […]