WASHINGTON, D.C. – About a decade ago, wildlife officials in Idaho began to realize that there were more wolverines in the Sawtooth Mountain area than they had thought. How many more and how should they be managed? Well, that would take some study, which costs money. And as is the case in many states, Idaho’s […]
Jon Margolis
Posted inNovember 25, 1996: Pollution in paradise
The West is just another ethnic voting bloc
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oh, you folks think you’re so different out there, do you? All these seminars and conferences about the Old West and the New West, the changing West, the future of the West, the culture of the West, even the sovereignty of the West. From the intellectuals in the universities to the anti-intellectuals […]
Posted inOctober 28, 1996: Has big money doomed direct democracy?
Congress’ 11th-hour moment of maturity…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the end, and just barely, the Congress of the United States decided to act like grown-ups, creating or expanding about 100 pieces of national parkland around the country, as they intended. But because so many of its members had acted like children, they also “passed’ – well, they caused to be […]
Posted inOctober 14, 1996: Greens prune their message to win the West's voters
The body politic may edge to the left
WASHINGTON, D.C. – If only they had as much imagination as gamblers, politicians here could be singing the lament of Harry the Horse and Nicely Nicely in “Guys and Dolls”: “Where’s the action? Where’s the game? Gotta have the game or we’ll die from shame.” There’s supposed to be a game going on here. The […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
It’s the grizzlies and the birds, stupid
CHICAGO, Ill. – “We saved Yellowstone from mining,” President Clinton intoned in his acceptance speech, which was characteristically long, detailed and completely devoid of eloquence. Clinton did not say, “Bob Dole wouldn’t have done that”; he didn’t have to. Dole had done it for him in his own acceptance speech, which was more eloquent, almost […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
The Republicans weren’t dull by a long shot
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – As you no doubt noticed, some of the reporters covering the Republican National Convention here were so bored they wanted to go home. Indeed, one of them did. Ted Koppel of ABC’s Nightline imperiously announced he was leaving before the party ended. Ted missed a good story. Come to think of […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Doomed park bill just a tool of politicos
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As a young Italian girl once noted, names can be confusing. Take the name, “Presidio.” To the many millions who speak Spanish, it’s no name at all, merely a word for prison. To San Franciscans familiar with their city’s history, it’s the name of a fort the Spaniards built in 1776 when […]
Posted inAugust 5, 1996: Disappearing railroad blues
‘Takings’: Lobbyists love it, the public doesn’t
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Remember Mr. Smith proclaiming that lost causes were the only ones worth fighting for? Even without Jimmy Stewart’s comforting drawl, that sentiment strikes a chord. Who can resist the charm of the loser who does not quit, the true believer who persists despite the disapproval of the multitudes? In that light, consider […]
Posted inJuly 22, 1996: Glen Canyon: Using a dam to heal a river
This was the revolution that wasn’t
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Here are two basic truths about revolutions: First, like comedy, revolutions are easy to plan, but very, very hard to pull off. Second, we don’t do them in America. Well, we started with one, and perhaps it continues. Since then there has been lots of change, most of it incremental. For this […]
Posted inJune 24, 1996: Catron County's politics heat up as its land goes bankrupt
Ski industry masters the sneak attack
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation often resembles siege warfare back in the days of the battering ram and the catapult. The attackers figure that the more stuff they throw at the walls – rocks, spears, little guys – the better the odds that something will get through. They’re right, because the defenders tend to relax after […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Sinclair Lewis’ George Babbitt would be at home in this Congress
When I read recently that a couple of Republican congressmen were still fighting an impending ban on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), I was overtaken by a literary obsession: I had to re-read Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt. Let me explain. About a year ago, while still gainfully employed, I wrote a column about Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, who […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 1995: No more ignoring the obvious: Idaho sucks itself dry
Waaaaaaaaaaaahh! The West refuses to be weaned
RESERVE, N.M. – Ah, the West, where the spaces are wide open and the skies are big, where they know when to hold “em and when to fold “em, where the handclasp is a little stronger and the smile dwells a little longer and where, above all, men are men. Not really. In fact, the […]