The Mount Hood National Forest has traditionally been a weekend haven for many Oregonians, but it might not be for long. The three wilderness areas that lie within the forest have eight times as many visitors as they did 10 years ago, and an average of 900 hikers crowd the Mount Hood Wilderness Area during […]
Recreation
Posted inMay 10, 1999: My beautiful ranchette
Hoping for river magic on a trip with Dad
What do you feel when you stick your parents in the river? I have in my office an 11-by-14-inch photo of my dad and me in Lava Falls on the Colorado River. It’s a fine river photo: just heads and oar tips visible in the V-wave. It’s printed off a Polaroid. My father clutched it […]
Posted inApril 26, 1999: Visionaries or dreamers?
Star light, star bright, where are you tonight?
Growing up in Canyonlands National Park in the 1940s and ’50s, Alan Wilson often took camping trips into remote areas of Utah with his father, Bates Wilson, Canyonlands’ first superintendent. “The sky was absolutely brilliant at night,” Alan Wilson recalls. Last summer, Wilson returned to Canyonlands. Instead of finding a stark, black sky filled with […]
Posted inMarch 29, 1999: Wheeling and dealing
Officials seek the “complete’ Canyonlands
A new proposal by Canyonlands National Park superintendent Walt Dabney would more than double the park’s size, from 368,000 acres to about 852,000 acres. Dabney says the proposal “completes’ Canyonlands by drawing park boundaries along natural features. He hopes it will serve as a model for future park planning. “This is in the public arena […]
Posted inMarch 29, 1999: Wheeling and dealing
Secretary Babbitt meets a tough crowd
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt got an earful when he announced his plans for a new national monument on the Shivwits Plateau, or “Arizona Strip” north of the Grand Canyon. About 500 people packed a meeting March 8 in the Cline Library at Northern Arizona University to debate the proposal. Calling the plateau […]
Posted inMarch 29, 1999: Wheeling and dealing
Plans for a new park in Arizona
In 1966, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall drafted a plan to turn more than 1 million square miles of desert in his home state of Arizona into a national park. But the idea for a Sonoran Desert National Park died at the hands of a lame-duck President, Lyndon Johnson. Now, the park idea has resurfaced, driven […]
Posted inMarch 29, 1999: Wheeling and dealing
Where do we put the condos?
DRIGGS, Idaho – This southeast Idaho town is like a forgotten cousin to the ski mecca town of Jackson, Wyo., 40 miles away on the other side of Teton Pass. The wave of development that has descended on Jackson has mostly bypassed this part of Idaho, even though both communities share a spectacular view of […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Paddlers want onto ‘the Everest of rivers’
The Black Canyon of Yellowstone National Park seems to swallow the Yellowstone River in one gigantic gulp. From the canyon’s mouth, rapids turn the river into a powerful torrent that careens into Gardiner, Mont., the north entrance to the park. Mention the Black Canyon to many experienced boaters, and their eyes will glimmer and private […]
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
Are snowmobiles overpowering parks?
During the peak of the snowy season in Yellowstone National Park, as many as 1,000 snowmobiles a day roar over its groomed roads. Critics say the machines cause more noise and air pollution than the park should have to handle. Park rangers who sell entrance tickets complain of headaches and nausea from breathing in clouds […]
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
Yellowstone soft on safety
After five people working in Yellowstone National Park were accidentally killed in a little less than four years, a federal investigation found that the first and most famous national park had ignored hundreds of safety regulations. “Employees at almost all levels demonstrated an unwillingness to take responsibility for safety,” concluded a 1998 report by the […]
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
User fee critics contest report
New gate fees charged in national parks and other federal recreation areas raise money without turning away visitors, according to a recent General Accounting Office report. But the report was based only on the comments of people at trailheads who were willing to fill out cards; those not bothering to respond or who protested by […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
No love for Lycra in Moab
For the third time since October, someone has fired shots into the empty fee booth at the entrance to Moab’s Sand Flats Recreation Area, which includes the popular Slickrock bike trail. The Bureau of Land Management and Sand Flats are offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the culprits. Investigators have no leads, but […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 1999: Uncommon Bounty
Snowmobilers booted from Montana forest
SUPERIOR, Mont. – About 300 snowmobilers from across the Northwest congregated here Jan. 2 for a bittersweet rally. For many, it was likely the last ride to their favorite destination – the 89,500-acre proposed Great Burn Wilderness Area that straddles the border of Montana and Idaho. Two days later, the Lolo National Forest closed 400,000 […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Fees feed volunteers
Years of budget-cutting have taken their toll on the trails and roads of the national parks, and the Park Service is using a windfall from increased user fees to clean up its act. Two million dollars in park user fees have jump-started the Public Land Corps, a program administered by the nonprofit Student Conservation Association. […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Oregon Caves park to grow
Oregon Caves National Monument is known for its crystal pools and delicate mineral deposits, yet at 480 acres, it’s tiny. The final version of a new management plan, however, calls for expanding the monument by seven times – to 3,400 acres – a notion first discussed in the 1930s. “It’s difficult to manage a natural […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Ski the Butte?
Since the 1960s, some locals in Klamath Falls, Ore., have eyed Pelican Butte and dreamed of outfitting its snowy, timbered slopes with chairlifts and challenging ski runs. Past attempts fell flat when financiers ran out of money. Now, a Klamath Falls-based company with deep pockets is leading the effort to build a ski resort in […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
The great bison chase continues
Fifteen bison thundered along a barbed-wire fence in West Yellowstone while officials from the Montana Department of Livestock chased them from snowmobiles in December. After running the herd for a half an hour through a privately owned field, officials cornered eight. Then they shot blanks from rifles into the air, set off firecrackers and yelled […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Starry, starry night
Many New Mexicans worry that their ability to see the stars is vanishing. Because light pollution is increasing, the New Mexico Historic Preservation Alliance has declared the night sky one of the 11 most endangered places in the state. “The night sky has always been looked at as simply a natural resource,” says National Park […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Keystone snowmakers get thirsty
Ski resorts are working overtime to beef up the sparse early season snowfall in the Central Rockies, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board thinks snowmakers at the Keystone Ski Area might be working a little too hard. In early December, the Summit County resort pulled more than its share of water out of the nearby […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
ATV revolt
ATV revolt A proposal to close 400 miles of forest roads and 200 miles of trails to motorized vehicles on the Targhee National Forest has raised a storm of protest. The road closures are intended to decrease road densities in a grizzly bear recovery area – a move recommended by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife […]