Writers on the Range

Wilderness politics are anything but simple

The President of the Montana Wilderness Association's governing council offers an opinion on the Montana Wilderness bill.

Louise Bruce Opinion Essay Jan. 25, 1993 From the print edition

Forest Service is trying to turn over a new leaf, but critics have doubts

The U.S. Forest Service believes there is a clear patch of land in Montana that affords a clear view of the future's enlightened forestry. The problem is, the agency's own past sometimes sullies the view.

Richard Manning Opinion Dec. 28, 1992 From the print edition

A remembrance of William Penn Mott

When I heard that former National Park Service Director William Penn Molt died last month, my first thought was, "At least he lived long enough to see a wolf in Yellowstone."

Andrew Melnykovych Opinion Oct. 19, 1992 From the print edition

Indian land claims deserve our support

The presence of the 24,000-acre Pueblo of Sandia prevents the city of Albuquerque from sprawling into the nearby foothills to the south. Nevertheless, the environmental community in northern new Mexico is fighting the tribe's attempt to reclaim its land from the U.S. Forest Service.

Kay Matthews Opinion Sept. 21, 1992 From the print edition

Yellowstone forces to shoot rogue tourists after relocation fails

National Park Service officials today confirmed reports of the shooting of two tourists in Yellowstone Park early this season. The shootings were authorized under a newly implemented policy to protect bears.

Mark Flower Opinion Sept. 7, 1992 From the print edition

Everyone feels free to tell the farmer how to farm

For every farmer there is the big question: How to farm? Every square foot of earth is different. No farmer's experience will be exactly like any other.

Stanley Crawford Opinion Aug. 10, 1992 From the print edition

How clean coal helped kill a utility

Rebuilding the Colorado-Ute Electric Association power plant at Nucla, Colo., was a technical success. Unfortunately, although the operation went well, the patient died a lingering and painful death.

Ed Marston Opinion June 29, 1992 From the print edition

Rural economies can reform or go the way of Detroit

Environmentalism is the vanguard of urban America, which is giving the rural West the choice of adapting to the larger society's vision or of dying.

Ed Marston Opinion May 18, 1992 From the print edition

Blowing the whistle while covering your ass

Some survival tips for whistleblowers: Copy everything, take notes, know who your friends are, test the system but don't trust your boss. And always tell your family before you fight the good fight.

David Hackett Opinion April 20, 1992 From the print edition

Yucca Mountain is an assault on Nevada

Jon Christensen's article, "Nevada Speaks with Fissioned Tongue" (HCN, 1/10/92), seriously misrepresents the issues surrounding the debate about the proposed high-level nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada.

Robert R. Loux Opinion April 6, 1992 From the print edition

Are bison getting killed in Montana for no reason?

The outcome of a legal battle between a cattle company and the federal government over transmission of brucellosis from wild bison could impose dramatic changes in the use of public land in the West.

Michael Milstein Opinion March 9, 1992 From the print edition

In search of sustainability

The foresters, economists, sociologists, public land managers and foundation executives at the Defining Sustainable Forestry Workshop came surprisingly close to describing what sustainable forestry might look like.

Ed Marston Opinion Feb. 24, 1992 From the print edition

Nevada speaks with fissioned tongue

The state's political leaders are talking in ever more militant tones in their battle to keep the nation's high-level nuclear waste out of Yucca Mountain. Yet these same politicians are the first to cry foul when anyone suggests even a temporary halt to testing nuclear weapons in the same southern Nevada desert.

Jon Chistensen Opinion Feb. 10, 1992 From the print edition

Is it cruel to fool a fish?

Although we think we are being conscientious and thoughtful in releasing that rainbow, in the eyes of some we are cruelly torturing an innocent fish for our own perverse pleasure.

Kenneth Arnold Opinion Dec. 30, 1991 From the print edition

Water fight sinks wilderness bill

How water rights language killed Colorado's wilderness bill (S-1029).

Larry Mosher Opinion Dec. 2, 1991 From the print edition

The angrier they get you, the more they make you think

We are about 150 years into this experiment to see whether it is possible to live year-round in the Rocky Mountains.

Ed Quillen Opinion Nov. 4, 1991 From the print edition

Is Babbitt just funny, or is he also shrewd?

Today, Babbitt said, the main threat to the West is not aridity, but dam builders. Each new water development destroys another chunk of the West, said the man who fought for the Central Arizona Project while Arizona's governor.

Ed Marston Opinion Oct. 7, 1991 From the print edition

Rancher says fee increase is needed, overdue

Most reports I've seen concerning the present feverish discussion of raising the grazing leases on public simply do not reflect a true picture.

Thomas Taylor Opinion Sept. 9, 1991 From the print edition

Why subsidize the recovery of the wolf?

Defenders of Wildlife should work to limit, not enhance, the power of the livestock interests, and push for more equitable solutions such as a mandatory insurance policy for ranchers to compensate them for depredation.

Tom Skeele Opinion April 8, 1991 From the print edition

An inside view of the Rocky Flats plant

When I went for the interview at Rocky Flats, after the first screening by the temporary agency, it was a bleak, gray, snowy day ...

Carol Jakubauskas Opinion March 25, 1991 From the print edition