In Montana, the Church Universal and Triumphant re-invents itself as its charismatic founder, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, retires, and new leadership offers part of the sect’s Royal Teton Ranch for conservation easements and federal land trades.
Wirth Chair for Environmental and Community Development Policy
The search is on. The Tim Wirth Chair awards directors are seeking nominations for Wirth Chair for Environmental and Community Development Policy awards, given to individuals, groups and media for work in sustainable development. Nominations are due by April 15. Contact Marshall Kaplan at 303/820-5605, Tom McCoy at 303/820-5628 or write 1445 Market Street, Suite…
Julia Butterfly won’t come down
Julia “Butterfly” Hill has become something of a celebrity. She has lived in a 1,000-year-old redwood tree near Stafford, Calif., for over a year, spreading the message that “each and every one of the old-growth trees is ancient, precious, and priceless.” From the 300 to 500 letters she receives daily, Hill is confident that people…
22nd International Film Festival
The 22nd International Film Festival in Missoula, Mont., showcases the world’s best wildlife films on April 17-24, beginning with the WildWalk parade, which hoots and howls through downtown Missoula. For more information, contact festival organizers at 27 Fort Missoula Rd. #2, Missoula, MT 59804-7200, 406/728-9380, iwff@wildlifefilms.org, http://www.wildlifefilms.org. This article appeared in the print edition of…
Toxic cleanup turns up frogs
During a routine survey of a toxic-waste dump near Santa Maria, Calif., EPA staffers stumbled upon a peculiar surprise. Hiding in the vegetation surrounding a series of rain-filled ponds were an estimated 300 red-legged frogs, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. While the discovery was welcome news, biologists now worry that…
Honoring the Mother, Healing Global Wounds Spring Gathering
Community groups and activists are invited to “break the nuclear chain” at the Nevada Test Site May 7-10. Honoring the Mother, Healing Global Wounds Spring Gathering will include nonviolence training and programs on empowering youth. Contact P.O. Box 420, Tecopa, CA 92389 (760/852-4175), hgw@scruznet.com or www.shundahai.org/HGW for more information. This article appeared in the print…
A Culture to Sustain Us: Creating a Center that Holds
This year’s Sitka Symposium, featuring writers David Orr, Pattiann Rogers and others, revolves around the theme, “A Culture to Sustain Us: Creating a Center that Holds.” The gathering is set for June 17-23, in Sitka, Alaska. To learn more, contact the Island Institute, P.O. Box 2420, Sitka, AK 99835; 907/747-3794; e-mai;: island@ptialaska.net. This article appeared…
The Wayward West
Missing: more than 600 boxes of documents from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in southern Idaho (HCN, 9/29/97). Federal scientists studying the effects of the laboratory’s underground radioactive storage facility on downwinders fear the boxes were lost or destroyed by past INEEL employees; they say that at least 60 of the boxes may…
Spring Action Training Camp
The Cove/Mallard Coalition in Idaho is offering hands-on experience May 26-31 to anyone interested in becoming an in-the-woods activist. Workshops at the Spring Action Training Camp include wilderness survival and the “how to” of successful blockades and tree sits. Call 208/882-9755, write P.O. Box 8968, Moscow, ID 83832 or e-mail cove@moscow.com. This article appeared in…
Paying for a gold mine
When the Dakota Mining Corp. abandoned its Stibnite gold mine in the rugged mountains of the Payette National Forest last year, it left a mess behind. Shacks were stuffed with barrels brimming with unknown chemicals; it took a bomb squad from Mountain Home Air Force Base to remove one bottle of particularly volatile acid. Almost…
Nebraska National Forest
The national forests of Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming need volunteers who are passionate about the outdoors and conservation. There are a variety of opportunities, from trail work to answering questions at visitor centers. Contact Nebraska National Forest, 125 N. Main St., Chadron, NE 69337, or www.fs.fed.us/r2/nebraska/volunteer/ index.htm. This article appeared in the print edition…
Cyanide Uncertainties: Observations on the Chemistry, Toxicity, and Analysis of Cyanide in Mining Related Waters
The Mineral Policy Center has published a 16-page pamphlet on the hazards of mining with cyanide. For a free copy of Cyanide Uncertainties: Observations on the Chemistry, Toxicity, and Analysis of Cyanide in Mining Related Waters, contact Mineral Policy Center, 1612 K St. NW, Suite 808, Washington, DC 20006, 202/887-1872, or email: mpc-us@msn.com. This article…
