Last spring, Montana’s Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes were happy to improve wildlife habitat and water quality on their Flathead Indian Reservation by replanting 250 acres of burned land with ponderosa pines. But for the London-based company that is funding the restoration, satisfaction comes from how much carbon dioxide the growing trees will suck out […]
Laurel Jones
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
All’s fair in smog and waste?
Ever wonder if being a renter increases your risk of cancer from hazardous air pollutants? Or whether your income level correlates to how far you live from a Superfund site? Now, by entering your ZIP code into a new Web site, you can get answers to questions like these, based on data collected from your […]
Posted inSeptember 10, 2001: The rise and fall of a desert stream
Dictionary of the American West
If you’re looking to string a greener, try offering one a glass of beef tea. Better yet, get ’em roostered on leopard sweat. Chances are, enough of either will send them running outside to air the paunch. Confused? A quick perusal of Win Blevins’ revised edition of the Dictionary of the American West will set […]
Posted inSeptember 10, 2001: The rise and fall of a desert stream
Keeping an eye on The Planet
Last year, instead of heading home after a full day of classes, senior Tiffany Campbell went to the Bellingham offices of The Planet, Western Washington University’s nationally recognized environmental magazine. As The Planet’s editor, Campbell rounded out 15-hour days editing copy, meeting with writers and laying out nearly 40 pages of stories. For Campbell, who […]
Posted inSeptember 10, 2001: The rise and fall of a desert stream
Gas industry gambles on New Mexico mesa
Federal plan seeks balance in rare desert grasslands
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
Four-wheelin’ for fee
COLORADO Known as the “Jeep Capital of the World,” Canyon Creek, just south of Ouray, Colo., leads four-wheel-drive enthusiasts into alpine areas that are world-renowned for their abundant wildflowers and sweeping vistas. But if you’re planning to visit, don’t forget your wallet. This summer, the Forest Service has begun charging $5 per vehicle to enter […]
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
Fire plan gets a scolding
NATION The $1.6 billion National Fire Plan, approved by Congress last September, promised a cooperative, interagency approach to fire management (HCN, 9/25/00: Fires bring on a flood of federal funds). But the government’s in-house watchdog says that promise is far from fulfilled. In his testimony before a House subcommittee on July 31, General Accounting Office […]
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
Small steps for change
A third-generation Coloradan, Jessica Sherwood remembers returning to her hometown of Boulder after a 10-year hiatus in Washington, D.C. “I actually cried,” she recalls, on seeing the once-pastoral corridor between Denver and Boulder transformed into an almost continuous mass of houses and malls. Determined to make a difference, Sherwood decided to tout alternative transportation to […]
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
Arctic Refuge
“When a lone wolf howls it sounds distinctively alone. When a pack howls, the sounds harmonize and mix until the voices of a few blend into the chorus of a multitude. A call answered and passed on. A call to gather.” – Lentfer & Servid in Arctic Refuge: A Circle of Testimony That the call […]
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
Blackfeet bet on wind
MONTANA Montana’s Blackfeet Nation is a step ahead in the race to generate new, renewable sources of power. Using two of its most abundant natural resources – land and wind – the 15,000-member tribe is partnering with a private wind-power firm to build the first large-scale wind-energy project on tribal land. Blackfeet WindPower One is […]
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
Predators keep their pelts
COLORADO In Colorado, three species of fur-bearing predators will hold onto their skins for a little longer. In its July meeting, the Colorado Wildlife Commission decided to not allow live-cage trapping and shooting seasons for the swift fox, pine marten and opossum. Commission chair Rick Enstrom, who cast the tie vote which killed the Colorado […]
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
Indigenous group seeks citizenship
ARIZONA To the Tohono O’odham, the barbed-wire fence that stretches across the Sonoran Desert, dividing southern Arizona from Mexico, was always seen more as a cattle barrier than an international boundary. For as long as they can remember, tribal members have traveled back and forth across the border to visit relatives, join in ceremonies and […]
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
Wetland degrader swims in murky waters
IDAHO John Simpson concedes that he was “a bit naive” when, in 1997, he began clearing debris and beaver dams out of what he believed was an old side channel of the Salmon River on his central Idaho ranch. Bothered by the mosquito-infested swamps created by the dams, Simpson wanted to restore water flow that […]
Posted inJune 18, 2001: Transforming powers
Indian rock art under the drill?
MONTANA Crow Indian historian Howard Boggess believes the rock art that graces the sandstone cliffs of Weatherman Draw marks the historic “Valley of the Shields” as a “place of peace” where chiefs and warriors retreated for vision quests. The art likely represents a multitude of ethnic groups who traveled through this historic migratory corridor in […]
Posted inJune 18, 2001: Transforming powers
Birds for a feather
Eagle feathers have been important cultural and spiritual symbols for members of the Pueblo of Zuni. “They symbolize strength, courage and vision,” explains Edward Wemytewa, cultural liaison for the tribe. Until recently, however, tribal members had to put their names on a 5,000-person waiting list to receive a carcass from the National Eagle Repository. With […]
Posted inJune 18, 2001: Transforming powers
Tribe tussles over target range
MONTANA The Fort Belknap Indian Community in north-central Montana, home to the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes, is split on a proposal that would allow the Montana Air National Guard to drop dummy bombs and fire dummy bullets on tribal trust land. The one-mile-square target area would be in the center of a 15-square-mile buffer […]
Posted inJune 4, 2001: Tribal links
Tortoises take on tanks
CALIFORNIA In the middle of California’s Mojave Desert, a 15-year-long battle over 131,000 acres of desert may be coming to a head. The proposed expansion of the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin could harm two high-profile local residents, the threatened desert tortoise and the endangered Lane Mountain milkvetch. The expansion area, now managed […]