A new breed of green Evangelical Christians seeks to spread the good news of Bible-based environmentalism to their conservative fellow Christians.
Nevada ranchers win water rights
Nevada’s attorney general recently upheld a 1995 state law that took away the Bureau of Land Management’s right to hold stock-water rights. The state said the privilege belonged solely to ranchers. Since the agency doesn’t own cattle, said the attorney general, it can’t put a stock-water right to beneficial use. “Water’s a special resource,” explained…
More digging, less human interest
Dear HCN, I just finished skimming the Escalante article (HCN, 4/14/97) and while I found the stories interesting, it seemed that they were more of what has become common in High Country News – anecdotal reporting without investigation. On page 10, Roger Holland says that the Andalex coal company would only disturb “2.5 million tons…
We need the team
Dear HCN, Jon Margolis’ article on the Teaming With Wildlife initiative (HCN, 12/23/96) was accurate with only one slight error: The states would pay 25 cents, not 30 cents, to get the matching 75 cents of each dollar provided by the initiative. Since snowmobiles and ATVs are not on the list of recreational products to…
When scary is a compliment
Dear HCN, In your issue devoted to the sadly divisive but, I fear, century-old conflict between conservationists and environmentalists – preservationist John Muir couldn’t stand conservationist John Burroughs, and vice versa – Ted Williams quoted one of my cultural heroes, Roderick Haig-Brown, who described the faults of the outdoor press as timidity and conformity: “It…
Locals don’t own public land
Dear HCN, I am writing in response to Jane Braxton Little’s article regarding the Quincy Library Group legislation (HCN, 3/31/97). Little incorrectly characterizes the struggle over the legislation as one between grassroots and national groups. That is not true. A host of grassroots groups, many of them based in the Sierra Nevada, have signed on…
Guns are good
Dear HCN, I’m dismayed at the anti-gun propaganda in your recent issue on hunting (HCN, 3/3/97). Elizabeth Manning’s NRA-bashing diatribe was out of line. The ignorance of those extolling gun control is amazing; the matter of bullets capable of penetrating body armor is a non-issue; many hunting bullets are capable of this. No policeman has…
The Forest Service cares in New Mexico
Dear HCN: Many different voices have been raised in northern New Mexico of late. While Sam Hitt expressed his opinion in “Green Hate” (HCN, 2/3/97), typical of what we heard and received is the letter sent by Tim Mylet, who had earlier presented a petition with 250 signatures to us expressing frustration over firewood restrictions.…
Night of the Living Beanfield
Come hear “how an unsuccessful cult novel became an unsuccessful cult film after only 14 years, 11 nervous breakdowns and $20 million.” That’s how New Mexico writer John Nichols, author of the Milagro Beanfield War, describes his upcoming visit May 1-4 at Father Dyer United Methodist Church in Breckenridge, Colo. In two lectures, Night of…
Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts
How do you keep land open and out of the hands of developers? The Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts will detail methods at its spring meeting May 1-3 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Workshops and talks will cover easements, stewardship, and funding opportunities for land trusts. Continuing legal education credit is available. Call 970/259-3415 or write…
Wise Use Leadership Conference
Green infiltration of the Christian right and Endangered Species Act reform, are just some of the topics that will be covered at The Wise Use Leadership Conference at the Nugget Hotel in Reno/Sparks, Nev., May 2-4. The gathering includes workshops and talks by private-property advocates such as Kathy Benedetto of People For The West. For…
Transportation partnerships
Transportation Partnerships, a May 1-2 symposium at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colo., will highlight solutions for the state’s growing transport problems. Communities that have received grants – sponsored by the governor’s Office of Energy Conservation – will share what they’ve learned, including reports about trying to relieve traffic congestion in Boulder, and developing…
Wetland Restoration in the Landscape
The destruction of wetlands may have dropped out of the headlines, but they are still disappearing at a rapid rate across the West. Whether it’s possible to restore wetlands will be the focus of the conference, Wetland Restoration in the Landscape, May 5-7 in Corvallis, Ore. The Society for Wetland Scientists and the Society for…
Pacific Northwest Environmental Directory
From Puget Sounders to Trout Unlimited, you can find it in the 1996/97 edition of the Pacific Northwest Environmental Directory. It’s a good resource for job-hunters, researchers and anyone interested in environmental groups and agencies in Oregon, Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia. The 230-page softcover book costs $18.50. Write to National Environmental…
