In magnitude and complexity, this Utah wilderness deal sounds less like the Washington County bill than the San Rafael Swell land deal that melted down when exposed as a multimillion-dollar rip-off of the American public (“Red Rock Resolution?” HCN, 7/22/13). The legislative language swore up and down that no threatened and endangered species habitat, wetlands, […]
Janine Blaeloch
Posted inWotr
An Idaho land trade that should go nowhere
When I started monitoring federal land exchanges in 1996, some of the biggest projects involved so-called “checkerboard” lands. Created by the railroad land grants during the 19th century, they made for a confusing array of public land mixed with private land. Often, the exchanges that the Forest Service proposed to consolidate checkerboard ownership seemed logical […]
Posted inWotr
Solar power works best when it stays small and local
In the spring of 2010, I was minding my own business, directing a small nonprofit whose focus for 15 years has been to fight any and all attempts to privatize public land. From bad land swaps that benefit billionaires and cheat the public to congressional selloff schemes, we thought we’d seen it all. Then along […]
Posted inMay 2, 2011: The Westerner in D.C
Quit yer whinin’
This letter is in response to an online-only piece from our community blog, the Range, entitled: Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? In all the years that this hysteria against wolves has gone on and escalated, it’s impossible not to conclude that it comes from some really scary (and scared) pathology, an atavistic enmity […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2006: Timberlands up for grabs
No bipartisan support for Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness
Laura Paskus’ article on the Ojito Wilderness mentions the proposal for the Boulder-White Clouds in Idaho, an omnibus lands bill that includes some wilderness designation (HCN, 11/28/05: The little wilderness that could). Paskus states that this legislation has “bipartisan support,” when in fact its only sponsors are Mike Simpson of Idaho and Jim Saxton of […]
Posted inDecember 20, 2004: Stand Your Ground
‘Paying for wilderness’ undermines environmental goals
In covering wilderness campaigns, HCN has invited us to party with Nevada “wilderness warriors” (HCN, 3/3/03: Wild Card); watch a rancher in Owyhee County, Idaho, kill a rattlesnake (HCN, 12/8/03: Riding the middle path); and learn the personal philosophies of the central players in Idaho’s Boulder-White Clouds proposal (HCN, 11/22/04: Conservationist in a Conservative Land). […]
Posted inAugust 18, 2003: Where the Antelope (and the Oil Companies) Play
Vidler is a water predator
Matt Jenkins did a good job of tying together the complex threads of the Vidler Water Company story (HCN, 8/4/03: Pipe Dreams), a mind-boggling tale of the potential horrors of water commodification and the boundless greed of resource predators like Vidler. Vidler certainly deserves our wary attention, but it is also important to point out […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
Read the fine print
Dear HCN, Poor Senator Harry Reid. He says if he were king, he’d have lots of wilderness, but he had to compromise in his recently passed Nevada “wilderness” bill (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). Fortunately, there were bright spots in the legislation for some of Harry’s friends, who got free or cheap land through numerous […]
Posted inJune 7, 1999: Mining the past
Always question land trades
Dear HCN, I want to thank writer Lynne Bama for her story on land trades, and particularly for showing the connection between 19th-century land grabs and the present-day subsidization of corporations through exchanges (HCN, 3/29/99). Lynne called me a “one-woman truth squad,” which I took as a compliment, but which belies the efforts of scores […]