The thing that bothered me most about Emma Marris’ essay was the suggestion toward the end that we should “look to the future and create more nature instead of clinging to disappearing scraps of seemingly untouched land” (HCN, 10/6/2011, “The mirage of the pristine”). How exactly does she propose that we go about creating nature? […]
Letter to the editor
Posted inNovember 14, 2011: Possessing the Wild
Firefighting at fault
In his Oct. 17 editor’s note, Paul Larmer writes: “Meanwhile, gigantic, uncontrolled fires have become more common than ever, largely driven by shifts in climate. Whether caused by lightning, arsonists or negligent campers, these mega-fires are reshaping the West. Smart managers are learning to use them, letting them burn where they can do some ecological […]
Posted inNovember 14, 2011: Possessing the Wild
Forgotten Fossils
On page 3 of the recent issue appear “snapshots” of four national park units’ paleontological resources (HCN, 10/17/11, “A fossil-fueled survey”). Among those highlighted is the 2010 discovery of Barnum Brown’s dinosaur dig sites in Big Bend National Park. After six years as chief ranger of that park (1977-’82), I was assigned to Buffalo National […]
Posted inNovember 14, 2011: Possessing the Wild
In the weeds
Amy Whitcomb’s essay really puts the job of eliminating invasive weeds from federal lands into perspective (HCN, 10/17/11, “Among the processes of place”). I have been doing the same for the National Park Service since 2006, traveling all over the Southwest, mostly trying to eliminate tamarisk (saltcedar) and Russian olive. Currently, I am in the […]
Posted inNovember 14, 2011: Possessing the Wild
Montana’s dirty underbelly
What an outstanding story (HCN, 9/19/11, “Lost Opportunity”). I moved to Montana eight years ago and have seen only snapshots of the full picture. This story is a well-balanced portrayal of a rarely seen, dirty underbelly here in Montana. It avoids the simple sound-bite friendly rhetoric that too often dominates discussion of environmental issues in […]
Posted inOctober 31, 2011: Omens from a Vanished Sea
Clinging to wilderness, pristine or not
Yes, indigenous peoples in many regions, including Puget Sound, altered the landscape (HCN, 9/19/11, “The mirage of the pristine”). Pristine? Maybe not, but that is no reason to reject conservation. The reason I cling to scraps of wilderness, however fictional that term may be, is that they are irreplaceable. I spend a considerable amount of […]
Posted inOctober 31, 2011: Omens from a Vanished Sea
It’s a perilous profession
Wildland settings make for terrible places to get injured (HCN, 10/17/11, “The golden hour”). Unfortunately, injuries often lead to death, as time becomes the killer. Nobody is to blame for this, and changing a pretty damn good system — that which is used by the U.S. Forest Service — will do no good, and could […]
Posted inOctober 31, 2011: Omens from a Vanished Sea
“Pristine” is in the eye of the beholder
Nice essay (HCN, 9/19/11, “The mirage of the pristine”). I guess my only gripe with it is how “pristine wilderness” is defined. If pristine means that there has been no human influence, then there is no such thing, and hasn’t been for hundreds or thousands of years. But personally, I’ve always thought that pristine wilderness […]
Posted inOctober 31, 2011: Omens from a Vanished Sea
Unloved survivors
Rightfully enthralled with the Northwest’s magnificent cathedral-like old-growth forests, most people seem unaware of the existence of ancient species like the diminutive shrub Kalmiopsis leachiana (HCN, 9/19/11, “The mirage of the pristine”). It inhabits an ancient hardscrabble wilderness home with other survivors of climate change, ice age and millennia. To me, the primordial genetic code […]
Posted inOctober 31, 2011: Omens from a Vanished Sea
Why so defeatist?
“Getting weeds out of the national parks is an endless war that can never be won, but many Park Service employees are willing — and happy — warriors (HCN, 10/17/11, “Among the processes of place”).” This strikes me as rather biased. It is possible to remove invasive plants from many areas, or to keep them […]
Posted inOctober 31, 2011: Omens from a Vanished Sea
A press of pessimists
A very timely article (HCN, 10/17/11, “Obama jam”). The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism released a study this week showing unrelenting negative coverage of President Obama by the press. Though the context is the political race, the data is culled from thousands of sources mostly dealing with the day-to-day business of the […]
Posted inOctober 31, 2011: Omens from a Vanished Sea
A truly burning problem
There’s a danger in praising journalism simply because it agrees with one’s preconceived notions, but I’ll take that risk. Your fire coverage in the Oct. 17 issue was terrific (HCN, 10/17/11, “A burning problem”). It’s such an important story. The graphic of state-by-state comparisons was particularly useful. I’ve been so preoccupied with New Mexico, especially […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
It’s a feral, feral world
Why don’t you do an article comparable to that about feral hogs on the Western Canada goose, a species that some people regard as cuddly (“To catch a swine,” HCN, 8/22/11)? Others, like me, regard the goose situation in this country as a prime example of everything that could possibly go wrong in species intervention […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
Missing in action: top dogs
This article, coupled with an article I read not long ago about the inherent danger in eliminating large predators in a region — the lion in Africa — and the economic hardship it creates, fit so well together (HCN, 8/22/11). The implications are fascinating and ominous. We eliminate the large predators, such as wolves, and […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
Phoenix remembered
Great essay by Aaron Gilbreath (HCN, 9/5/11)! I got to Phoenix in July of 1965, when there was still a real monsoon season that brought rain with the dust, and cooler evenings. The city didn’t have the wildlife that keep you company, but you knew you were in the desert during the dry times, too, […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
Praise for Brad Tyer’s “Lost Opportunity”
Gorgeous article (HCN, 9/19/11). Insightful and sophisticated; layered in scope; ethical and pragmatic; beautifully written. Emily DePrangTucson, Arizona Top-shelf journalism. It’s almost cruel to have to wait a year for the book after reading such astute reporting and beautiful prose. Keila SzpallerMissoula, Montana Phenomenal story. Deeply reported, deeply personal, too. I’d like to see more […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
The Hatfield legacy: “deep and wide and wonderful”
Nice job praising Sen. Mark Hatfield (HCN, 9/5/2011). In 1974, we started the Environmental Center at Oregon State and one of our first recruits was Andy Kerr, who quickly quit school to dedicate his life to saving Oregon wildlands. Andy did a hell of a job, and still does. But I will never forget the […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
The violence of the open road
If you stand near the highway and listen to the trucks rip past at 85 to 90 miles per hour, you should be disturbed (HCN, 8/22/11). These speeds and the vehicle weights are lethal. The violence here is profound, and yet it has become normalized. It is absurd what we sacrifice for mobility: air, water, […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2011: A Burning Problem
Where have all the Hatfields gone?
Politics aside, we need more senators and representatives like Mark Hatfield (HCN, 9/5/11). We used to have a couple of politicians here in Arizona who were political opposites — I mean really opposite. But they both got things done for the state: the straight-talkin’ Barry Goldwater and the great (for the landscape) Udalls. Can we […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Big growth, big problems
In your snapshot, “Down and out in the West,” you observed that Nevada leads the county in unemployment “for the 14th straight month, due to its almost complete reliance on the still-pretty-dilapidated housing, gaming and tourism industries” (HCN, 8/22/2011). Similarly, you wrote, “California is still reeling from the housing implosion,” but Wyoming and North Dakota […]