America’s national forests belong to everyone, and all Americans deserve and rightfully demand access to this national birthright. Such access is like oxygen for hunters and anglers, but beware: Industry barracudas and their pals in Congress are trying to hoodwink sportsmen into supporting bad legislation by promising more lenient access. Today’s case in point is […]
Ben Long
Posted inRange
Time to get serious about fun!
Now for some serious talk about fun. The world needs more fun. Lighten up. Grab a kid and a sack lunch and get outside. The backyard or the Brooks Range. It’s your duty, if you care about Mother Earth. Yes, write your Congressman. Yes, make that donation. Shop for organic, fairly traded, locally grown soy-burger […]
Posted inRange
Beware of wolves cloaked in “access”
America’s national forests and our fish and wildlife belong to everyone. Americans rightfully demand access to this national birthright. Access is like oxygen for hunters and anglers. But beware. Industry barracudas are trying to hoodwink sportsmen into supporting bad legislation by promising “access.” Take HR 1581, the Wilderness and Roadless Release Act. It’s sponsored by […]
Posted inRange
10 years post September 11: Keeping America free and open
Almost 10 years ago, just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, my wife and I back-packed from near our home in Kalispell, Montana to Waterton Lakes National Park, in Alberta, Canada. For documentation, we carried our driver’s licenses, although I don’t recall anyone asked for much of a look. We just returned from another Waterton vacation. […]
Posted inRange
Religious Intolerance Plays Role in Presidential Politics
Judge a person by his character, not his race, color or creed. It seems Americans — liberals and conservatives alike — could use a booster shot on this topic, at least when it comes to the issue of Mormons, or members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Two men with LDS roots, Mitt Romney […]
Posted inRange
Lewis, Clark and Darwin
Charles Darwin wasn’t born until three years after the Lewis & Clark Expedition was over, but evolutionary science is shedding a new light on a question that has perplexed me and other history buffs about their epic journey. Here’s the question: Why were the Indians so friendly to Lewis & Clark? The answer might just […]
Posted inWotr
Famous or obscure, our rivers are priceless
I have never visited the Louisiana Gulf Coast or Alaska’s Valdez Bay, but like you, I carry indelible mental images of spewing pipelines and oil-soaked seabirds from the environmental disasters that happened there. Now the images are hitting closer to home. The Yellowstone River runs the length of my home state of Montana like a […]
Posted inWotr
Nothing “wise” about advocating poaching
Hunting season just closed here in Montana, and I oiled my rifle for its annual winter hibernation. After all, hunting regulations — and the law in general — are something I respect. It’s too bad that more community leaders out West fail to grasp that fundamental tenet of citizenship. In central Idaho last month, a […]
Posted inWotr
Love wilderness? Thank a veteran
Some of the environmental movement’s greatest heroes were also heroes of World War II
Posted inWotr
Don’t be afraid of the big bad bears
Ah, spring: The bloom of flowers, the song of birds, the paranoia of the National Park Service. I have come to expect it just as I expect muddy boots at the door and crowded pews at Easter: If you live in the same part of the world as Glacier or Yellowstone national parks, you will […]
Posted inWotr
Feeling crowded around here? It is!
One statistic jumped out of the morning paper and jolted my brain. The news was that America’s population will hit 300 million sometime during the third week of October. But it wasn’t that landmark figure that jarred my morning reverie. It was this: The United States population has grown from 200 million to 300 million […]
Posted inMay 29, 2006: 'Clinging Hopelessly to the Past'
Science vs. science fiction — get it straight
Science and scientists are taking quite a beating in the public opinion department these days. Sometimes there’s a good reason for it. Consider the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Every year, the geologists’ association honors someone “for notable journalistic achievement in communications contributing to public understanding of geology.” The oil geologists gave Michael Crichton their […]
Posted inWotr
National Parks are truly under the gun
The words “heavy artillery” and “national park” aren’t usually uttered in the same sentence. Get used to it. National parks are under fire — both literally and metaphorically. First, let’s talk about the literal blasting. It’s proposed in one of America’s grand old parks, Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana. The Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad […]
Posted inWotr
We all lose when scientists sell their credibility
Ever wonder why science and scientists are taking such a beating in the public opinion department these days? Then consider the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Their recent decision to praise pulp novelist Michael Crichton as “journalist of the year” feeds not only cynicism about the oil and gas industry, but also drains public faith […]
Posted inWotr
The Endangered Species Act is a roaring success
The Endangered Species Act — which is being reviewed by Congress this week — is a soaring success. Just look up. Look skyward for a while and you might spy an American bald eagle. Hundreds of them live in my home state of Montana. Across the United States, the bald eagle is a living, flying […]
Posted inWotr
Lewis and Clark trout at 200
One June evening exactly 200 years ago, a young private in the U.S. Army baited a hook tied to a willow stick and tossed it into one of the largest waterfalls on earth. The line went taut under the strength of a 2-pound flash of living silver. The soldier took in the line, hand over […]
Posted inWotr
Montana’s Marlboro men get ready to bite the dust
I’m a sucker for the cowboy. My bookshelves sag under the weight of Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry novels. I have spent summer wages on Ian Tyson CDs and Willie Nelson concert tickets. My favorite Clint Eastwood film is Unforgiven, not Million Dollar Baby. But even I was surprised when the 2005 Montana Legislature drew […]
Posted inWotr
Wolf opponents just don’t get it
Time flies when the sky is falling. At least, we were told to expect the sky to fall in 1995. That’s when federal biologists snatched a bunch of Canadian wolves, hustled them south of the border and cut them loose in central Idaho and Yellowstone. Ten years sped by in a flash. But when I […]
Posted inWotr
Surprise! Conservation united Montana voters
Montana voters smashed the trash-can lid on the “blame the environmentalists” rhetoric so in vogue with right-wing Republicans earlier this year. To no one’s surprise, Montana voters went solidly for President George Bush and overwhelmingly reelected their sole Republican congressman, Dennis Rehberg. But in that light, consider this: Brian Schweitzer will become Montana’s first Democratic […]