Dangers of exploring abandoned mines
A 24-page workbook about the dangers of exploring abandoned mines is available free to youth groups and educators. Mining Utah’s Heritage includes drawings, games and quizzes to get its message across. For a copy, call Jan Morse at 801/538-5305 or write the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program, P.O. Box 145801, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-5801. This…
State senate says voters weren’t very smart
Were Montana voters confused last year when they passed an initiative halting any expanded or new cyanide leach gold mines? Yes, say some state legislators, and not only confused, but wrong. “Just because the people said that is what they wanted, that does not make it right,” said State Sen. Lorents Grosfield of Big Timber.…
Here comes a wayward wolf
When the lone gray wolf appeared ahead of a snowplow driver on Highway 7 in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon, it became the state’s first official wild wolf sighting since 1946. Leaving Idaho, the two-year-old female had traveled hundreds of miles over mountains, rivers and highways, looking for a mate, but its days in…
Mormons on the land
-We cannot return to Eden. We know too much and we care too little about the complexities of our collective past. But perhaps we can find our way toward a new genesis, a wiser relationship toward Creation that is founded on the sacred principles of love and respect and empathy.” * Terry Tempest Williams, New…
Help arrives for the ailing Alamosa
For years, locals have declared Colorado’s Alamosa River “dead,” killed by pollution from the notorious Summitville Mine. Now, a grassroots organization has teamed up with a national group to resurrect the river. The Capulin, Colo.-based Restore Our Alamosa River was selected from 130 applicants to join a national umbrella group, Water Keepers Alliance, that provides…
Just go away
-So what’s the American Dream for the people out here?” I asked. “To be left alone,” Baker replied. “Just to be left alone?” I asked. “But that’s not possible, is it?” “Nope,” Baker said. “How do they react when they find it’s not possible?” I asked. “They get really mad,” and (she) broke up laughing.…
Adopt-a-ferret is under way
Once close to extinction, the black-footed ferret is making a comeback this year. Over the past decade, thousands of the critters have been raised in captivity by a federally funded breeding program. This year, scientists plan to release around 250 ferrets in five Western states, adding to the estimated 200 captive-bred ferrets already in the…
Green versus gold
California sometimes seems to play in its own league, its affairs completely separate from the rest of the West. But the lively new collection, Green Versus Gold: Sources in California’s Environmental History, shows how universal California’s lessons are. Editor Carolyn Merchant dips into every phase of California’s history, from before Europeans arrived, through Spanish colonization,…
Are salmon bear essentials?
New research shows that the decline of salmon populations in the Northwest has drastically altered the diet of the region’s grizzly bears. Historically, say Charles Robbins of Washington State University and other researchers, salmon accounted for an average of two-thirds of a grizzly’s diet, and, at times, as much as 90 percent. The biologists examined…
Deciphering the ditches
It is widely acknowledged that conventional approaches to economic development in the rural West, based on mineral extraction, industrial relocation, and capital-intensive tourism, have met with dismal results. Jobs may be created, but the benefits are inequitably distributed; growth may or may not occur, but poverty and underdevelopment persist, and in the process, the community…
The big picture
-These photos are a stop-gap look at a point in time, a chance to see what the landscape looked like six or 10 years ago.” *Bill DuBois From the pilot’s seat of his 44-year-old Cessna 180 plane, F.E. Bill DuBois has been taking photos of every precious metal mine in Nevada for 24 years. What…
Dear Friends
Almost fooled by a fax We received a confusing message by fax machine recently from promoters of something called The National Media Guide in Altamonte Springs, Fla. At first, it seemed a no-brainer: We sign our name, we get a “complimentary copy” if we “rush” back a reply. Then, we noticed an odd line at…
Indian money: Where is it?