Wolves will be wolves
When the federal government restored wolves to Yellowstone National Park two years ago, it anticipated that the surrounding states would ultimately take over management of the predator. Now, Wyoming has taken the first step in that direction by producing a draft wolf-management plan. The plan’s preferred alternative calls for allowing six wolf packs to move…
Hopis extend eviction deadline
Hundreds of Navajos braced themselves against the threat of forcible eviction on the eve of April 1. That was the deadline for more than 250 families living on Arizona’s Hopi Partitioned Land either to sign a 75-year lease with the Hopi tribe, or move (HCN 3/31/97). Navajo supporters rallied nationwide, staging protests in San Francisco,…
Evangelical Christians preach a green gospel
TROUT LAKE, Wash. – -The Bible is clear about it,” Peter Illyn is saying. “Over and over again, Scripture reveals that God commands us to be the stewards of creation. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s ours to use however we want to – it means that as Christians we are called to protect and preserve…
Evangelicals are coming to the (earth’s) rescue
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Being an “evangelical environmentalist” is much like being an advocate of “sustainable economic development’ – both positions attract the label “oxymoronic.” I drive people up a wall because I am all for all four ideals: sustainable use of resources, economic growth, evangelical theology and…
Montana minister challenges a racist heresy
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Many argue that taxes are too high, or that our government is to a large extent corrupt. That is why, as I have listened to reactions to the Montana Freemen and other extremist groups, I have heard some people sympathizing. The Montana Freemen are…
Heard around the West
Stolid and solid at 1,500 pounds each, beef cows keep getting a bad rap. Fear of mad cow disease is chasing away burger eaters, and doctors have long warned that juicy steaks clog arteries. Now come two researchers who tell us in Conservation Biology magazine that cows cause fires. Joy Belsky and Dana Blumenthal connect…
Scriptures
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign…
Dear Friends
Big Sky, big stress The March 31, 1997, issue of HCN described the litigious nature of Montana’s Big Sky Resort. We’ve gotten interesting responses to the story. Writer Ray Ring, sitting in Bozeman, says he sees signs that the article may have helped shift the tone of the dialogue. After a recent meeting, Gallatin County…
Montana train accident derailed a small town
Alberton, Mont. – When sirens pierced the air before dawn last April 11, Lucinda Hodges awoke to find workers in Haz-Mat suits scrambling through the streets in a thick, white fog. Then it hit her. “I’ll never forget that feeling,” she says. “You breathe and there’s no air. You felt like you were suffocating.” In…
Yellowstone mine swap is in a very deep pit
Another deadline passed for the New World Mine swap and the only thing traded was blame and doubt. The Crown Butte mining company turned down the government’s offer of $65 million in cash on April 12 in exchange for its proposed gold mine just outside Yellowstone National Park, saying it doubted that the government could…
Southwest Forest Alliance takes a Hitt
New Mexico’s best known environmentalist was ousted from a Southwestern forest protection organization earlier this month following a dispute over the organization’s direction. Sam Hitt, a founding member of Southwest Forest Alliance, which represents 55 conservation groups in New Mexico and Arizona, was voted off the group’s board after he stormed out of a meeting…
Forest supervisor shows Congress some dirty pictures
It was billed as a Washington, D.C.-style “barbecue,” but the roastee – Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Bill Levere – was prepared for the heat. In early April, Idaho Rep. Helen Chenoweth ordered Levere, the manager of the central Idaho forest, to come to the nation’s capitol and defend his tough new penalties for ranchers who…
States get semi-tough on poachers
A dramatic rise in flagrant cases of wildlife poaching has inspired a batch of new legislation that could truly put the hurt on criminal hunters in the West. Anti-poaching bills with stiffer fines and penalties are advancing in the New Mexico, Montana, Nevada and Idaho legislatures. But lawmakers in Wyoming and Colorado recently rejected efforts…
Coyote vigils
At 3 on a December morning in a high cold mountain valley I am crunching through deep snow on my way to a monastery chapel. It is so cold that the air crackles and burns; the hairs in my nose are icicles, biting me as I breathe. I am swathed in so many layers of…