The Magazine

Until recently, Las Vegas appeared to be thriving on its unique brand of illusion, while the rest of the country wallowed in a deepening recession. Now hard times have come to Glitter Gulch and the Strip, too, once thought immune to economic doldrums.

HCN editor Ed Marston says: The dozen or so articles in this issue came out of two visits to the high desert country of southeastern Oregon in summer and fall 1991. I went there convinced that, perhaps over the medium term, public-land ranching was doomed.”

The key question in 1992 is whether pro-fish political forces, with the aid of the Endangered Species Act, can change dam operations fast enough, and significantly enough, to save the salmon.

The assumption underlying new county ordinances is that grazing permits are the “intangible” property of the permittee. Federal agencies, meanwhile, insist that grazing permits have always been a privilege, not a right.

… but the trouble is few want to hear that thousands of acres are poisonous to plants, cows and people.

Apaches split over nuclear waste, the government seeks radiation warnings that will endure the test of time, and more.

An animal-rights activist has wounded or killed hunts for black bears in California and Colorado, grizzly bears and buffalo in Montana, and elk in Arizona, and has his sights set on other hunts in the West.

Frank and Deborah Popper see themselves as carrying a timely, well-meant warning to the Great Plains. But most Great Plains residents see the two New Jersey academics as alarmists, and their Buffalo Commons idea as malicious.

Native Americans are in the best position to alter the way dams are operated as developers ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to renew licenses for 170 of the nation’s oldest hydropower projects.

Overwhelmed by the current wave of tourism, federal administrators of the public land surrounding Moab say they are unprepared to handle the environmental impacts of off-trail biking, four-wheeling and unregulated camping.

Congress could consider comprehensive reforms to the 1872 Mining Law for the first time since the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920.

Working undercover, agents bought an array of illegal poisons, learned how to lace carcasses with them, and visited ranches where deadly baits were left for predators.

John Mumma came alone to a packed subcommittee hearing Sept. 24 to denounce the agency that — for three decades — he put above family and friends …

Missoulian reporter Richard Manning told how the logging business in Montana had taken a brutal turn that would punish the land, the local economy, and the small-time loggers and mills.

The Forest Service goes head-to-head with an angry rancher.

Early this month Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan issued a decree to alter the operation of a key faucet on the Colorado River — Glen Canyon Dam.

Colorado attorney declares “First in time, first in right” dead.

The Central Utah Project is yet another sign that the West’s and the nation’s attitude toward water is changing.

I want to tell you about a fish, a place named for it, and a recent weekend there that I will not forget.

The wilderness debate is forcing rural Utahns to confront their deepest hopes and fears.