Letter to the editor

Gail Binkly’s memories of hiking in the “good old days” (for her, the 1980s) ring a lot of bells (HCN, 8/4/03: When did we become such gear-toting wimps?). But does she really prefer those heavy boots made of solid rock and worn jeans that stayed wet for three days after a downpour? How she got […]

After reading “Invasion of the Rock Jocks” (HCN, 7/7/03: Invasion of the Rock Jocks), one might conclude that rock climbing impacts the environment on the scale of coal mining or desert off-road races. The article does highlight some real issues, but the generalizations are a little too sweeping, the values and motivations of climbers are […]

Mike Ryan’s defense of rock climbing (HCN, 7/7/03: Invasion of the rock jocks) — that “climbers aren’t just dirtbags … it’s mainstream now” and that they now are “doctors and lawyers” (and such, I must add) who by God “drive SUVs and have credit cards” is telling: telling us it’s an elitist avaricious capitalism that […]

Your August 18 news story, “Energy bill will likely boost drilling in the Rockies,” characterizes last year’s (and now this year’s) Senate energy bill as good for fish and fish passage. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The article incorrectly says that the energy bill passed again by the Senate “would force hydropower companies to […]

Gail Binkly is one lucky girl to have survived camping for nearly 20 years in a $19.95 tent (HCN, 8/4/03: When did we become such gear-toting wimps?). She joins countless others having copious amounts of good luck who climb to the summits of the 14,000-foot mountains around us wearing shorts and a T-shirt and without […]

Ray Ring’s wonderful story on fire in the West (HCN, 5/26/03: A losing battle) catches the deep tension we still have between a wild and tame West. Fire, just like grizzlies, drought, pine beetles and volcanoes, is a powerful force that has shaped Western ecosystems for millennia. One side of our Western culture has struggled […]

Tweeti Blancett’s article on fighting the gas drilling was timely, after just hearing Alan Greenspan expound on the need for increased drilling to improve our economy (HCN, 6/9/03: Why I fight: The coming gas explosion in the West). I appreciate her clarification that this is not a partisan issue. Nearly all issues these days seem […]

Although I think it is useful to consider the environmental impacts of rock climbing (HCN, 7/7/03: Invasion of the rock jocks), I have to wonder about the story’s lack of context. Of course, there are fewer plants and animals on a cliff face that climbers frequent. That seems quite obvious. However, out of all the […]

The article “Invasion of the Rock Jocks” presented a stilted picture of the climbing community’s commitment to environmental protection (HCN, 7/7/03: Invasion of the Rock Jocks). While pointing out the importance of educating young climbers and meeting the challenges of new trends in the sport, the article fails miserably to answer its own questions. Are […]

As an Albuquerque resident of 13 years, I read with interest your story “Truce remains elusive in Rio Grande water fight,” (HCN, 8/4/03: Truce remains elusive in Rio Grande water fight). The story was very good, but one bit of relevant information was not in the story. ALL of Albuquerque’s drinking water comes from wells. […]

Your cover story, “Pipe Dreams,” says water always moves to the big money in the cities (HCN, 8/4/03: Pipe Dreams). So does everything else. It’s the way the system works, but it’s not just. Why is it so difficult for the West to install a democratic water distribution system? Because the country doesn’t have a […]

In your recent issue on oil and gas development in the Rockies (HCN, 8/18/03: Gas crisis puts Rockies in hot seat), you printed an industry group chart which purports to display the onerous “seasonal stipulations” attached to many BLM oil and gas leases, an example (in the industry’s view) of the “restrictions and impediments” hindering […]

When it comes to fire, we need to get going on some concrete changes and stop pussyfooting around (HCN, 5/26/03: A losing battle). I can’t speak for spruce stands in Wyoming, or Doug-fir old growth in Oregon, or redwood groves in California, but let me say this about ponderosa forests and the sky islands of […]

As a consultant who is involved with restoration silviculture from the ponderosa pine forests of New Mexico to the Oregon white oak forests of the Willamette Valley, I have been frustrated with the lack of understanding by the general public, as well as federal and state land managers, of the reasons behind the increase in […]

Wildfires are again raging as heat and drought continue across the West. Now that Congress has recessed without providing any funding for firefighting, the U.S. Forest Service is expected to keep fighting the fires, and to take the money needed for that task from other areas in its already shrinking budget. Though our national parks […]

Matt Jenkins did a good job of tying together the complex threads of the Vidler Water Company story (HCN, 8/4/03: Pipe Dreams), a mind-boggling tale of the potential horrors of water commodification and the boundless greed of resource predators like Vidler. Vidler certainly deserves our wary attention, but it is also important to point out […]

I am writing to clarify a statement regarding policy positions of The Wilderness Society in the debate over fire and fuels legislation (HCN, 7/7/03: As fires rage, governors counsel discretion). I believe the statement that we support “loosening up environmental laws” could be taken wrong and wish to set the record straight. The Wilderness Society […]

I must respond to the article, “Back on the range?” (HCN, 7/7/03). The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes were paid TWICE for the land that became the National Bison Range: Once at $1.56 per acre in the early 1900s, and again in 1971, when the tribal government successfully sued the federal government and won something […]

The tribes believe the payments did not cover what they lost. The 1971 court ruling only calculated the land’s market value, not the other economic and cultural losses the tribes sustained when the federal government divided up their reservation, and sold off more than 400,000 acres to non-Indians. On the question of dollars alone, a […]

Your story about the hand-over of three national wildlife refuges to a Montana tribe oversimplified a very complex issue (HCN, 7/7/03: Back on the range?). Despite your portrayal of talks between the Department of the Interior and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes as a unique attempt to reunite the tribes with bison and lands […]