Denver, Colo., one of the West’s most sprawling, traffic-choked cities, has become a champion of mass transit with FasTracks, its ambitious light-rail project.
Also in this issue: A provision in the new energy bill promises funding to speed up the oil and gas permitting process in BLM offices – without costing the industry an extra penny.
Pombo rides a pale horse
I assume Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., occasionally rides a horse, because he is a rancher (HCN, 10/17/05: Pombo takes on the Endangered Species Act). I know that many people have heard of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. I see Pombo riding the pale horse, Death, trying to bring…
The West includes people, too
In response to cranky letters about HCN covering fewer environmental issues and more “sociology” ? recent stories on Cannon Air Force Base (HCN, 8/22/05: Leavin’ on a Jet Plane) and Polynesian/Mormon gangs in Utah (HCN, 8/8/05: The Gangs of Zion) ? I wanted to compliment you on expanding your editorial vision. As environmental justice activists…
A Manhattan Project for Western Water
Matt Jenkins’ story “Squeezing water from a stone” was well researched and informative, but I am afraid that the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) efforts to acquire water are just the tip of the iceberg (HCN, 9/19/05: Squeezing Water from a Stone). Lincoln County caved in because they did not have the money to fight…
Dangerous distortions
The recent Editor’s Note, “Exodus,” showed me that you need to be more careful when reaching for analogies (HCN, 10/3/05: Exodus). The comparison of the Anasazi to modern-day New Orleans included the now debunked media stories about widespread “murder and rape” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Those stories made front-page news in my Oregonian…
The Latest Bounce
Assistant Secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson, who oversaw the Bureau of Land Management and the Interior Department’s mining and oil and gas operations, resigned on Oct. 28. On Watson’s watch, the BLM dramatically increased the number of oil and gas drilling permits it issues. But Interior Secretary Gale Norton also commended Watson for her…
The ‘fluffy fringe’ of archaeology
I must complain about the article “What Happened To The Anasazi?” (HCN, 10/3/05: Out of the Four Corners) on two points. The first point is that the subject matter hardly qualifies as news. No great, truly new discoveries were reported, nor was any compelling, new explanation for the “mystery” of the Anasazis’ abandonment of these…
In defense of biodiesel
Regarding Jeff Falen’s letter denouncing biodiesel on the basis that atmospheric carbon is atmospheric carbon regardless of its source (HCN, 10/17/05), I must disagree on three counts: While there is a mostly finite amount of carbon on the earth and in its atmosphere, sizable amounts are stored within the crust. Humans really began distorting the…
Property-rights measure overturned
The property-rights movement’s latest star has fallen. On Oct. 14, a judge ruled that Oregon’s Measure 37, passed by voters last year, was unconstitutional. The measure allowed landowners who believed they’d lost property value due to land-use regulations to demand that state or local governments either pay compensation or waive those regulations (HCN, 6/13/05: So…
Crossing hearts on Colorado’s plains
Laura Pritchett’s first novel, Sky Bridge, is set in “Nowhere, Colorado,” on the ranchland east of the plains town of Lamar. In this tiny place assaulted by big forces — climate change, the global economy, federal policies — teenage narrator Libby finds the prospects slim: “… all my old schoolmates are either doing drugs or…
Doubling density near Durango
After two decades of trying to hold the line against an increase in oil and gas drilling, commissioners in La Plata County recently signed deals allowing two energy companies to double the density of coalbed methane wells near Durango. Now that the companies’ infill applications have been approved by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation…
The native gardens of California
“I’ve always wondered why people call plants ‘wild.’ We don’t think of them that way. They just come up wherever they are, and like us, they are at home in that place.” — Clara Jones Sargosa, Chukchansi In her new book, Tending the Wild, ethnobotanist Kat Anderson examines the state of California’s “wilderness” at the…
Business booster still guides national park rules
A newly released National Park Service management policy will reduce environmental protection and boost commercial interests, according to conservation groups. Specific words, entire paragraphs and whole chapters in the new rules trace back to a controversial document written this past summer by Paul Hoffman, the Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.…
