The Magazine

Modern-day scientists, retracing the path of Joseph
Grinnell in Yosemite National Park, document conspicuous changes in
the natural world and find a culprit unimagined by biologists 100
years ago: global warming.

Also in this
issue: On his 12th attempt, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif.,
succeeds in pushing a bill through the U.S. House designed to
reform the Endangered Species Act and end critical habitat
protection.

Susan Ryan, a young archaeologist, has some unusual ideas
about why the Anasazi left their homes in the Southwest, 700 years
ago.

Also in this issue: In the city
of Albuquerque, underdog candidate Eric Griego, a critic of sprawl,
challenges incumbent Mayor Marty Chavez, a pro-growth booster.

With only a tiny share of the Colorado River available to
it, Las Vegas decides to get the water it needs from elsewhere in
the state – underneath the rural high-desert Basin and Range
country.

Also in this issue: The Park
Service lands in hot water when Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary
Paul Hoffman secretly rewrites the agency’s management
manual, and the revision is leaked to the press.

The Quivira Coalition wants to bring peace and prosperity
to the West’s public grazing lands, but some critics question
whether the collaboration-based group can accomplish its goals.

Also in this issue: The Navajo Nation
is wrangling over the benefits – and dangers – of the
proposed Desert Rock Power Plant in northwestern New Mexico.

The Air Force wants to close Cannon Air Force Base, but
the nearby town of Clovis, N.M., is not ready to let go of its main
economic engine.

Also in this issue:
California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo holds a hearing in New
Mexico on the National Environmental Policy Act, and it’s up
to Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, to defend the law
against its conservative attackers.

In Mormon Country, young Polynesians search for identity
— and for an escape from a seemingly unstoppable cycle of
violence.

Also in this Issue: The BLM
lets the gas industry sit behind the desk and The Great Salt Lake
is loaded with mercury.

California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo made his mark
blasting the Endangered Species Act, but now, he says, he’s
learning to compromise on environmental issues.

Also in this issue: The Bureau of Land
Management rewrote a scientific report critical of its new grazing
rules, and two veteran scientists have quit the agency in protest.

A writer takes a 1,600-mile Greyhound bus ride from Salt
Lake City into Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, and listens
to the stories of the Westerners he meets.

Also
in this issue: The Bureau of Land Management is
tightening its standards on what it considers worthwhile,
“substantive” public comments from citizen activists.

The development boom in the West’s exurbs is
draining public coffers and destroying the region’s last
wide-open spaces.

Also in this issue:
A judge has thrown out the Bush administration’s salmon
protection plan, setting the stage for dramatic changes to the
federal hydropower system.

In Montana’s Madison County, Reid Rosenthal uses
conservation easements to help the land — and make his
investors rich.

Also in this issue:
Facing severe budget cuts, the Forest Service is selling off
property, and considering closing some recreation sites it
considers too expensive to maintain.

Despite angry environmentalists, rotting timber, and
unenthusiastic logging companies, the Bush administration is
determined to push logging on roadless land burned by the Biscuit
Fire in southwestern Oregon.

Also in this
issue: The House of Representatives has just passed an
energy bill that is even more outrageously friendly to industry
than the Bush administration had requested.

Colorado citizens voted last November to increase their
state’s reliance on power from the wind and sun, but King
Coal still rules the state, and the White House seems determined to
keep it on the throne.

Also in this
issue: Utah has finally convinced the Department of
Energy to move the Atlas uranium mine tailings pile from its site
just north of Moab, where the tailings are leaking into the
Colorado River.

Scientists are struggling to understand winter in the
West: the effects of the unusual weather on water and wildlife, and
whether the changes are linked to global warming

Also in this issue: Recently released e-mails
show that federal employees falsified information about the safety
of the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

Tough economics, drought, and increasing clashes with
other public-lands users are leading some ranchers to consider
taking the “golden saddle” – a check from conservationists in
exchange for their grazing permits.

Also in this
issue: Two researchers say that the “Sustainable Slopes”
program, touted by the National Ski Areas Association as a sign of
the industry’s environmental responsibility, is little more
than “greenwashing.”

Rampant growth in the Phoenix area and a severe drought on
the Colorado River challenge the sustainability of the Central
Arizona Project.

Also in this issue: A
groundbreaking settlement between New Mexico environmentalists and
the city of Albuquerque may keep water in the Middle Rio Grande and
help both farmers and endangered silvery minnows.

In 1969, the Atomic Energy Commission exploded an
underground nuclear bomb in western Colorado; today, the site of
Project Rulison is attracting natural gas drillers.

Also in this Issue: David Tenny of the
Department of Agriculture has used his discretionary powers to
alter the master plan for Colorado’s White River National
Forest, lessening its protections for water and wildlife.

Soul Searching environmentalists fear they’ve become
isolated and ineffective, but the story of Libby, Montana, and its
dying residents, shows that the movements missteps are only part of
the story.

A personal obsession leads the author into a world of
scientists, wildlife rehabilitators and eccentric artists who are
fascinated by the West’s road-killed wildlife.

Also in this issue: Some of the less-publicized
political appointments of George W. Bush’s second term will
have a huge effect on the West – particularly the people who
will direct the EPA, and the departments of Energy, Agriculture and
the Interior.

The study of tree rings opens a window into the
West’s distant past, and warns us that the region’s
future may be dangerously hot and dry. Also in
this issue: As the Colorado River Basin enters its sixth
year of drought, the seven states that rely on the river for water
are forced to work together on a new plan for water use.

Under increasing political pressure from the Bush
administration and its appointees, some agency scientists are
finding it difficult to keep both their jobs and their integrity.

Also in this issue: The omnibus
appropriations bill just passed by Congress contained more than a
few anti-environmental riders, but not all of them survived for the
president’s pen to sign.