A professor at the University of California at Berkeley has taken a scholarly look at the Quincy Library Group and at its plan and decided that both are flawed, but not because he opposes consensus efforts. In the same article, Timothy P. Duane finds that a consensus group in California’s Yuba River watershed does something […]
Ed Marston
Posted inFebruary 16, 1998: Private rights vs. public lands
Dear Friends
A landmark potluck Three times a year, High Country News holds a board meeting and potluck somewhere in its 1 million square-mile territory. The potlucks especially always have lots of good company and good food. But – and this is no reflection on Socorro or Bozeman or Seattle or Salt Lake City or Cheyenne or […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 1998: Looking at dams in a new way
Use this book to get under the West’s skin
There is nothing historian Patricia Nelson Limerick dislikes more than the word frontier when used to describe the “advance of civilization” across the arid, lightly populated 19th century American West. She built her early career debunking the notion that the West was once an empty land settled by brave white men bearing democracy. Nevertheless, the […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 1998: Looking at dams in a new way
Dear friends
Visit from a stalwart Once upon a time, substantial chunks of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado were to be the scene of massive industrial development. Oil shale, aka the “rock that burns,” was to be mined and crushed, with the resulting hydrocarbons liquefied and then refined, freeing the U.S. from servitude to the Middle East. It […]
Posted inNovember 10, 1997: Drain Lake Powell? Democracy and science finally come West
Drain Lake Powell? Democracy and science finally come West
Note: this front-page essay introduces this issue’s two feature stories: “A tale of two rivers: The desert empire and the mountain” and “Reclaiming a lost canyon.” The proposal to drain Lake Powell is exhilarating. Not because it is necessarily a good idea. That remains to be seen. The proposal is exhilarating because it means democracy […]
Posted inNovember 10, 1997: Drain Lake Powell? Democracy and science finally come West
Dear friends
El Nino 1, Denver 0 The Denver area’s horrendous weekend of Oct. 24-26 began with blowing snow and didn’t quit until some 21 inches had fallen. The storm spared the western half of Colorado and most ski areas, but 10 people in the eastern part of the state, as well as livestock, died in the […]
Posted inOctober 13, 1997: The land is still public, but it's no longer free
Dear friends
The Research Fund The real burden of the Research Fund falls on the “gang of five,” a tenacious crew that is sitting in our central area putting together the letters that will determine HCN’s fate over the next year. It’s an especially tough job because ours is an open office, and so they can’t listen […]
Posted inOctober 13, 1997: The land is still public, but it's no longer free
Sierra Club moves to fortify its ‘drain Lake Powell’ campaign
The only people who love the idea of draining Lake Powell more than Sierra Club board member and former executive director David Brower are in the West’s congressional delegation. They jumped on the idea with glee, holding a House hearing in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 23, issuing press releases, and generating hundreds of letters to […]
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
QUINCY, Calif. – One requirement for belonging to the Quincy Library Group is a strong bladder. The group’s July 29 meeting – roughly its 50th since its 1993 founding – ran from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and while a few people came and a few people went, most of the 20 participants never left […]
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
We may be seeing the devolution of the environmental movement
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Undersecretary of Agriculture Jim Lyons is the presidential appointee to whom the chief of the Forest Service reports. Jim Lyons: “All these environmental groups have signed on against the Quincy Library Group bill because they object to legislating how the national forests are run. […]
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
The stress was very heavy
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Rose Comstock is president of California Women in Timber. She also manages Clover Logging, which has shrunk from about 60 employees to two. The Barkley sale she refers to was a salvage-logging-rider sale that the timber firms on the QLG refused to bid on […]
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
My experience with the Quincy group wasn’t positive
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Erin Noel grew up in a small town within the region the Quincy Library Group has staked out as its domain. She founded Forest Alert, which monitored the Lassen, El Dorado and Tahoe national forests. She now studies law at the University of California, […]
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
I was always welcomed there
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Terry Terhaar worked for the nonprofit Pacific Rivers Council in 1995. She spent 10 months attending Quincy Library Group meetings. Before that, she was a regional vice president for the Sierra Club in northern California and Nevada. She is now a graduate student at […]
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
We’re much stronger together
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. “Charismatic,” “feisty,” “a bulldog,” and “non-stop talker” are just a few of the adjectives used to describe environmental attorney Michael Jackson. He has lived and worked in Quincy, Calif., for 20 years. Michael Jackson: “I’ve taken part in listing almost every salmon on the […]
Posted inSeptember 15, 1997: Yellowstone at 125: The park as a sovereign state
Yellowstone at 125: The park as a sovereign state
Note: this front-page essay introduces this issue’s feature story. In June 1986, Max Peterson, then chief of the Forest Service, went to Yellowstone National Park. In the course of his speech, he mentioned how nice it was to be in Montana. Unfortunately, he was standing in Wyoming. The press hooted. We shouldn’t have. It’s a […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Foreman finds hope amid ecological rubble
Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson should thank their stars that Dave Foreman chose to become a conservation preacher rather than a religious preacher. Otherwise, they would be out of jobs. Foreman, who said his family had expected him to become a Bible-thumper, traces his unique ministry back to the doomsday preaching of Cassandra, and he […]
Posted inAugust 4, 1997: Vanishing habitat
Dear friends
Out of the hot Kay Firor and Kent Osterberg, accompanied by their children, Brent and Lissa, all of Cove, Ore., came through town. Kay teaches math at Eastern Oregon University, and Kent swears that he is a metrologist – a specialist in the measuring of things. The Red Robin Bike Tour of Colorado, a benefit […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Not for aggies only
Those who think the phrase “agricultural press’ is an oxymoron should take a look at Oregon’s Capital Press, which covers ag issues in the Northwest with intelligence, perspective and a minimum of hysteria. While the weekly is definitely not an environmental publication, it covers much the same ground in a calm and informative way. Its […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Dear Friends
A skipped issue Twice a year, the High Country News staff takes pity on its readers and stops the flow of news for a fortnight. This bonus issue, with its four extra pages, will have to take the place of the skipped July 21 issue. Our next issue will be dated August 4, 1997 – […]
Posted inJune 23, 1997: On the trail of mining's corporate nomads
Dear Friends
Word from Gretchen Circulation manager Gretchen Nicholoff is in the business of increasing HCN’s subscription rolls, so she was horrified to learn that some subscribers thought a letter she wrote threatened to cut them off. It is the Postal Service that is threatening HCN with non-delivery unless we get subscriber addresses right. Gretchen is grateful […]