MONTANA The Blackfeet Tribe’s Fish and Game Department wants to remove a 95-year-old dam on its reservation that backs water up three miles into Glacier National Park. Getting rid of aging Sherburne Dam, says Blackfeet biologist Ira New Breast, would eliminate the biggest threat to the St. Mary River’s bull trout, a population recently added […]
Ali Macalady
Posted inFebruary 14, 2000: Land of the fee
Canaries in the Utah desert
Twenty-seven years ago, Chip Ward and his wife, Linda, left the East Coast to explore the West. Impressed with the desert’s stark beauty, the Wards decided to settle permanently in rural Utah. Little did they know that Grantsville, the sleepy town they chose to call home, sits right in the middle of one of the […]
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
More drains for pothole country?
In South Dakota, soil conservation officials and environmental groups are facing off over how to define a wetland. Under the 1985 “Swampbusters’ Farm Bill, farmers who drain wetlands can’t qualify for federal farm subsidies. But states do the certifying of farmers for Swampbusters compliance, and last May, the South Dakota office of the Natural Resource […]
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
Does Web site turn ranchers into targets?
Publicly funded predator control in the West is raising more than coyote hackles. The newest scuffle was sparked by an Internet Web page, not by poisons and traps. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Albuquerque-based animal rights group, New West Research, obtained files from Wildlife Services, the federal agency formerly known as Animal Damage […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
New resort in the San Juans?
Back in the 1980s, Pagosa Springs, Colo., resident Betty Feazel helped lead a successful campaign to stop a proposed ski area in the rugged, undeveloped San Juan River’s East Fork Valley. But now, says the award-winning activist, who has lived in the area for 77 years, the fight may be starting all over again. Back […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Snow surfers with a mission
A Bozeman, Mont.-based snowboarder group wants to show everyone that clean snow – and water – are way cool. The “Mountain Surf” chapter of the Surfrider Foundation recently launched the Snowrider Project to promote water quality at ski areas. “With the increased popularity of winter sports, it’s really important that the (snowboarders) do no harm,” […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Treasure Valley’s housing not so golden
Despite a strong economy and low interest rates, the nearly 20,000 Latinos in southwest Idaho have a hard time finding affordable housing. According to Wayne Hoffman, a reporter at the Idaho Press-Tribune, Latinos in Treasure Valley are 2.5 times more likely to be denied conventional home mortgages and home improvement loans than whites. Hoffman’s report, […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Barely there
After decades of searching, federal biologists haven’t found a single grizzly bear in Montana and Idaho’s Bitterroot/Selway ecosystem. But the Missoula-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies and seven other local environmental organizations say there may be a remnant population – one that people have overlooked. The groups recently launched a “Great Grizzly Search.” It involves […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
A river too warm
Three environmental groups have sued the Environmental Protection Agency over the warm wastewater that flows out of the Potlatch Corp. pulp and paper mill in Lewiston, Idaho. The Lands Council, Idaho Rivers United and the Idaho Conservation League say bull trout, salmon and steelhead can’t survive when the Snake River heats up. All the fish […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
A bighorn dilemma
Should predators be killed to protect prey? That’s the strategy in New Mexico, where the state’s Game Commission says killing mountain lions is the best way to bolster dwindling populations of desert bighorn sheep. To save the remaining 220 sheep, most of which have been reintroduced by the state’s Fish and Game Department, the commission […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
A trickle of hope
A thirsty system of dams, growing desert cities and irrigators may never allow the Colorado River delta to be the mecca of animal and plant diversity it once was. But Mexican and U.S. researchers working with the Environmental Defense Fund say the brackish and often polluted flow that does reach the delta could help revive […]
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
Tree-sitters and timber company celebrate
Sarah Vekasi was prepared to spend the winter perched in an old Douglas fir tree near the town of Randle, Wash., in order to stop the trade of old-growth forest out of public ownership. Thanks to a recent reworking of a complicated land swap, it looks like she’ll stay warm, dry and on the ground. […]
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
Grant program gives greens GIS
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology can turn hard data into colorful maps and geographic databases, but few nonprofit groups can afford the expensive computer tool. The Conservation Technology Support Program wants to solve this problem by offering GIS grants to environmental groups. In the year 2000, the program will give away more than $1 million […]
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
BIA told to get organized
Allocate $10 million to $15 million for new bosses at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the beleaguered agency might get itself back on track, says a new report from the National Academy of Public Administration. The BIA, which represents 1.2 million Indians from 558 tribes, has long been plagued by mismanagement (HCN 4/15/99). BIA […]
Posted inNovember 8, 1999: A new road for the public lands
USFS plans for more planning
The Forest Service proposes to improve national forests by reshaping the 15-year management plans that guide them. The agency’s draft rule says plans must emphasize ecological balance and sustainable use of forests, boost public involvement during the planning process, and shift some decision-making from regional and national offices to forest-level managers. The current system of […]
Posted inNovember 8, 1999: A new road for the public lands
A road-ripper’s report
-The Road-Ripper’s Guide to Wildland Road Removal takes up where the first four Road-Ripper’s Guides left off. While the first four explain legal and political strategies for challenging different land-management agencies to close and remove roads, this guide explains how to make sure those roads are removed correctly.” * Bethanie Walder In 1997, Forest Service […]
Posted inNovember 8, 1999: A new road for the public lands
Wolff campaigns for wolves
For nine years, New Mexican Pat Wolff has been working to shut down publicly funded programs that kill predators and other problem animals (HCN, 4/27/98). Last year, the organization she founded, New West Research, won a lawsuit requiring the government to release names of ranchers who get federal help to control predators. Now, she’s touring […]
Posted inNovember 8, 1999: A new road for the public lands
A lasting chemical legacy
When a Missoula Rail Link train derailed April 11, 1996, ruptured tank cars exposed suddenly wakened residents of Alberton, Mont., to 129,000 pounds of chlorine gas and 17,000 gallons of potassium cresylate (HCN, 8/3/98). More than 1,000 people were evacuated from the western Montana town that night, and most didn’t return until health and emergency […]
Posted inNovember 8, 1999: A new road for the public lands
Keeping Glacier Park intact
Four years of work, months of public review and a $1.5 million investment have paid off for Glacier National Park planners. Last summer, the Park Service signed the General Management Plan that will guide Glacier’s resource management for the next few decades. Project leader Mary Riddle says the plan reflects people’s desire to keep the […]
Posted inNovember 8, 1999: A new road for the public lands
Mining may need some brakes
Outdated federal mining regulations cause environmental disasters, says the Mineral Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Its 32-page report, Six Mines, Six Mishaps: Six Case Studies of What’s Wrong With Federal and State Hardrock Mining Regulations and Recommendations for Reform, describes a wide range of mining sites that have “slipped through the loopholes of regulations,” says […]