Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, “Walla Walla Basin sidesteps a water war.” SCHURZ, Nev. – Robert Quintero, the chairman of the Walker River Paiute Tribal Council, apprehensively surveys the sun-baked view of his tribe’s 360,000-acre reservation near the Nevada-California […]
Water
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
Water threat inspires a rare alliance
Proposed power plants could draw down aWashington/Idaho aquifer
Posted inApril 1, 2002: Move over! Will snowmobile tourism relax its grip on a gateway town?
Drought pinches Colorado River reservoirs
California’s ‘surplus’ water not in jeopardy, yet
Posted inMarch 18, 2002: How I lost my town
In California, no water project is too big
In a state like California, where half the population relies on water that has been pumped hundreds of miles across deserts or thousands of feet over mountains, you might think it difficult to devise a plan nutty enough to draw jeers. Yet an Alaska company has managed to do just that. At first blush, I […]
Posted inMarch 18, 2002: How I lost my town
A dusty lake is plumbed halfway back to life
The dry bed of Owens Lake has a primal, wind-wracked sort of gestalt. With the Sierra crest towering almost 11,000 feet to the west and the blazing eye of the sun high overhead, it’s easy to believe you’re standing on the salt-rimmed edge of the sky. Owens Lake hasn’t actually been a lake for three-quarters […]
Posted inMarch 4, 2002: Seed in the ground
Tug-of-war over water
COLORADO The Colorado Legislature is considering a measure that could turn the tide for fish, rivers and rafters. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, would allow irrigators and municipalities to retain rights to water they choose to leave instream for fish and boaters. Under current law, irrigators must use or lose their […]
Posted inMarch 4, 2002: Seed in the ground
Klamath Basin II: The saga continues
National Academy of Sciences study produces more controversy in Oregon
Posted inFebruary 18, 2002: Here lies the Rio Grande
A river on the line
A trip through the U.S.-Mexico borderlands reveals a tough road ahead for the Rio Grande
Posted inFebruary 18, 2002: Here lies the Rio Grande
Here lies the Rio Grande
A telling end to the tangled story of a once-great river
Posted inFebruary 4, 2002: Last dance for the sage grouse?
Scoot over, farms – ducks are moving in
A restoration effort in northern Idaho recreates wetlands
Posted inJanuary 21, 2002: Finding the words
Alternative development goes mainstream
A good hard rain in the Pacific Northwest’s urban areas can be bad news for the environment. Storm water draining off rooftops and through gutters can carry pollutants, damaging streams and wildlife habitat. Now, a group of planners may have a solution. Called low-impact development (LID), it focuses on innovative ways to manage storm water […]
Posted inDecember 17, 2001: Bad moon rising
Show me the water
CALIFORNIA The California state assembly says developers must prove they have water rights before they receive final approval for their subdivisions. State legislators have debated a water-rights mandate for nearly a decade; it took the state’s electricity crisis (HCN, 1/29/01: Power on the loose), which raised the specter of natural resource shortages, to push Senate […]
Posted inDecember 3, 2001: Closing the wounds
A water tale to set you on fire
Documentary filmmaker Drury Gunn Carr doesn’t seem to mind a little violence. Past projects with fellow producer Doug Hawes-Davis record coyote extermination (HCN, 7/31/00: Killing Coyote), wild horse harassment (HCN, 8/13/01: On the trail of an “exotic” native) and prairie dog shooting (HCN, 1/18/99: Another dog done gone) with a grim, unflinching eye. Thankfully, Gunn […]
Posted inNovember 19, 2001: Bringing back the bosque
Savage controversy peacefully resolved
OREGON After a decade of political discord and legal brawls with conservationists, an Oregon irrigation district has agreed to breach the Savage Rapids Dam (HCN, 6/22/98: Locals stand behind an aging dam). The dam’s sole function is to provide irrigation water from the Rogue River to local farmers, but according to federal agencies, it kills […]
Posted inNovember 19, 2001: Bringing back the bosque
Bringing back the bosque
Pueblo tribes take the lead in restoring the Rio Grande’s riverside forest
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Agencies tangle over Hells Canyon dams
Federal energy commission evades endangered species conservation
Posted inOctober 22, 2001: Healing the Gila
The Rio Grande’s unsung diplomat
River activist ‘Uncle Steve’ Harris makes waves rather than headlines
Posted inOctober 8, 2001: Whoa! Canada!
Army Corps wavers on management plan
MISSOURI RIVER BASIN The release of an environmental impact statement on the operation of six dams along the Missouri River has resparked a 12-year-old debate on how to best use the waterway. During the late 1980s, a long drought created hard times for fish and farmers, prompting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to re-evaluate […]
Posted inSeptember 24, 2001: River of dreams
‘Hydro(power) had no friends’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Orville Campbell has worked for the companies that have owned the Elwha dams for almost 30 years. He lives in Port Angeles. Orville Campbell: “From 1980-1990, the level of the drumbeat for dam removal was increasing over time, and in the early 1990s, that […]
Posted inSeptember 24, 2001: River of dreams
Lessons for the Colorado
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The power of place worked wonders in the fight to fund Elwha restoration. When visiting congressmen were taken to the old dam, they saw the few remaining salmon rolling in the waters below, and they made a connection that no amount of beltway lobbying […]