REXBURG, Idaho – A cinnamon-colored bear ambles over to the green GMC camper truck, sniffs the tires and stands up on his hind legs. The 400-pound predator paws at the hood and laps at the bug-spattered windshield, behind which sits a giddy young family of four packed on the truck’s bench seat. They’re not in […]
Dan Egan
Posted inAugust 5, 1996: Disappearing railroad blues
A cellular call of the wild
A trip into the wilds of Yellowstone National Park just got tamer. Hikers can now toss a cellular phone into their backpacks. “What’s next, cable?” asked a grubby Los Angeles resident fresh in from a couple of nights in the forest, where he spotted one of the park’s fabled grizzly bears. Park officials say the […]
Posted inJune 24, 1996: Catron County's politics heat up as its land goes bankrupt
Marvel ups the ante
Marvel ups the ante Sporting a bright-green button that said: “I support welfare ranching,” Hailey, Idaho, conservationist Jon Marvel bid $12,000 for the right to lease a 960-acre parcel of state land. After rancher Mike Ward bid $12,050 for the 10-year lease, Marvel folded and declared victory. “We’ve approximately tripled the cost of the lease […]
Posted inApril 1, 1996: Gambling: A tribe hits the jackpot
Yellowstone: Geysers, grizzlies and the country’s worst smog
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – Wendy Ross traveled the globe before settling into a job at Yellowstone National Park. Now she suffers from what she calls “the worst air I’ve ever breathed.” She and her co-workers at the park’s west entrance depend on air pumped into their glass booths from a port about 75 feet […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
Did Idaho libel the feds?
Three federal agents involved in a celebrated tangle with an Idaho rancher were packing more than pistols when they investigated the case of a shot wolf on private land. They also had a tape recorder. The tape reveals a dramatically different picture of the agents from the thug-like characters lambasted by Idaho lawmakers in the […]
Posted inMay 29, 1995: Politics 101
Booming county looks for trust
Fremont County, Idaho, is booming, and Grant Chandler doesn’t like what he sees on the horizon. “To tell you the truth, I’m not interested in seeing another 50,000 people move in – or even another 10,000,” says Chandler, current chairman of the county commission. But he acknowledges that he can’t stop a development boom in […]
Posted inApril 17, 1995: The New West's servant economy
‘Marvel’ous auction in Idaho
A ranch manager coughed up the money to defeat conservationist Jon Marvel at a state-land grazing auction in Idaho Falls March 7. For the first time, Marvel and his 350-member Idaho Watersheds Project lost a bid, although every time he has won in the past the Idaho Land Board overturned his victory – handing the […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 1994: Can she save ecosystems?
Idaho group takes over some public land
For the first time in Idaho history, an environmental group has wrested control of state-owned rangeland from a rancher. At a Jan. 28 auction in Idaho Falls, the Idaho Watersheds Project outbid Challis rancher Will Ingram for rights to lease a 640-acre tract of state land for the next 10 years. “We’ve experienced great frustration […]
Posted inNovember 1, 1993: Sunbelt confrontation
1872 Mining Law comes calling on Sun Valley
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline 1872 Mining Law comes calling on Sun Valley.