Letter to the editor

As I read Ray Ring’s words on what is the right format for HCN, I began to ponder that the correct mix is the mix that keeps you and your staff energized (HCN, 7/19/10). Without an engaged editor and staff, the publication will wilt. The rest is just packaging that can be adjusted. Sources of […]

Like writer Jonathan Thompson, I have deep roots on and near Ute lands in southwestern Colorado. While I realize he faced a daunting task — even without Ute secrecy — “The Ute Paradox” seemed way too couched in political correctness and an unwillingness to hold minority leaders to the same standards we demand of others […]

I read John Maclean’s excellent article “The Fiery Touch” with mounting concern, for two reasons (HCN, 8/02/10). The first is the charge of murder. Several of my friends and colleagues are or have been wildland firefighters. My heart goes out to the families of all those killed in wildfires. Raymond Oyler is clearly a very […]

Your story “Young, All-American, Illegal” is riveting and heartbreaking (HCN, 8/16/10). It should be required reading and viewing by anyone involved in immigration issues, regardless of political stripe. And that means all of us. I confess: The brouhaha surrounding the Arizona “show me your papers” debate didn’t matter to me, other than to rouse my […]

I appreciate Cherie Newman’s review of Joe Hutto’s The Light in High Places in the July 19, 2010, edition. However, Newman missed the key point. She quotes Hutto writing that “it is not the greed of multinational corporations with their vicious bulldozers, chain saws, and oil rigs” consuming the earth’s resources and polluting our environment, […]

I realize that probably over 90 percent of Americans have this affliction called nature illiteracy and I think that it is just because they do not “connect.” They are busy power walking, driving at top speed in their isolation chambers, or roaring along in the dust of an ATV or even sliding over the snow. […]

In the July 19, 2010, issue, HCN included a sidebar article entitled “How to Return a Pot.” There is, however, no legal process for returning artifacts taken from public lands. We often receive calls from people who have artifacts and want to return them. We can give your readers several reasons not to ever place […]

“The Ute Paradox” was well-written and thoroughly researched (HCN, 7/19/10). However, I have devoted 22 years of my working life to the Southern Utes’ success, and must respectfully disagree with some of Jonathan Thompson’s conclusions. The article states that “Mr. Jurrius … brought capital from a huge private equity firm with which the tribe was […]

In regards to the article “Health studies gas up,” I am frustrated at Ms. Waldholz’s lack of perspective (HCN, 6/21/10). While I agree wholeheartedly with all the measures to safeguard the public health and the health of the environment discussed in this article, I can’t help getting upset by who is doing the complaining: wealthy […]

Your recent article regarding renewable energy on brownfields is accurate and well-timed (HCN, 6/7/10). This idea makes sense for developers and site owners like mining companies, but the advantages for land conservation deserve to be more fleshed out. Siting large renewable energy projects on disturbed areas eases the pressure to develop pristine public lands such […]

Two letters slammed Kim Todd’s essay “Walking Woman” for alleged inaccuracies of grammar and, more deeply, for incorrectness of attitude — demonstrating exactly what too often turns us enviros into self-defeating scolds (HCN, 5/24/10). First, to the would-be grammarian: In 30 years of hiking and climbing the range as a native-born L.A. boy, I and […]

The back-page essay on May 24, “Walking Woman,” had a striking design, but it took some literary license with facts that are obvious to those of us who live in the eastern Sierra. The first sentence grates on grammatical nerves: The Sierra Nevada range is singular, not plural. The Sierras, plural, is correct if you […]

I very much enjoyed David Wolman’s article on the success of wildlife on military land (HCN, 5/24/10). It’s always welcome to hear of nature thriving. But the assertion that these instances represent a balance between “trashing of, or respect for, the planet” doesn’t follow. If anything, it’s David Brower’s dream: an intact landscape left untrammeled […]

In Kim Todd’s essay “Walking Woman,” she used the re-watering of the lower Owens River as a reason to visit Owens Valley and rhapsodize about Mary Austin (HCN, 5/24/10). In the re-watering, she finds a hopeful lesson that the truism of environmental victories being temporary and defeats being permanent may not always be true. Had […]

If Ray Ring (“Going to Extremes”, May 24) is going to write about politics, especially in the hard-to-label West, he needs to watch his flippant labeling. As an Arizonan and a Libertarian, I am very angered by folks who lump my freedom-loving and consistent positions with the often inconsistent stands of the Tea Party. Most […]