Mexican wolves caught in the crossfire of the battle over public lands.
Politics
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Jim Detterline to the rescue
NAME Jim Detterline OCCUPATION Rocky Mountain National Park ranger NUMBER OF TIMES STRUCK BY LIGHTNING Three MOST TURTLES EVER OWNED AT ONE TIME 80 (When Detterline was a kid) DEGREES Master’s in vertebrate zoology, Ph.D. in invertebrate zoology HOBBIES Plays the trumpet Jim Detterline is a man of average size, lean, but not small. Still, […]
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Wake up to the West, wannabe presidents
The Democratic presidential debate in Nevada this November was promoted as a chance for candidates to engage with the West and its concerns, but it might as well have been held in Anywhere, USA. The moderator, four journalists and most of the audience ignored every critical issue that’s central to our region. The first issue, […]
Posted inWotr
Wake up, wannabe presidents
The Democratic presidential debate in Nevada this November was promoted as a chance for candidates to engage with the West and its concerns, but it might as well have been held in Anywhere, USA. The moderator, four journalists andmost of the audience ignored every critical issue that?s central to us here. The first issue is […]
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
Two weeks in the West
November is the most political month, for better or worse, even in odd-numbered years. Thus we’ve just learned that two more of the West’s top Republicans are quitting: Wyoming Rep. Barbara Cubin and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo both announced that they won’t run for re-election when their terms expire next year. They’re joining a crowd […]
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
Stretching the notion of neighbor
Seven years ago, Rev. Peter Sawtell took a leap of faith. He founded a nonprofit organization in Denver called Eco-Justice Ministries and became one of a small handful of Westerners working full-time on faith-based environmental issues. Nearly a decade later, the United Church of Christ minister is busy consulting with clergy, preaching to congregations around […]
Posted inWotr
One small voice against blundering into another war
On television recently, I heard Norman Podhoretz, an advisor to Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani, advocate the bombing of Iran, and it was clear that a drumbeat of opinion was pushing us toward another war in the Middle East. I mentioned this to a Portland friend who follows politics closely, and he told me to […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Sniffin’ out scat for conservation
NAME Wicket OCCUPATION Scat detection dog AGE 3 HOBBIES Playing with balls, chasing the stream from a hose Go to work,” Aimee Hurt calls. It’s a cool August afternoon in Montana’s Blackfoot Valley. Dressed in an orange vest and bear bells, Wicket begins sweeping across the trail, running in wide arcs, jumping downed trees, traveling […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Tractor politicking
Dennis McDonald pulls Montana to the left
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Spinner of yarns, maker of floats
Name: Black George Simmons Occupation: Volunteer ranger at the White Grass Ranger Station in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Unofficial duties: Making root beer floats for hikers, tallying mouse deaths, publishing The White Grass Morning Report newsletter Business White Grass Dating – For Ladies: “The Alice’s Restaurant of the Dating Services” Claim to fame: Chief […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
He loves nature. And dams.
NAME Paul Ostapuk AGE 50 HOME BASE Page, Arizona VOCATION Engineer and meteorologist at the Navajo Generating Station, part of the Salt River Project NOTED FOR what he does when not paying the bills. Ostapuk is the Arizona director of the Old Spanish Trail Association, a member of the Glen Canyon Natural History Association and – […]
Posted inSeptember 3, 2007: A Climate Change Solution?
Clean energy activist reflects on corporate influence in New Mexico legislation
NAME: Ben Luce AGE: 44 Resume: Ten years at Los Alamos National Laboratory working on nonlinear dynamics; co-founder and former director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy; founder, Break The Grip. Minimum number of Task Force seats Governor Richardson appointed him to: Five (all relating to energy.) Minimum number of harmonicas carried […]
Posted inWotr
It’s time to break the silence on the Iraq War
Forty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. famously said: “A time comes when silence is betrayal. And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.” King’s opposition to the war in Asia was immediately denounced as “demagogic slander” by Time magazine. But others also spoke out. George W. Ball, undersecretary of State, told […]
Posted inAugust 20, 2007: Bonfire of the Superweeds
Sculpting a reason to love the wind
NAME Gary Bates AGE 61 HOMETOWN Amsterdam, Montana OCCUPATION Sculptor, former farmboy KNOWN FOR Creating huge kinetic sculptures SAYS “I don’t know if these pieces are going to work. I hope they are. But you never know for sure.” WHAT THE HECK DOES “KETCHERSCHMITT” MEAN, ANYWAY? It’s a made-up word combining “catcher’s mitt” and “Messerschmitt” […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Pony up
When it comes to fund raising, Mitt Romney is the West’s presidential candidate
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Changing the world, one car at a time
NAME Greg Rock VOCATION Inventor, owner and co-founder of the Green Car Company FAVORITE BEER Red Hook HE SAYS “If we go the green route, I think the world will follow us. If we don’t, hopefully the world won’t!” WHAT HE’S READING NOW The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook When he speaks about […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2007: Hydrogen Highway Revisited
Throwing raptors into flight
NAME: Rob Domenech VOCATION: founder and lead biologist for Raptor View Research Institute HOME BASE: Missoula, Montana KNOWN FOR: banding more golden eagles in the U.S. than all other banding stations combined SPARE-TIME SPORT: grappling jujitsu On an exposed ridge in Montana’s Helena National Forest, high on the blustery Rocky Mountain Front, Rob Domenech recoils […]
Posted inWotr
An EPA staffer fights to the end
Six years into this grand experiment called the Bush-Cheney administration, it’s easy to be blasé about how drastically morale has fallen within the offices of federal agencies. It’s with respect, then, and not flippancy, that I write these words: The political system that destroys the careers and lives of environmentally minded civil servants is about […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
Worth the work
NAME: Jeremias Pink AGE: 24 VOCATION: Graphic designer, nonprofit organizer, bicycle mechanic HOME BASE: Pocatello, Idaho KNOWN FOR: Giving away bicycles HE’S READING: Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by anthropologist Michael Taussig FAVORITE FOOD: “I eat what I’m told.” HE SAYS: “Whether or not we’re accomplishing our mission […]
Posted inJune 11, 2007: Brave New Hay
John Nichols and his 19th miracle
NAME: John Nichols VOCATION: Author of 19 books offiction and nonfiction, including The Milagro Beanfield War, The Sterile Cuckoo, Conjugal Bliss, The Voice of the Butterfly and If Mountains Die. AGE: 66 Thoughts on Death and THE Afterlife “You just die. It’s over, Rover.” Advice: “Part of surviving is not to stress yourself out and […]