A day at Disneyland costs a family of four at least $232, not counting Mickey Mouse ears. At Six Flags Magic Mountain, the admission price would be at least $180. A seven-day pass to enter Yellowstone National Park costs $25 per car, which means that the same family spending a week among bison, elk, geysers […]
John Krist
Posted inWotr
Could it be Apocalypto for the Southwest?
Thanks to Hollywood movies showing the first North Americans as wandering hunters grunting to each other, Westerners may perhaps be forgiven for failing to appreciate the urban civilizations that arose in the New World long before Europeans arrived. Now, moviegoers have a chance to correct this oversight by seeing “Apocalypto,” Mel Gibson’s gruesome depiction of […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
Climate-change clues — in tropical glaciers
To understand why nearly every climate expert on the planet believes our hundred-year binge on fossil fuels has set the stage for today’s wrenching weather disruptions, you have to take the long view, looking beyond a single hurricane or heat wave. If you do that, the news gets worse. And if you really wish to […]
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Sometimes, it’s possible to be too much in touch
As a general rule, it is not a good idea to smack a fellow river rafter with a paddle or to push him out of the boat in the middle of a rapid. Not only do such actions constitute a breach of wilderness etiquette, they can cause hard feelings that might result in unpleasantness later […]
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Global warming can give you the chills
It was an odd juxtaposition: As news outlets were reporting last winter about astonishingly frigid conditions in Russia, where nearly 40 deaths had been linked to temperatures as low as 24 degrees below zero, they were also reporting an announcement by climate experts that 2005 was the hottest year worldwide in more than a century. […]
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Selling forestland won’t solve the real problem
Selling federal forest land to subsidize rural schools and road projects is a bad idea for many reasons. But a proposal to do just that, incorporated into the Bush administration’s 2007 budget, has one powerful virtue: It has focused welcome public attention on a century-old welfare program that has yet to achieve its goals. Bush […]
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
Life — and death — in grizzly country
The popular impression of Timothy Treadwell, who died in Alaska just over two years ago, is that he was a delusional crackpot who deserved his fate: to be killed and eaten by a bear. News coverage painted him as a foolish amateur bear biologist — well-intentioned but not very bright — who paid with his […]
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One man’s grisly encounter with a grizzly
It’s easy to come away from the new Werner Herzog documentary, Grizzly Man, persuaded that its subject was a delusional crackpot who deserved his fate: to be killed and eaten by a bear. That certainly is the popular impression of Timothy Treadwell, who died in Alaska nearly two years ago at the claws and fangs […]
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Topsy turvy weather may be a sign of worse to come
We roll into camp at Lassen Volcanic National Park in California around 4 p.m., tumble from the car eager to stretch our legs, and are soon scrambling to dig winter clothing out of the heap of gear and garb that swamped the back seat somewhere in Oregon. The weather ought to be at least warm, […]
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Those who choose risk should bear the cost
Americans are not generally regarded as fatalistic. Christianity, the prevalent religion in America, teaches that individuals possess free will and are therefore responsible for their actions. The nation was founded and shaped by immigrants intent on building new lives in which they — not oppressive governments, intolerant clerics or class distinctions — would determine their […]
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Western governors take aim at wounded species
Judging by their comments last week at a meeting in La Jolla, Calif., Western governors have thought a lot about the Endangered Species Act and its consequences for ranching, farming and real-estate development in their states. It became equally clear during the meeting that many governors have not thought clearly about this most far-reaching of […]
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The bear has been misleading people for 60 years
Smokey Bear celebrated his 60th birthday this summer, and the ageless advertising icon wandered out of the woods for an elaborate birthday bash. He was feted by a crowd that included Dale Bosworth, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and children of firefighters who sang happy birthday to him. Smokey, who never speaks, was also […]
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Lake Powell: When drought becomes opportunity
Drought is a rude reminder that in any given year the interior West is but a storm or two from that hydrological tipping point where farming, ranching and the presence of cities become not merely ill-advised but — impossible. The region is being reminded of this now in a big way: Five consecutive years of […]
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Surprise: The bill for a water grab in California may be coming due
Water in the West has never made sense, thanks to states drawn with straight lines and watersheds that won’t stay put. Then there’s California, where hydrology and demography rebound off each other In opposite directions. Two-thirds of the people live in the south, while two-thirds of the surface water is in the north. This mismatch […]
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Permanent life support is no substitute for a native land
One rides the summer thermals; the other glides through rivers and streams like a pale torpedo. They could not be more dissimilar, this big buzzard and the silvery fish, yet they have a great deal in common: Both are icons of the environmental movement, and both challenge us to deepen our understanding of the relationship […]
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Forest Service duplicity stands out like a clearcut
Perhaps it was an act of intentional deception when the U.S. Forest Service used old photos of a Montana timber lease to make the case for logging in California to reduce fire danger. It’s just as likely, however, that laziness and bureaucratic ineptitude are to blame. Either way, the incident raises doubts about the agency’s […]
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Death in the backcountry comes with the territory
Search-and-rescue teams have been busy the past few weeks in the mountains of Southern California, looking for lost hikers, and instead finding corpses. Six times since Jan. 1, men described by friends and family as “experienced” outdoor travelers have slipped from icy trails and suffered injuries that, if not fatal outright, proved to be so […]
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To lions, we may be just a link in the food chain
A 100-pound mountain lion can kill an 800-pound elk. Keep that in mind the next time you go hiking in cougar territory. If you are alone and unarmed, and one of these powerful predators attacks you — intent on killing and eating you, rather than merely trying to drive you away from its offspring or […]
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California’s growth machine fueled these disastrous wildfires
The wildfires that gnawed their way through drought-crisped Southern California are on a pace to establish a record for acreage charred and for the dollar value of structures and belongings destroyed. Perhaps this is no great feat in a state where homes worth $250,000 five years ago are worth twice that today. The monetary disaster […]
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Free Hetch Hetchy!
To the members of a nonprofit group called Restore Hetch Hetchy, one solution to overcrowding in Yosemite Valley in California seems obvious: Create a duplicate of that enormously popular attraction, complete with its own spectacular waterfalls and soaring granite cliffs. The proposal would not require a team of theme-park engineers to execute since a natural […]