He found solace in growing fruit trees, but never quite made the Beehive state his home.
Jared Farmer
Posted inSeptember 9, 2008: Reclaiming the low country
Reclaiming the low country
Look at a map of the original “New West” — the transcontinental West of the post-Civil War period. It’s easy to fixate on what we don’t see. Big dams, open-pit mines, metropolises, freeways — none yet exist. National forests and parks and bombing ranges — not there. On closer inspection, the outdated maps show something […]
Posted inApril 24, 2000: At your service: Unions help some Western workers serve themselves
Make mine a double cone
Dear HCN, As a recent graduate of Utah State University in Logan, Utah, I must report my bewilderment upon reading your characterization of my former home: “Nowadays, Logan is a smaller version of Boulder, Colo. Trophy homes glisten along the foothills of the Wasatch Range; students buy double lattés before class, and go jogging on […]
Posted inMarch 3, 1997: Hunters close ranks, and minds
Pictures and politics`
From the stale world of coffee-table books, Stone Canyons of the Colorado Plateau offers a jolt of caffeine. The quality of the reproductions is top-notch and the text is worth reading, though this is hardly surprising given photographer Jack Dykinga and writer Charles Bowden, both of Tucson. Their subject is the slickrock country of southern […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 1996: Can this man break the right's grip on Idaho?
How to talk Western
Would you like to add some colorful Westernisms to your vocabulary? Look no further than Thomas L. Clark’s new book, Western Lore and Language: A Dictionary for Enthusiasts of the American West: Biscuit shooter – The camp cook for ranch operations (1890s). Bizzing – Hanging on the rear of a moving vehicle on a snow-slick […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 1996: Can this man break the right's grip on Idaho?
Salt Lake has an Olympian traffic jam
On weekday afternoons, I-15 in Salt Lake City has traffic jams that rival those of Los Angeles. In response, Utah has taken a California approach: Build more lanes. Starting next spring, the city’s main thoroughfare will be reconstructed and doubled in size at a cost of over $1 billion, the largest public works project in […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 1996: Can this man break the right's grip on Idaho?
A daunting, beautiful place
Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. Covering an area larger than the state of Delaware, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument encompasses some of the wildest, most desolate land in the country. The expanse of canyons, bluffs, grasslands, cliffs is dotted with fossils and Native American archaeological sites. If you stand on […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
A summer of smoke and ashes
Marines and Army soldiers joined the tens of thousands of firefighters at work in Western states this summer. On Aug. 16, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise declared a maximum Level 5 Emergency, which authorizes the use of military personnel. The additional firefighters were needed to combat the most intense fire season since 1969. […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Babbitt takes the offensive on Utah wilderness
At a wilderness hearing last spring, Utah Rep. James Hansen challenged Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to find 5 million acres of BLM land in Utah that qualify for wilderness designation. Now that competing Utah wilderness bills are dormant in Congress, Babbitt has taken him up. The Interior boss has assembled “a small team of career […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Devils Tower may get a second name
To Plains Indians, the name Devils Tower dishonors a sacred place. But to local Wyoming residents, the name stands for community identity and tourist dollars. When Devils Tower National Monument Superintendent Deborah Liggett revived the idea of renaming the feature, people spoke out in opposition. At an Aug. 15 meeting, says Liggett, “I was labeled […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Recreation fee startles locals
In July, radio talk show hosts in Tucson, Ariz., went after an unlikely target: forest ranger Tom Quinn. “They roasted me for a week,” said Quinn, who works on the Coronado National Forest. The reason for the fuss? The Forest Service wants to charge an entrance fee for the popular Mount Lemmon recreation area just […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
A “bizarre” alliance fights logging
The southern Colorado town of San Luis, population 850, is predominantly rural, Hispanic and Catholic. Everyone here knows everyone else. But at a special sunrise service on June 10, the local priest welcomed some new faces from environmental groups such as Ancient Forest Rescue, Greenpeace and Earth First! Afterwards, the motley congregation drove to the […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Park Service preys on lake trout
At Yellowstone Lake, there’s a new fishing regulation: No matter how many lake trout you catch, you can keep them. In fact, you have to. The compulsory open season is part of a desperate attempt by the Park Service to curb lake trout, a species dumped illegally in the lake (HCN, 9/19/94). Lake trout are […]
Posted inAugust 5, 1996: Disappearing railroad blues
BIA comes under fire – again
In one of the largest class action suits ever filed against the federal government, 300,000 American Indians have demanded a full statement of their Individual Indian Money accounts that are managed, much like a bank, by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. “They have no idea how much has been collected from the companies that use […]
Posted inJuly 22, 1996: Glen Canyon: Using a dam to heal a river
The history of two canyons, in photographs
Out of the flood of books on the Colorado River, two recent illustrated volumes caught our eye. Robert H. Webb’s Grand Canyon, a Century of Change features pairs of matched photos, old and new. The author, a hydrologist involved with Glen Canyon Environmental Studies, spent seven months replicating hundreds of photographic views from the Stanton […]
Posted inJuly 22, 1996: Glen Canyon: Using a dam to heal a river
Drought ‘ heat = fire
Drought ‘ heat = fire This year’s fire season started fast and furiously. Across the parched states of Arizona and New Mexico, 3,600 fires have scorched some 324,000 acres. As a precautionary measure, 10 of 11 national forests in the region declared at least part of their acreage off-limits to recreationists in June. The most […]
Posted inJuly 22, 1996: Glen Canyon: Using a dam to heal a river
The salvage rider – down, but not quite out
For environmentalists concerned about public forests, this was supposed to the summer of dread. Timber companies, shielded by a salvage logging law, were expected to have a free-for-all on thousands of acres of roadless land. But now, with summer half over, environmentalists have reason for optimism. They may even salvage a victory. Congress passed the […]
Posted inJune 24, 1996: Catron County's politics heat up as its land goes bankrupt
Clean air victory in Colorado
The operators of the polluting, coal-fired Hayden Power Plant in northwestern Colorado have agreed to reform. The pressure began in 1995, when the Sierra Club won a lawsuit holding the plant accountable for more than 17,000 clean air violations (HCN, 11/27/95). The EPA followed this year with a notice of 10,234 additional violations. Rather than […]