Letter to the editor

Regarding the HCN article on antler hunting, I was glad to see that something positive has come out of the ludicrous Viagra/Cialis craze that fills up my e-mail spam filter daily (HCN, 8/8/05: Horn hunters face hard times). Now that artificial drugs have supplanted “traditional” remedies, we should see some relief for African rhinoceroses, North […]

In Greg Hanscom’s July 25 editor’s note, he states that Wyoming is riding its current oil and gas boom like a meth-crazed bronc rider. That’s some analogy, Mr. Hanscom. I thought most cowboys were pretty straight. From viewing your picture in the column, you have more of the appearance of most dope-heads that I have […]

Just a quick note to say how much I loved the June 27 issue with the three essays on the West. Each of them was fresh, engaging, and disturbing. (Perhaps Jesse Wolf Hardin’s was more triumphant than disturbing.) I was moved. Our West as we have thought of it is really changing. Thanks to all […]

On a recent visit to this year’s U.S. Forest Service display at the Smithsonian’s annual Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington, D.C., I saw some disturbing gaps in its representation of the Forest Service “culture” — the timber program was nowhere to be found. I asked a few uniformed Forest Service folks at tables […]

I read the story about the BLM’s new grazing rules and Erick Campbell with great interest (HCN, 7/25/05: New Grazing Rules Ride on Doctored Science). It was essentially the same story that HCN wrote about me seven years ago (HCN, 6/22/98: More internal fire at the Forest Service). The last paragraph says it all: “the […]

I read the Yeti article with interest (HCN, 7/25/05: A most unusual sanctuary, where the Yeti roams free). I thought you might like to know that we here in King County, Wash., have Bipedus giganticus (Sasquatch) listed in the King County Wetlands Folio as a species known to inhabit wetlands. This is a science-based three-volume […]

The BLM’s new grazing rules are a farce (HCN, 7/25/05: New grazing rules ride on doctored science). Tony Davis’ article says the new rules allow extended rest. The opposite is true; I believe the new rules prohibit more than one year of rest. The people I knew before I retired from BLM were in on […]

Matt Weiser’s profile of Rep. Richard Pombo was a reading experience I will long savor (HCN, 7/25/05: Will the real Mr. Pombo please stand up?). While the content is extremely depressing to anyone who gives a damn about the environment, the depth of research that went into the piece is worthy of high praise, as […]

Regarding Allen Best’s provocative story on exurbia, I think he paints with too broad a brush (HCN, 6/13/05: How dense can we be?). There are those of us living in paradise who try to do so with environmental consciousness, and who are not a drain on our county treasuries. My husband and I live on […]

As a lover of Glen Canyon, I persuaded my husband to make a special trip out from Los Angeles to see Cathedral in the Desert before the waters rose again (HCN, 6/13/05: The brief but wonderful return of Cathedral in the Desert). On May 1, our anniversary, we paddled our boat in. Across from the […]

In “A glimpse of the past in a grain of pollen,” Cathy Whitlock comments that lodgepole pine probably has a bright future due to its ability to adapt to a warming climate (HCN, 5/30/05: A glimpse of the past in a grain of pollen). The question is: How warm? Since all high-elevation conifers (including lodgepole […]

After decades of deadlock, it is time to reframe the debate about salmon recovery and the four lower Snake River dams (HCN, 6/13/05: For salmon, a crucial moment of decision). We must stop thinking about this issue in terms of “fish versus energy” or “environmentalists versus farmers.” There is a solution here — but it […]

The comment in your latest issue from the bureaucrat, saying 50,000 petition signatures have no effect on policy-making, sounds exactly like the last public expressions of Marie Antoinette before they cut her head off (HCN, 6/27/05: Writing a comment letter? Better make it good). When the French peasants were starving for bread in the late […]

In “How Dense Can We Be?” HCN decries large lot development in exurbia (HCN, 6/13/05: How dense can we be?). The article says that buying large lots away from the city is bad: Exurbs are a fire hazard, require more infrastructure, and residents have to drive long distances to get anywhere. Then, in the Unclassifieds, […]

Here in Wisconsin, I don’t see anything like the conservation easement abuses that Ray Ring describes as occurring in Montana (HCN, 5/30/05: Write-off on the Range). I wonder if Ray has captured anything approaching the typical land trust or conservation easement experience. Montana has been a true leader in the private-sector voluntary protection of working […]

Wow, Ray Ring just hit one out of the park (HCN, 5/30/05: Write-off on the Range). Great reporting, well written, and just another reason why HCN is my favorite publication of all. David W. Mayer Louisville, Colorado This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline ‘Write-off’ was right on.

I was disappointed that you perpetuated a common falsehood about valuing conservation easements (HCN, 5/30/05: Write-off on the Range). The article defines an easement’s value as “… the difference between what a parcel of land would be worth if it were developed and what it is worth when the development rights are voluntarily limited.” Wrong. […]

Thanks a lot, HCN, for trying to kill another effort at environmental conservation in the West (HCN, 5/30/05: Write-off on the Range). As if it’s not hard enough to get landowners to think about conserving resources, then the government tries to put “cash-poor” landowners out of the running by getting rid of their incentives to […]

Regarding Colorado’s tax credits for conservation easements (HCN, 5/30/05: Colorado tax credits make easements work for working people): That is sure a shell game if I ever saw one. The Colorado Congress certainly found a way to help the rich get richer at the expense of all other taxpayers. Why doesn’t the state just buy […]

As a colorful portrait of a controversial, charismatic guy who likes horsepower, caffeine and litigation, two thumbs up to Ray Ring’s “Write-off on the Range” (HCN, 5/30/05: Write-off on the Range). As a piece of investigative journalism providing a useful, balanced look at conservation easements, the piece falls far short of HCN’s usually high standards. […]