The Magazine

It’s not easy to wean Westerners away from their
lush, traditional, turfgrass lawns, but with drought an increasing
fact of life, Xeriscape gardening is finally catching on.

Also in this issue: Three compromise wilderness
bills have passed the House and now await Senate approval.

The science behind endangered species is extremely
complicated, as seen in the clash between biologist Rob Roy Ramey
II and geneticist Tim King over whether Preble’s meadow
jumping mouse in Colorado is truly a legitimate subspecies
deserving protection.

Also in this
issue: New Mexico and other Western states are eagerly
vying to get into the movie business, offering film companies an
assortment of tax breaks and financial incentives.

The Western states are home to a stealth campaign by
libertarians who – under the guise of reforming eminent
domain – are out to destroy all land-use planning through
“takings” ballot initiatives.

Also in this
issue: Even as Western states debate the best way to look
after their roadless areas, logging, drilling and mining are
already happening on some formerly protected lands.

In the desert Southwest in 2030, with “Big Daddy Drought”
in full swing and California claiming all the water, a “water tick”
named Lolo ekes out a rugged living removing tamarisk.

Also in this issue: With the Interior
West’s national parks facing an increase in haze and air
pollution, Rocky Mountain National Park is working with government
agencies to improve air quality.

Phoenix, Ariz., is determined to disprove the idea that
the West will someday run out of water and that every boom has to
come to an end.

Also in this issue:
Newly appointed Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has a chance to
use his deal-making abilities to bring change to the way Western
public lands are managed.

In his determination to cling, however hopelessly, to
Utah’s past, Canyon Country Zephyr founder
Jim Stiles has taken on miners, ranchers, developers, mountain
bikers and – most recently – some of his fellow
environmentalists.

Also in this issue:
“Divine Strake” — a proposed weapons detonation at the Nevada
Test Site — has stirred up fears of radioactive contamination
and the possibility of a new nuclear arms race.

This special issue of High Country News
takes an on-the-ground look at the human landscape of illegal
immigration in the West.

An unusual grassroots coalition of citizen activists stops
a coal-fired merchant power plant from being built in Idaho’s
Magic Valley.

Also in this issue:
Despite the promises of the Healthy Forests Act, the Bush
administration has proposed sweeping cuts to community fire
programs in the West.

Four years after President Bush launched his Healthy
Forests Initiative, the Western woods are abuzz.

Also in this issue: “Nevada style” wilderness
bill comes to Utah and Citizens unite against gas field chaos.

A native New Mexican tries to understand the heroin
epidemic that is destroying the Hispano community of the Espanola
Valley,

Also in this issue: Interior
Secretary Gale Norton’s decision to resign prompts a look at
Interior’s conservative counterrevolution during her tenure,
along with its unintended consequences.

With all the formerly cool, “undiscovered” small towns now
caught up in the New West’s booming real estate frenzy,
it’s getting hard to find an affordable place to call home.

Also in this issue: A working group of
23 experts convened by the nonprofit Keystone Center could not
reach consensus over how to reform the Endangered Species
Act’s critical habitat provisions.

Faced with rising temperatures and a passive federal
government, Western towns such as Aspen, Colo., are beginning to
work out a local approach to combating global warming.

Also in this issue: President Bush revives a
proposal to sell off public lands managed by the BLM and the Forest
Service as part of his 2007 budget.

In Riverside County, Calif., the conflict between the
Endangered Species Act’s critical habitat rule and the
West’s booming, sprawling, growth-driven economy comes to a
head.

Also in this issue: The seven
states of the Colorado River Basin have come to a groundbreaking
agreement that, among other things, will allow cities such as Las
Vegas to lease water from out-of-state farms during times of
drought.

The first bison hunt in 15 years was supposed to offer
hope for a reasonable solution to Yellowstone’s
‘buffalo problem,’ but a lifelong hunter who watched it
says the senseless slaughter continues.

Also in
this issue: A group of scientists at Oregon State
University’s College of Forestry publish a controversial
study saying salvage logging may actually slow forest recovery.

As the West’s privately owned timberlands go up for
sale, small towns like Glenwood, Wash., are working to buy local
forests and manage them for the good of the community.

Also in this issue: The closing down of the
Mohave Generating Station and the Black Mesa Mine are both a
victory for environmentalists and Indian water activists, and an
economic catastrophe for the Hopi and Navajo nations.

In Montana’s dying farm country, “vanguard
agriculture” is putting people back to work on the land.

Also in this issue: Concerned citizens overflow
a meeting in Delta, Colo., as a crucial deadline for protecting
roadless areas in national forests nears.

The end of the oil and gas era may be in sight, but the
current energy boom in the West means that a rough and wild ride is
still ahead.

Also in this issue: After
Michele DeHart of the Fish Passage Center in Portland, Ore.,
publicly supported a plan to protect salmon, angry lawmakers led by
Sen. Larry Craig yanked the center’s funding.

Energy companies are reaping billions in the West today,
but few states are making sure that enough of that wealth stays at
home and is invested wisely.

Also in this
issue: The long and carefully planned campaign to protect
the Ojito Wilderness in New Mexico holds useful lessons for
wilderness activists across the West.

Denver, Colo., one of the West’s most sprawling,
traffic-choked cities, has become a champion of mass transit with
FasTracks, its ambitious light-rail project.

Also in this issue: A provision in the new
energy bill promises funding to speed up the oil and gas permitting
process in BLM offices – without costing the industry an
extra penny.

Elaborate marijuana gardens created and managed by Mexican
drug lords are turning California’s public lands into a
dangerous, illegal, industrial-style landscape.

Also in this issue: The Forest Service’s
claim that a recent court order would suspend routine activities
– such as cutting Christmas trees or picking mushrooms
– has been dismissed by the judge as the agency’s
attempt to blow the issue out of proportion.