Imperfect Pasture: A Century of Change at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Imperfect Pasture: A Century of Change at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming Bruce Smith, Eric Cole and David Dobkin 156 pages, softcover: $14.95 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Grand Teton Natural History Association, 2004. The National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Wyo., is either a conservation success, or, as the scientist-authors of…
Declining seabird may drop off the endangered list
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in October that it will move forward with plans to remove the marbled murrelet, a small seabird, from under the protective wing of the Endangered Species Act. The robin-sized bird, which lays its eggs on the moss-covered branches of old-growth trees, has hampered Northwest logging for more than…
The Mountain Encyclopedia
The Mountain Encyclopedia Frederic V. Hartemann and Robert Hauptman 291 pages, softcover: $29.95 Taylor Trade Publishing, 2005. The Mountain Encyclopedia delivers just what its title promises: intriguing facts and figures about mountainous topics from calderas and Chomolongma to vicuñas and virga. Colorful maps and photos complement the entries, many of which come from the authors’…
She wins friends for lions, wolves and bears
Janelle Holden is in the business of changing minds — including her own. Holden, the coexistence director for the nonprofit Predator Conservation Alliance, grew up on a cattle ranch on the Great Plains, just east of the Rocky Mountain Front. When grizzly bears began moving into the area in the 1980s, her father was far…
The day they close the pass
Old-timers still remember when winters in mountain towns meant something more than just catering to hordes of skiers. Sure, those winters were tough; the days were short and cold, and drifting snow restricted outdoor activities and even closed some businesses and high mountain roads. But mountain winters had a positive side, too, for they were…
Commuter trains could connect the West’s far-flung cities
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Back On Track.” Even as light-rail lines promise to revolutionize transportation within the West’s metropolitan areas, longer commuter rails could connect these far-flung cities in ways they have not since railroad’s glory days a century ago. Unlike light rail, which uses overhead electrical lines,…
Heard around the West
UTAH Eighty may be the new 60, but ski resorts aren’t thrilled by the increasing number of ancient customers who refuse to hang up their skis. So Park City, like many other ski resorts, has abandoned its ski-free policy for those over 70. Septuagenarians must now pay $249 for season passes, reports the Park Record.…
Reading, riding and relaxing
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Back On Track.” Kevin Koernig believes light rail is making him healthy, wealthy and maybe even wise — or at least well read. Koernig lives in Littleton, a suburb along Denver’s southwest light-rail line, and commutes by train several days a week to his…
A city center in the suburbs
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Back On Track.” On weekdays, Charlie Lybrand’s car doesn’t budge from its parking space. A student of economics at Denver’s Metropolitan State College, Lybrand lives in an apartment complex in the suburb of Englewood. Just out the door is a light-rail station. “I use…
Light rail moves inland from the ‘Left Coast’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Back On Track.” On any given Sunday afternoon in Salt Lake City, Utah, families in their shirt-and-tie finest queue up at light-rail stations near the Mormon temple. On a Saturday night, fans of the Utah Jazz, the city’s professional basketball team, disembark for a…
Back On Track
One of the West’s most sprawling, traffic-choked cities becomes a champion of mass transit — and a cleaner, greener future
Dear friends
THANK YOU The cottonwood leaves are piling up along the North Fork of the Gunnison River, not far from the HCN headquarters. Inside, contributions to the Research Fund have been fluttering in. Many thanks to all who have contributed to the fund so far this fall; it’s what pays our writers, editors and photographers to…
Oil drillers get ‘one-stop shopping’ at no extra cost
Western lawmakers exempt energy industry from extra fees
Sacred claims
American Indian tribes win some, lose some, on federal land
Eastern Sierra counties seek sustainable growth
Land trades could help build affordable housing without compromising a beloved landscape
Are we ready to learn the lessons of fire and flood?
Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig caused a stir Oct. 14, when he suggested that the 9th Ward, home of many of New Orleans’ poor, should be restored as a wetland. No one would call Craig a tree-hugger. Craig has built a career out of supporting dams and levee systems that have reshaped the West. He…
You say you want a railvolution…
In 1981, when I got my first car — a used Toyota Corolla — I took a trip out West. For a prisoner of the sprawling suburbs of St. Louis, Mo., nothing could have been sweeter than to put that sea of homes in the rearview mirror, and fill the windshield with glorious views of…