The Magazine

The battle over oil and gas drilling in the Palisades area straddling the Idaho-Wyoming border illustrates the chaotic way in which natural resource development and wilderness preservation decisions are made.

Was this year’s high water a “controlled flood” as the Bureau of Reclamation contends? Or was it, as residents along the Lower Colorado maintain, a “manmade disaster”?

Despite a few rearguard skirmishes over the “scientific” question, the real issue has become: how much reduction in acidic emissions will there be, and how will those reduction be achieved?

Everyone from dam builders to dam blockers agrees that no new, large and federally funded dams are likely to be built.

The Rockies and Great Plains are home to virtually all of the United States’ land-based nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The proposed San Juan Basin coal sale in northwest New Mexico is one of four massive competitive lease sales planned by the Interior Department.

Gary Hart, Colorado’s senior senator and the Rocky Mountain West’s own presidential candidate, talks conservation in Snowmass Village.

A special issue on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with news on geothermal development near Yellowstone National Park and mining the Stillwater’s platinum.

The Energy Security Act of 1980 gave the U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation a mandate to produce millions of barrels of oil and gas from the nation’s oil shale, coal and tar sands, but the effort hasn’t gone much beyond the laboratory bench.

The election of Ronald Reagan — the most outspoken anti-environmental presidential candidate since Earth Day in 1970 — has sparked an unprecedented growth in environmental groups.

The five-year Flathead Basin Environmental Impact Study has brought together biologists, geologists and social scientists to predict potential impacts of growth on a northwest Montana valley.

A special issue on Montana’s populist politics, including a review of the 1983 Montana Legislature and a “Montana Bestiary.”

On Colorado’s western slope, the collapse of the rising oil shale boom has been both deep and wide.

Should the multi-billion dollar Intermountain Power Project, a large coal-fired power plant, be regulated by the Utah Public Service Commission?

Yellowstone National Park’s image is being been tarnished by disturbing facts emerging about one of the western wilderness’ most critical ingredients: the grizzly bear.

A special issue on forest planning, including summaries of forest plans in the Rockies and forest policy revisions, plus articles on RARE III, Montana’s Lewis and Clark Forest, and more.

As a result of slower than expected demand, due in part to conservation efforts, dozens of proposed power facilities have been cancelled or delayed.

A special issue on Arizona and New Mexico, with articles on nuclear waste disposal, coal mining in the Bisti Badlands, erosion of Grand Canyon beaches, and the Central Arizona Project.

Widespread use of political action committees, a relatively new phenomenon on the American political scene, is driving politics in many Western states.

A special issue on the identity of the Rocky Mountains, with articles on regional politics, watersheds and bioregions, a closeup on Yellowstone National Park, and more.