Sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, a new campaign aims to slow the flow of guns bought in Arizona and smuggled into Mexico. “Don’t lie for the other guy” is currently emblazoned on 92 […]
Politics
Posted inRange
Seeing the Forest for the… Wildlife?
While Americans love animals—half the nation are pet owners and billions of dollars are spent on wildlife and bird watching each year — our animal affinity seems to wear a little thin when it comes to nitty-gritty policy debate. But policy is what allows forests to be clear cut and hazardous mining runoff to end […]
Posted inWotr
Cow-free at last
Deep in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument of southern Oregon lies my favorite wildflower meadow. This summer I need to step carefully, to avoid the lush clumps of Jacob’s Ladder blossoms and the delicate columbines, their blooms nodding in the breeze. I breathe in the scents of the wild: the spice of the conifers, the earthy […]
Posted inGoat
Why West?
In an attempt to clear the craziness clouding the health care debate and drum up support for a public option, President Obama parachuted into unfriendly territory last Saturday—and not for the first time. It was his second visit to Grand Junction, Colo., in conservative Mesa County, where John McCain spanked him last year, 64 to […]
Posted inAugust 17, 2009: From Corn to Cabernet
Affirmative actions
Homer Lee Wilkes. Ignacia Moreno. Hilary Tompkins. Each is a member of a racial or ethnic minority. Each has been nominated by Barack Obama — the first black president — to a high position with power over environmental issues in the West. And each has faced skepticism from environmentalists. On May 5, Obama picked Wilkes […]
Posted inRay
Obama does Montana … and vice versa
Preparing to be in a Montana town hall with the president of the United States on August 14, 2009: First think about what to wear. Faded jeans? That would be Montana-ish. But notice a hole worn right though the old denim. So not the faded jeans. Maybe the dark blue jeans that haven’t faded yet […]
Posted inGoat
Bribery slips under the border
It starts with a $50 bill. Then $5,000, just to look the other way at the port of inspections. Suddenly the formerly-loyal U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer has become yet another link in the chain of corruption, bribery, contraband and violence that plagues the southern border. And he’s not the only one. An Associated […]
Posted inGoat
“Impossible to remain silent”
When Laura Amos of Silt, Colo., was diagnosed in 2003 with a rare adrenal condition, she began to suspect that it had something to do with four natural gas wells less than 1000 feet from her home. After EnCana Corporation drilled the wells in 2001, the family’s tap water resembled fizzy, gray soda pop. Amos […]
Posted inJuly 27, 2009: The Most Cooked-Up Catch
The same old Sen. Reid?
The Nevada lawmaker has a long history of opposing attempts to reform an antiquated federal mining law
Posted inArticles
Having your cake and eating it, too
Gary Nabhan defends collaborative conservation
Posted inGoat
Fire and Smoke
Back in June of this year I did a GOAT Blog post on the wildfires that burned during the summer of 2008 in Northwest California. In October of 2008 I posted a commentary on reasons why western wildfires are getting larger. Included in the June report was the controversy that arose in Northwest California last […]
Posted inGoat
Let it burn?
Despite wildfires smoldering across the West in recent weeks (outside of Denver, in Southern California, and near Arizona’s Kitt Peak Observatory), one Colorado town is backing off on wildfire protection. Breckenridge, Colo., a mountain resort town about 80 miles southwest of Denver, this week revoked an ordinance requiring homeowners to thin vegetation and remove trees […]
Posted inRay
Obama enviros
My list of 37 influential environmentalists who are in — or very close to — the Obama administration (updated most recently on Sept. 10, 2009): I’m not saying environmentalists run everything now — far from it. But most commentators focus on industry people who gain political power, so I’ll contribute something original by tracking enviros. […]
Posted inJuly 27, 2009: The Most Cooked-Up Catch
What we got here is a failure to collaborate
Updated Aug. 24, 2009 On July 10, President Obama announced his nomination of Jonathan Jarvis as the next director of the National Park Service. Jarvis has worked for the agency for 30 years and directed its Pacific West region since 2002. Many of his colleagues contend that he not only has scientific training, but is […]
Posted inGoat
Princes and paupers
California state parks learned their fate yesterday when the Governator finally got around to signing the state budget. He didn’t wield quite the large knife he’d (creepily) threatened to, cutting only $14.2 million from the parks’ budget—drastically less than the $143 million he’d earlier proposed. Here’s what Elizabeth Goldstein of the California State Parks Foundations […]
Posted inRay
More on forest power plays
Here are three more takes on experiments in running the West’s national forests differently — follow-up to my High Country News story, “Taking Control of the Machine.” —– Do I think the experiments will succeed? … That question was posed by Colorado Public Radio host Kirk Siegler, when he interviewed me last Friday on KUNC […]
Posted inJuly 27, 2009: The Most Cooked-Up Catch
Nirvana on a backhoe
Habitat restorer Kim Erion’s heartfelt connection to her work
Posted inJuly 20, 2009: Thinking Outside the Timber Box
Wild Turkey, gunfire and big pipelines
Aaron Million’s quest to pipe Wyoming water to urban Colorado
Posted inGoat
WOPR goes down in flames
In a development applauded by environmental interests and even some Oregon politicians, the US Department of Interior announced on July 16th that it would withdraw the proposed Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) because it “is legally indefensible.” The WOPR was part of a suite of efforts by the Bush Administration to weaken protections for the […]
Posted inRay
A farmer’s wilderness deal
I followed a log truck on a dirt road, breathing the dust it churned up — heading to the RY Timber mill in Townsend, Montana, last Friday. The truck stopped on the scales by the mill to have its load weighed. I kept going only a few more yards to strangest-ever press conference for a […]