The battle over Northwestern old-growth forests is raging again, but behind the scenes, some locals are trying to make peace.
Also in this issue: In Wyoming, Gov. Dave Freudenthal tries to put the brakes on the oil and gas leasing rush, but the drilling frenzy continues across the West.
What’s wrong with user fees?
Sen. Larry Craig’s article about “Fees and our forests don’t always fit” makes a few good points, although I think that it misses some others. What I do not understand is the reluctance of Sen. Craig to support these user fees, since according to him, activities like hunting, fishing and hiking are done on “unimproved…
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best solutions
Congress has heard, loud and clear, that the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program hasn’t worked. But it still can’t quite bring itself to call an end to it. Sen. Larry Craig supports fees only for developed campgrounds and boat ramps. Those fees have never been controversial. What he fails to address is the extra wrinkle that…
Subsidies Strike Again
The feature article, “Prairie Conundrum” points out that the federal government’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is providing incentives for farmers to convert native prairie into crop monocultures. But the article praises another USDA/Farm Bill program — the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP). According to the article, EQIP claims to “pay farmers to adopt conservation practices…
City Slickers, go home
Your story, “Buying ecological leverage” is almost funny. I can just see that group of city slickers trying to run a working ranch, especially where they are going to introduce “Mexican wolves.” Seriously speaking, there is nothing wrong with governments fencing in unique natural features such as these “rock fins” on public grazing lands. There…
Forgotten borderland
From space, the Black Hills of South Dakota take the unmistakable shape of a heart, marking a region that some consider the spiritual center of the world. But driving into Bennett County, S.D., is more like entering a legal Twilight Zone. This checkerboard of private, tribal and federal land seems to belong to everyone —…
Calendar
The Montana Consensus Council is sponsoring a class called “Discover Conflict Partnership: The Guide to Enduring Resolutions” in Helena on Oct. 19 and 20. 406-444-9838 juedwards@state.mt.us Bird lovers are upset with President Bush — and they’re letting him know. Check out www.BirdersUnitedtoDefeatBush.com to learn more about how birdwatchers can protect bird populations, wetlands and clean…
Dang crazy women
Like the two previous anthologies created by editors Linda Hasselstrom, Gaydell Collier and Nancy Curtis, Leaning into the Wind and Woven on the Wind, Crazy Woman Creek gathers hundreds of poems, stories and memories from women all across the West. This latest anthology’s theme is how Western women create and sustain the connections that define…
Follow-up
Shipping radioactive waste around the country is neither cheap nor easy: When the U.S. Department of Energy shipped the wrong type to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the New Mexico Environment Department slapped the Energy Department with a $2.4 million fine for violating the state’s hazardous waste laws (HCN, 8/2/04: Follow-up). Then, at the end…
For endangered species, survival no longer enough
For 18 years, whenever the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had to decide whether a proposed development violated the Endangered Species Act, the agency applied a basic standard: Will it affect the survival of an endangered species? From now on, that’s not good enough, two federal courts have ruled. Instead, the Fish and Wildlife Service…
Racetrack
Since the 1970s, Oregon has pioneered land-use laws to preserve rural landscapes, prevent irresponsible suburban development, and support local businesses over big-box stores (HCN, 11/25/02: Planning’s poster child grows up). Now, Oregonians in Action, a private-property rights group, is supporting an initiative that would force the state to compensate private-land owners who are restricted from…
A timber town learns to care for the forest
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Life After Old Growth.” LAKEVIEW, OREGON — Perched on the easternmost edge of Oregon timber country, where scattered mountain ranges fade into the high desert, the hamlet of Lakeview is an apparition. All indications suggest that it should be dead and gone, a casualty…
Life After Old Growth
The battle over the Northwest’s ancient forests has again taken center stage, but behind the scenes, some locals are pushing for peace
Utah’s wilderness warriors reply
We’d like to thank High Country News for highlighting Utah’s redrock wilderness and recognizing the value of protecting this uncommon landscape. However, we disagree with some of HCN Associate Editor Matt Jenkins’ essay which criticizes Utah wilderness advocates based on an erroneous perception that there is a stalemate on Utah Bureau of Land Management (BLM)…
Look who’s in the conflict business now
As I read through the usual glut of e-mail press releases from environmental groups the other day, I came across one announcing a lawsuit against an Idaho logging project that is being offered by the Bureau of Land Management. Nothing unusual there: Though logging has diminished in the West over the last decade, the projects…
Dear friends
End of summer swarms During the tail end of August, as the last cobs of sweet corn were cut and sold, and local farmers began transforming their fields from verdant rows of uniform green to mazes for kids to run through, visitors flocked to High Country News. Colorado subscribers included Bobbie and Roy Wright from…
Energy companies rush the West
Wyoming applies the brakes, but the leasing spree continues
When yesterday’s garbage becomes today’s collectible
To get to Glass Beach, you turn toward the ocean at the Denny’s on the outskirts of Fort Bragg, Calif., and drive down the lane to park. Signage is minimal. This is not Big Sur. The day we go, two local guys drive up and park next to us in a Volvo that has seen…
Tribes ‘buy in’ to restore their river
Warm Springs Indians become dam owners in an effort to bring back salmon
Heard Around the West
IDAHO The director of the BlueRibbon Coalition,a Boise-based group that lobbies for more all-terrain access on public lands, recently had to take a leave without pay. Bill Dart was cited this August by a U.S. Forest Service enforcement agent for illegally taking people on motorcycle tours through the backcountry. Dart neglected to get an outfitter’s…
In a warming West, expect more fire
Overall wildfire size likely to double by 2100, new study concludes
Utah’s favorite sons battle for governor
Can the Democrats capture the conservative state’s chief office?
Bucking the trends: Black Hills crusader Marvin Kammerer
RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA — An old pickup rattles to the top of a grassy ridge. The Black Hills stretch across the western horizon, and in the valley below, the family ranch of Marvin Kammerer is only a dot in the fields of grass. Kammerer stops the truck, gets out and looks down on his…