A federal judge raked Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt over the coals last month, when he held Babbitt in contempt of court in a lawsuit over unaccounted-for Indian money. Babbitt’s department “engaged in a shocking pattern of deception of the court,” said Federal District Court Judge Royce Lamberth. “I have never seen more egregious misconduct by…
Selling off the Promised Land
CORWIN SPRINGS, Mont. – The big trouble started 10 years ago, when federal agents arrested Vernon Hamilton for possession of illegally purchased sniper rifles in Spokane, Wash. There was more. Hamilton was carrying $130,000 worth of gold, cash and crates of ammunition, along with an elaborate false identity he had stolen from a California man…
A biography of Prophet’s most recent life
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Guru Ma’s got troubles. Lots of them. At the age of 59, she has both a preschool child and Alzheimer’s disease. All four of her adult children have turned their back on the Church Universal and Triumphant, the institution she spent almost 40 years…
Locals work to tame the Air Force
RENO, Nev. – Grace Potorti lives 10 minutes away from the neon lights and slot machines of this “Biggest Little City in the World.” Hers seems an unremarkable home – magnets adorn the refrigerator, two teenage children drift in and out. But from this base, the 40-something Potorti takes on the Pentagon – for the…
Church picks and chooses to create a belief system
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The theology of the Church Universal and Triumphant is a mixed bag of Christianity, Buddhism, New Age mysticism and astrology. Add in beings called Ascended Masters, who speak through Elizabeth Clare Prophet, angels and “elementals,” who embody earth, fire, water and wind. Then there…
Chaos reigns in Idaho wildlife agency
In Idaho, the state Fish and Game Commission is almost a hallowed institution. Its history extends back to the 1930s, when a national committee led by writer and conservationist Aldo Leopold advanced a management formula devised to protect wildlife from the political whims of the day. Voters adopted Leopold’s plan by approving a citizen’s initiative…
Church lands will help bail out bison
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. If someone tells you they have a simple solution to the bitter controversy over Yellowstone National Park’s wandering bison, turn around and walk away. The Church Universal and Triumphant’s offer concerning its Royal Teton Ranch illustrates the complexity of the problem. What could have…
Paddlers want onto ‘the Everest of rivers’
The Black Canyon of Yellowstone National Park seems to swallow the Yellowstone River in one gigantic gulp. From the canyon’s mouth, rapids turn the river into a powerful torrent that careens into Gardiner, Mont., the north entrance to the park. Mention the Black Canyon to many experienced boaters, and their eyes will glimmer and private…
Bison may get ground to stand on
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The Church Universal and Triumphant remains willing to remove all cattle from its Royal Teton Ranch and to allow bison to roam there once state and federal government make some commitments of their own. Here are the highlights of the church’s proposal, some of…
On the Web, church chats up a storm
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. If you want a good look at the internal debate over the Church Universal and Triumphant’s new direction, go to cyberspace, where a pair of Web sites are dedicated to airing viewpoints pro and con. People speculate about the sex life of CUT guru…
Heard around the West
If you’re standing on the vast Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington and a tumbleweed tumbles your way – better step aside. Last year the federal Department of Energy surveyed tumbleweeds on the 560-square-mile complex, a high-security bomb factory, and found that 20 tested toxic. That’s up from 1995, when only five of the weeds…
Oil wells in my backyard?
DURANGO, Colo. – -Well, in the late 1980s, the kids started lighting the lemonade on fire, so I knew something was going on,” says Carl Weston, a resident of southwestern Colorado’s La Plata County. Something was also going on miles away at Randy Ferris’ house; he was alarmed when his tap water emerged looking like…