Ever wonder how rivers shape mountains? How to classify stream erosion? Wildland Hydrology Consultants, a firm based in Pagosa Springs, Colo., offers courses from spring through fall in Applied Fluvial Geomorphology, Stream Classification and Applications and River Assessment and Monitoring. The five-day courses for hydrologists, fisheries biologists, and other riparian ecosystem specialists cover urban, agricultural […]
Water
Posted inNovember 27, 1995: Saving the ranch
Dam project called a “bungle’ and a “porker’
A committee of the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo, Colo., surprised everyone, including Pueblo Bishop Arthur Tafoya, by blasting the proposed Animas-La Plata water project as an “environmental, economic and social bungle.” The Human Development Commission of the diocese also asked, “Who is responsible for the continuing agitation to support a project so badly conceived? We […]
Posted inOctober 16, 1995: In the heart of the New West, the sheep win one
Dam project could get a free ride
A Colorado senator wants to make sure the controversial and long-delayed Animas-La Plata water project begins next year. Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell hopes to attach a rider to an appropriations bill that requires Congress to proceed with dam construction “notwithstanding any other provisions of the law.” The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, which has […]
Posted inOctober 16, 1995: In the heart of the New West, the sheep win one
South Dakota pulls plug on Missouri River meetings
Blaming a bureaucratic process that has dragged on for too long without progress, South Dakota officials have withdrawn their state from the Missouri River Basin Association. Nettie Myers, secretary of the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said, “It seems like we have the same meetings over and over, and nothing is accomplished.” The […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
All about river guides
ALL ABOUT RIVER GUIDES Members of Grand Canyon River Guides will gather in Fredonia, Ariz., Oct. 28-29, to share music, food and perspectives on their trade and the future of the Grand Canyon. Their publication, boatman’s quarterly review, chronicles the feisty group’s concerns, including opposition to the Park Service’s proposed requirement that guides wear plastic […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
We need to avoid riparian hysteria
At a recent workshop on riparian ecosystems sponsored by the Tonto National Forest and Arizona Game and Fish Department, biologists dutifully presented their litanies on the inhabitants, histories and importance of steamside environments. Although the theme of this symposium was understanding and not preservation, several speakers offered up the statistic du jour: 95 percent of […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
Congress fights to restore a filthy past
What follows sounds like a nightmare. But it’s not. It’s true. If you have a weak stomach, don’t read it. I grew up in an area of Kansas City, Kan., called Armourdale, which was bordered on the east by two meat-packing companies, on the west by two soap factories, on the north by the Santa […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
Restoring a watershed
RESTORING A WATERSHED As part of a cooperative effort to restore Idaho and Washington’s polluted Spokane-Coeur d’Alene watershed, the Sierra Club has created a colorful map of the drainage. The region needs help: mining has left pollution and aquifer contamination; logging and farming have eroded soil. The group’s advice includes cleaning up mine wastes, preventing […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
Economist discovers what a free river is worth
If the two aging dams on the Elwha River in Washington state come tumbling down, salmon will return to 70 miles of the river for the first time since 1911. What’s that worth in dollars and cents? You can’t put a price tag on Mother Earth – or can you? John Loomis, an economist at […]
Posted inJune 26, 1995: Colorado's prison slayer
Dan Beard resigns
With the surprise resignation June 12 of Dan Beard as director of the Bureau of Reclamation, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has lost one of his most effective lieutenants (HCN, 3/20/95). Although Western water has long been a contentious issue, his reign has been quiet, especially when compared with grazing and logging. In announcing his departure, […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
Rescuing Colorado’s rivers
Rescuing Colorado’s rivers The rivers of Colorado have a new advocate. The nonprofit Colorado Rivers Alliance aims to protect and restore Colorado’s rivers and hopes to gain members from all streams of life, including environmentalists, farmers and politicians. Although the group’s mission is broad, it has more specific intentions as well, such as re-establishing riparian […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
The Southwest’s last real river: Will it flow on?
SAN PEDRO RIVER RIPARIAN NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA, Ariz. – For 40 miles after flowing across the Mexican border into Arizona, the San Pedro River looks like a strip of rain forest marooned in the desert. Announced by its bright green cottonwood and willow trees, the river winds northward from headwaters in the Sierra Madre through […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
Sandy Anderson
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, The Southwest’s last real river: Will it flow on? Sandy Anderson, 41, with her husband, Alvin, owns the Gray Hawk Ranch, a popular birdwatching retreat along the San Pedro River a few miles east of Sierra Vista. They bought the property in 1984. Her […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
Harold Vangilder
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, The Southwest’s last real river: Will it flow on? Harold Vangilder, 52, is a Sierra Vista city councilman, a program development specialist at the University of Arizona’s Sierra Vista campus, a retired Fort Huachuca civil servant and a founder of the pro-growth Fort Huachuca […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Citizen action gets results
Spurred by a Sierra Club lawsuit, Texaco has agreed to prevent further contamination of the North Platte River by its defunct oil refinery near Casper, Wyo. If the EPA and Justice Department approve the consent decree next month, Texaco must clean up the river, report monthly to the Sierra Club, and step up efforts to […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Rivers in jeopardy
RIVERS IN JEOPARDY It sounds like an honor, but it’s not. This year, the West contains four of the nation’s 10 most endangered rivers, chosen annually by American Rivers, a river conservation group. Because of a proposed gold mine near Yellowstone Park in Montana, the group voted the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River the […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Wyoming tribes get support to keep a river wet
As the Wind River slices through the 2.2 million-acre Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, home to some 8,000 Shoshone and Arapaho tribal members, it becomes the “most abused water system in the Western United States,” says Tom Dougherty of the National Wildlife Federation. But Indians aren’t the abusers. Dougherty says the culprits are non-Indian […]
Posted inMay 1, 1995: Land grants under the microscope
Slashing water welfare
Slashing water welfare The Bureau of Reclamation released new rules this month to stop corporate farms from using subsidized water meant for family farmers. In a 1993 court settlement with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Bureau promised to look comprehensively at the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 and propose regulations to close loopholes. Subsidies […]
Posted inMarch 20, 1995: The fight for Reclamation
The fight for Reclamation
When John McPhee, in Encounters with the Archdruid, rides down the Colorado River with Floyd Dominy, the bullheaded Commissioner of Reclamation during the 1950s and 1960s, and David Brower, Dominy plunges into the Lava Falls rapid with a cigar clenched between his teeth. Doused by the maelstrom, the cigar, minutes later, glows again: McPhee’s sly […]
Posted inMarch 20, 1995: The fight for Reclamation
Dams were built on breathless prose
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, The fight for Reclamation. To have a deep blue lake Where no lake was before Seems to bring man A little closer to God. A sweet breeze Across deep water The campfire’s glow Day’s end Peace – From Lake Powell: Jewel of the […]