Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Ranching advocates like Ed Marston and Rick Knight present a faulty argument when they assert that ranching can prevent sprawl (HCN, 1/20/03: THE GREAT RANCHING DEBATE). If we wish to prevent sprawl and its effects — a worthy goal — we need to implement effective land-conservation strategies. Ranching as a land-preservation strategy is […]

Dear HCN, The debate over cows on public lands (HCN, 1/20/03: THE GREAT RANCHING DEBATE) missed the best book I’ve yet read on the subject. HCN probably reviewed it back in 1995 when it was published, but its emphasis on national dialogue between opposing factions and realistically looking at what actually happens on the ground […]

Dear HCN, Just wanted to let you know what a great article I thought the essay “Fenced out of Bush’s gated empire” by Mary Sojourner was (HCN, 11/11/02: Fenced out of Bush’s gated empire). With so much pressure being put on publishers to only report that which is favorable for the ruling establishment and their political causes, […]

Dear HCN, I hope Ed Marston found his confession about his “change of heart” regarding immigration therapeutic (HCN, 2/3/03: The son of immigrants has a change of heart). Rather than wring his hands in public, he should take his ideas to their logical conclusion: a 30-foot border wall and citizenship for immigrants that have their […]

Dear HCN, Phil Cafaro’s letter “Real environmentalists don’t support immigration” and Ed Marston’s column on a similar topic (HCN, 2/3/03: The son of immigrants has a change of heart) strike me as a tad myopic. Are the lands in the West more worthy of preservation than those in Mexico; does not putting up barriers to […]

Dear HCN, I was greatly disappointed with Rebecca Clarren’s recent article on Oregon’s land-use legacy (HCN, 11/25/02: Planning’s poster child grows up). Her basic premise — using a handful of anecdotes and personal beliefs from interviewees to argue there is sweeping discontent with Oregon’s land-use system — is shoddy. Poll after poll shows that support […]

Dear HCN, As a planning director for Linn County, Ore., for 13 years (1981-94) I felt a responsibility to respond to Rebecca Clarren’s article, “Planning’s poster child grows up” (HCN, 11/25/02: Planning’s poster child grows up). There are a few inaccuracies; however, I found the article to be well-balanced. On the whole, the planning program […]

Dear HCN, “In search of the Glory Days” (HCN, 12/23/02: In search of the Glory Days) follows what has become a tradition at HCN — nostalgia for the West that has passed or is passing. In this case, it is the glory days of mining that are mourned and the present days of outdoor recreation […]

Dear HCN, Although I was pleased to see an HCN column touching upon immigration issues (HCN, 12/23/02: Holding open the door to the good life up north), Michelle Nijhuis painted a very one-sided picture of U.S. immigration policy. She submits that allowing illegal immigrants to use the matricula card as a form of legal identification […]

Dear HCN, I remember Leadville during the moly days and it was not a pleasant place — if one had longer hair, drove a Volkswagen and committed the sin of being an ecologist. I remember AMAX coming to my town, Crested Butte, offering to remove a mountain there, and having to fight them for five […]

Dear HCN, I am a third-generation Western Republican troubled by recent letters accusing HCN writers of “divisive rhetoric” and a “socialist or even communistic view” (HCN, 12/23/02). I had hoped that the incoming Bush administration would have the courage and leadership to promote economic growth and ecological sustainability. Instead, the administration launched an aggressive campaign […]

Dear HCN, Michelle Nijhuis sounds generous when she writes: “I can’t say I deserve the many benefits of living here more than the people in line do” (HCN, 12/23/02: Holding open the door to the good life up north). But as she helps the Mexican government encourage illegal immigration into the United States, by providing […]

Dear HCN, This past September, I was contacted by one of your reporters who was doing a story on the Stock Farm, a gated community in Hamilton, Mont. (HCN, 11/11/02: Behind the gate). The reporter contacted me because I am the director of a local nonprofit organization and she wanted to know if, in my […]

Dear HCN, As a longtime resident of the Bitterroot Valley I found the article concerning the Stock Farm development particularly poignant (HCN, 11/11/02: Behind the gate). Copper baron Marcus Daly used his Bitterroot estate, now the Stock Farm, as a retreat from the poisoned air, land and water of Butte and the Clark Fork Valley, […]

Dear HCN, Florence Williams’ article (HCN, 11/11/02: Behind the gate) on gated ranch communities was probably the least thoughtful article published by HCN in quite a few years. The clear theme of the article was that it is somehow unfair for wealthy outsiders to own land in the West. Contrary to Ms. Williams’ perception, there […]

Dear HCN, As a longtime subscriber and supporter of HCN, I was very disturbed by your recent article on Oregon’s land-use planning system (HCN, 11/25/02: Planning’s poster child grows up). The writer took way too much of the opposition to land-use planning at face value. Just about everybody has heard about some land-use bureaucratic nightmare, […]

Two recently released books, Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West and Ranching West of the 100th Meridian, offer very different visions of ranching’s place in the West. In a special feature, High Country News’ Ed Marston and Forest Guardians executive director John Horning, review the books and reopen the debate on the […]

Dear HCN, Rebecca’s Clarren article about Oregon’s 30-year-old land-use system was well-done and covered many of the pluses and minuses (HCN, 11/25/02: Shadow creatures). However, it did not include some basic statistics that reveal the widespread mis-zoning imposed on rural landowners throughout the state. The reality is that 97 percent of all rural private land […]

Dear HCN, Lynn and Janis Wood of Lebanon, Ore., display an insidious perspective emblematic of the contemporary West (HCN, 11/25/02: Planning’s post child grows up). Oregon formed its bedrock land-planning policies over 30 years ago. The Woods moved to Oregon three years ago. They knew — or should have known — the rules when they […]

Dear HCN, Cheap-shot personal hatchet jobs such as Paul Krza’s article “What Dick Cheney might have learned in Rock Springs, Wyoming” (HCN, 12/9/02: What Dick Cheney might have learned in Rock Springs, Wyoming) are out of order for a quality publication. You need to understand that your readership embraces a wide swath of thinking united […]