Taking its duty to expedite energy exploration on public lands very seriously, the Bureau of Land Management has given a hearty thumbs-up to a plan for seismic exploration for natural gas in Uintah County, Utah. In early October, the agency issued a “finding of no significant impact” for the tests, which would spread across more […]
Laura Paskus
Posted inOctober 28, 2002: Shadow Creatures
Bush undermines bedrock environmental law
After 33 years, the National Environmental Policy Act may be ‘streamlined’
Posted inOctober 14, 2002: Democrats kick back: The politics of growth
Around the West, the hot races to watch
Note: this is one of several feature stories in this issue about the 2002 election. ARIZONA Hispanics could stage a Democratic comeback Hispanics, who now make up one-fourth of Arizona’s population, may take half of the state’s eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives for the Democrats. Raœl Grijalva is virtually guaranteed the seat […]
Posted inOctober 14, 2002: Democrats kick back: The politics of growth
The Latest Bounce
Proving that open space isn’t only for white suburbanites, Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., has pushed her San Gabriel River Watersheds Study Act through the House (HCN, 8/5/02: L.A.’s rivers get some respect). Solis’ bill, which would study the creation of an urban National Park in her North Los Angeles district, could make it to the […]
Posted inOctober 14, 2002: Democrats kick back: The politics of growth
Dead fish clog the low-flowing Klamath
Interior Department denies responsibility for dead salmon and steelhead
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
The Latest Bounce
Federal forest boss Dale Bosworth’s complaints about citizen appeals of forest projects hit a crescendo in mid-September, yet appeals continue to pop up across the West. In Colorado, 11 groups appealed the White River Forest Plan, released in June (HCN, 7/8/02: White river). This time, Bosworth can’t lay all the blame on environmentalists: Appellants range […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Environmentalists fight chemical weapons burns
OREGON Plans to burn Cold War-era chemical weapons in northeastern Oregon have environmental groups up in arms. Before burning the more than 3,000 tons of sarin and mustard gas that have been stored at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility since 1962, the Army must first test its furnaces by burning “surrogate” chemicals. At the […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 2002: The Royal Squeeze
Toxic fish taint tribal diet
Seafaring salmon are struggling against extinction, but they might be safer than some of their neighbors in the Columbia River. During a recent study, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission found that Columbia River fish – especially species like mountain whitefish and white sturgeon, which spend their entire lives in […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 2002: The Royal Squeeze
Rough riding
More than mere annoyances, tearing up trails or disturbing the peace, all-terrain vehicles are deadly, according to a report published last month by the Consumer Federation of America, Bluewater Network and the Natural Trails and Waters Coalition. The ATV Safety Crisis Report says that ATV accidents have injured more than 111,000 people in the last […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 2002: The Royal Squeeze
A cow of a time
There’ll be some verbal sparring, rangeland management tips, literary musing and maybe a little bird-watching at this year’s annual RangeNet conference, “Bovines or Biodiversity: The National Campaign to End Abusive Public Lands Ranching.” The three-day-long program in Boise, Idaho, includes talks by Jon Marvel of the Western Watersheds Project * which is sponsoring the conference […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Chinook tribe loses recognition
WASHINGTON In July, when members of the Chinook Tribe were invited to the White House for a kick-off to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, they came bearing gifts – a hand-carved dugout canoe and beads – for the Bush family. Two days later, the descendents of those who saved Lewis and Clark from starvation in […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
A fish is a fish is a fish – or is it?
Are some fish created more equal than others? This conundrum is the subject of a draft policy released in late July by the National Marine Fisheries Service, regarding which salmon and steelhead deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act (HCN, 10/8/01). On one side of the debate are some Northwest farmers and landowners who bear […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Corruption and tragic history paralyze range reform on the Navajo reservation
This year, conditions on the 17 million-acre Navajo reservation in the Four Corners have followed a bleak timeline. A winter with lower than average snowfall was trailed by a dry, windy spring. In March, Navajo Nation President Kelsey Begaye declared a “drought emergency” and cattle owners – most of whom run 20 head, each of […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
New Mexico ranchers push to graze preserve
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, “Corruption and tragic history paralyze range reform on the Navajo reservation.” Northern New Mexico is known for more than fiery red chilis and smoldering mountain sunsets; it’s also notorious for skirmishes between its mostly […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Sound science or red tape?
A proposed amendment to the Endangered Species Act could weaken the roles of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service in deciding which species do – or do not – get federal protection. Since the Act was passed in 1973, the two agencies have been responsible for listing species and […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
L.A.’s rivers get some respect
CALIFORNIA A new proposal could someday turn the lower Los Angeles River and the San Gabriel River – now little more than concrete-lined ditches – into one of the nation’s few urban national parks. In June, the U.S. Department of the Interior gave a tentative thumbs-up to a bill from U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Wasting disease sneaks south
NEW MEXICO Chronic wasting disease has reared its head in southern New Mexico, 600 miles from any previously known outbreaks. In June, an emaciated mule deer discovered at White Sands Missile Range tested positive for the disease. The state’s Department of Game and Fish was taken off guard by the discovery. Since 1999, officials have […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Who speaks for the farmers?
OREGON Some farmers in the Klamath Basin are interested in selling their land to federal agencies and thereby freeing up water, not only for endangered fish, but also for their neighbors – although you wouldn’t know it from listening to their elected officials. This spring, the Klamath Water Users Association helped kill an amendment to […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Don’t proclaim the West is dead until you’ve met a Mexican motorcyclist with a wooden leg
My dirty little secret? The one boyfriends can’t tolerate, the one my mother doesn’t know about, the one true friends accept but don’t approve of? When I’m upset, I drive and drink. Well, sort of. Though it’s not what it sounds like, it’s probably not the recommended way for a young woman to cope with […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
Salty solution for Bay wildlife
CALIFORNIA If all goes according to plan, the San Francisco Bay will be home to the nation’s second-largest coastal wetland restoration project – good news in a state that has lost 90 percent of its coastal wetlands to development. Agricultural giant Cargill Corporation announced that it will sell almost 12,300 acres of salt ponds to […]