You hear this argument from drillers, miners and loggers nowadays: For every tree we don’t cut here, a forest falls in Siberia. For every proposed regulated mine we don’t dig in the West, a river system is poisoned in China. For every oil or gas well we don’t permit here, a rainforest in Africa is […]
Mark Matthews
Posted inOctober 14, 2002: Democrats kick back: The politics of growth
Montanans may take back their dams
Initiative would undo some of the damage done by electricity deregulation
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Suit may hamstring wildland firefighters
MONTANA A $54 million lawsuit filed against the U.S. Forest Service in July may remove a valuable tactic from firefighters’ toolboxes. On Aug. 6, 2000, in an attempt to stop the Spade Fire as it burned toward houses near Connor, Mont., federal firefighters lit backfires to deprive the fire of fuel in its path. But […]
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Elk conservation group sharpens its ax
New CEO tries corporate-style downsizing
Posted inApril 1, 2002: Move over! Will snowmobile tourism relax its grip on a gateway town?
The Postal Service stamps the mythic West
Wyoming has declared war on Montana. Why? Wyoming officials say their northern neighbor has co-opted an icon behind which the state tries to perpetuate long-gone traditions. The stimulus for the feud was the U.S. Postal Service and its 50-state commemorative stamp series. The Montana stamp features a cowboy atop a bucking horse. Wyoming says it […]
Posted inMarch 4, 2002: Seed in the ground
EPA wants to supersize Idaho Superfund site
State and federal officials squabble over how to clean up the Silver Valley
Posted inJanuary 21, 2002: Finding the words
Judge puts kibosh on logging plan
The Forest Service’s rush to cut Montana’s burned Bitterroot forest
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
Montana tribes drive the road to sovereignty
PABLO, Mont. – Most roads leading to Indian reservations in Montana run through stark, lonely country. Things are different on the Flathead Reservation, home of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Highway 93 is the busiest and most dangerous two-lane road in the state, and 56 miles of it traverses the reservation, beginning about 12 […]
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
Old firefighters need not apply
Forest Service regulations are keeping experienced workers off the fireline
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
A ‘shroom boom rises from the ashes
Mushroom hunters descend on Montana’s fire-scorched national forests
Posted inJuly 2, 2001: Can Nevada bury Yucca Mountain?
Varmint hunters sidelined in Wyoming
The Forest Service takes a stand for prairie dogs
Posted inJune 18, 2001: Transforming powers
Montana shock jock stokes the fires of fear
Environmentalists face ‘hate propaganda’
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
Back into the woods
The West goes to work cleaning up its forests
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
Can Mr. Nice Guy lead the Forest Service?
Agency lifer Dale Bosworth lands in the hot seat
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
The West’s fire survivors
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. LODGEPOLE PINE If you watched the Yellowstone fires in 1988, you’ve seen lodgepole pine in action. This is a tree that is built to burn. It grows in dense thickets at high elevations where the climate is usually moist and cool. But when drought […]
Posted inApril 9, 2001: The water empress of Vegas
Montana gets a taste of old-time logging
Massive salvage operations leave little for the birds
Posted inDecember 4, 2000: Road Block
Last chance for the whitebark pine
A remarkable tree, spread by birds andeaten by bears, finally gets someattention
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Home is where the heat is
Federal firefighters save houses while the West’s woods burn
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Protect yourself from wildfires
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article,”Home is where the heat is.” The Montana Division of Disaster and Emergency Services has a few suggestions for making your home more fire safe: Copyright © 2000 HCN and Mark Matthews This article appeared in the print […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Forests on a forced diet
Hungry Washington office keeps Forest Service funds from reaching the ground