Writers on the Range


Writers on the Range is opinion from the ground up. Got a beef with beef? An experience that changed your mind about the American West? Writers from the region tell their story in 750 words. Op eds are syndicated to 50-plus papers, and they also appear here, on the HCN website. For more information, contact Writers on the Range editor, Betsy Marston: betsym at hcn.org.


A myth penetrated
A scientist's scathing reflection on resistance by the Bureau of Land Management, the Idaho Fish and Game Department and the U.S. Forest Service to addressing the die-off of bighorn sheep in Idaho's Morgan Creek Winter Range.
James K. Morgan Opinion Sept. 1, 1972 From the print edition
A difference in governors
Letters from Gov. Hathaway of Wyoming, Gov. Anderson of Montana, and Gov. Guy of North Dakota respond to the question of how coal resources should be treated in those states.
HCN Opinion Aug. 18, 1972 From the print edition
Vandals with paint cans
We should be angry with those thoughtless or deliberately destructive people who smear, daub, or spray names, initials, and obscenities in paint across the landscape, destroying in the process one of our basic natural resources, the beauty of our land.
R. C. Burkholder Opinion July 21, 1972 From the print edition
He asked for specifics ...!
Wyoming's Governor Stanley K. Hathaway has fired verbal broadsides at environmentalists for always criticizing but never offering "specifics." The Governor seems not to be a dedicated or consistent reader of High Country News, else he would find much food for thought therein.
Tom Bell Opinion July 7, 1972 From the print edition
Citizens speak out on wilderness
A letter sent by 17 men and women from Moab, Utah, to the Supervisor of the Manti-La Sal National Forest criticizes policies such as the 1872 Mining Law and advocates for wilderness designation.
HCN Opinion June 23, 1972 From the print edition
Valid concerns expressed
Two anonymous federal employees tally up the total potential impacts -- on water, community development, wildlife, and more -- of the energy projects like the North Central Power Study project that are proposed for the Powder River Basin.
HCN Opinion May 26, 1972 From the print edition
Hidden Story
The Bureau of Reclamation concealed its study of the Montana-Wyoming aqueduct -- a key part of the plan to radically expand coal energy production in the Powder River Basin -- by distorting the Freedom of Information Act.
Steve Wynkoop Opinion May 26, 1972 From the print edition
Rainbow Bridge - an objective summary
The problem of Lake Powell's rising waters entering Rainbow Bridge National Monument are summarized and analyzed from three angles: the political/economic, the legal, and the practical.
F. A. Barnes Opinion May 12, 1972 From the print edition
Wilderness and Multiple Use
When wilderness is brought up for discussion in private groups or at public meetings, fact and fancy mix in an improbable way. One, of the major fallacies often mentioned is that multiple use and wilderness management are at opposite ends of the management spectrum.
Colleen Kelly Opinion April 28, 1972 From the print edition
Population growth and America's future
An abridged text from an interim report by the Commission on Population Growth and American Future.
HCN Opinion Feb. 4, 1972 From the print edition
Population growth and America's future
An abridged text of the first interim report by the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future, presented by High Country News under the belief that a national population policy is a prerequisite to solving environmental problems.
HCN Opinion Jan. 21, 1972 From the print edition
Wolf should be game animal
Four hundred years of ignorance were our sole justification for the extermination of the wolf. Today, we have no such excuse, and the wolf must be maligned no more.
Gregory Paul Capito Opinion Dec. 24, 1971 From the print edition
'Bigger is better' syndrome exploded
The assumption that growth is good comes as close to being a universally accepted truth as we live by. Yet recently we are beginning to question the "bigger is better" philosophy, and to see that growth may be counter-productive to most of our hopes, goals and aspirations.
Rep. Richard Lamm Opinion Nov. 26, 1971 From the print edition
Observations on eagles, sheep
A letter to HCN from someone who has observed the nesting and eating habits of golden eagles for several years around Laramie, Wyo.: "I'm not saying that eagles can't or don't kill sheep but the wool is not so far over my eyes that I can't see some mighty big discrepancies."
Eugene A Linn Opinion Nov. 12, 1971 From the print edition
Wilderness exists in name only
There are 53 million acres of federal lands which qualify as potential wilderness areas under the 1964 Wilderness Act. But so far, with only three years left for federal agencies to propose wilderness under the act, only 10.1 million acres have been set aside as wilderness.
Philip Fradkin Opinion Oct. 15, 1971 From the print edition
Environment: beyond easy answers
If improvement of the environment is actually the high national priority that recent polls suggest, then we should expect to find a general willingness to share the cost. Regrettably, this is not the case.
David Rockefeller Opinion Oct. 1, 1971 From the print edition
Ecology, priorities and the Washington State Department of Ecology
A paper presented to the Washington State Ecological Commission, outlining the relevance of the science of ecology to addressing current environmental problems.
Gordon Orians Opinion July 9, 1971 From the print edition
America and the environmental crisis
An address by Environmental Protection Agency administrator William Ruckelhaus: "The planet Earth is in trouble. For too long man has regarded nature as a foe to be conquered ..."
William Ruckelhaus Opinion June 25, 1971 From the print edition
The Bolle Statement on clearcutting
Dean of Montana University School of Forestry Arnold Bolle's statement to the Interior Subcommittee about his report, which criticizes Bitterroot National Forest's overriding concern with timber production, its use of uneconomical systems of timber harvesting, and its general disregard for aesthetic and non-timber values.
Arnold Bolle Opinion May 14, 1971 From the print edition
Hearings hold promise
Excerpts from Oversight Hearings on Management Practices on the Public Lands. "The forthcoming ... hearings offer a crucial opportunity for public scrutiny of the state of management and stewardship of our public lands, especially our national forests."
HCN Opinion April 2, 1971 From the print edition
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