Will future courts order states to take down fish-blocking dams?
Paul VanDevelder
Posted inMarch 19, 2018: Desert, Divided
You’re made of the same stuff sloshing around in tidepools
When the tides pull back the water line, a writer takes a trip through time.
Posted inArticles
In the decision on Standing Rock, ghosts from the past
The federal government’s decision on Dakota Access pipeline could signal a shift in U.S.-tribal relations.
Posted inArticles
Back to civics class: 10 things to know about Standing Rock
It’s high time for a crash course in federalism and representative democracy.
Posted inArticles
Reckoning at Standing Rock
Want to understand the pipeline protests? Start with the Founding Fathers.
Posted inArticles
Salmon supporters win again in court
Washington will have to fix up culverts that block fish passage.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Aquifer recharging can help stanch drought
Oregon is successfully capturing runoff to underground storage.
Posted inArticles
Coal to China port hits a big snag
In 1832, when Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall was pondering the fate of Baptist missionary Samuel Worcester, who’d been jailed by Georgia state militia for preaching the Christian gospel to Cherokee Indians, little did Marshall know that his ruling would one day reroute rivers, legalize hundreds of Indian casinos from coast to coast, and […]
Posted inWotr
Between a rock and a dry place
How the “mega-drought” facing the region got its start.
Posted inWotr
Fresh look at the wolf-grizzly relationship
An essay on the Yellowstone study that shows these predators’ fascinating survival dance.
Posted inWotr
Wolves still need our protection
As a society, how far are we willing to go and what are we willing to sacrifice to preserve the wild?
Posted inWotr
Once there was an effective governor and a middle ground
It’s sobering to recall that, not that long ago, the West wasn’t labeled Blue or Red, but rather a shade of beige. Just a generation ago, centrists like Mike Mansfield, Cecil Andrus, Frank Church, Scoop Jackson, John Melcher and progressives like the cousins Morris and Stewart Udall represented Westerners in Washington. Today, if a Western […]
Posted inWotr
The education of Dr. Jane Lubchenco
When renowned zoologist Jane Lubchenco was sworn in as President Obama’s director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2009, she declared: “Science will be respected at NOAA; science will not be muzzled.” Lubchenco’s doctrine signaled a new day. Today, four years later, she would be the first to admit that her edict was […]
Posted inWotr
Remembering George McGovern as the elections pass
As the 2012 election recedes into the background, it’s still time to play the post-election game called “What did it really mean?” or, in the case of this election, “What did we get for $2.6 billion?” Pundits on the yak-yak circuit got the jump on the game when the election was quickly called for President […]
Posted inWotr
The Black Hills await justice
Every now and then a bombshell of a story comes along that screams for a reasonable amount of historical context. Why? Because it doesn’t make sense without it. But given a citizenry as poorly informed about its own history as ours is, our gross national product may best be measured in foolishness. For instance, the […]
Posted inWotr
Elouise Cobell, rest in peace
updated Oct. 26, 2011 It is the rare person who gets to be enshrined in the pantheon of heroes. I remember the Herblock cartoon that came out the day after Dwight Eisenhower died. It showed acres of white crosses at Arlington National Cemetery, with the caption: “Pass the word, it’s Ike.” Across Indian Country this […]
Posted inWotr
Justice delayed but finally delivered
When federal District Judge Thomas F. Hogan approved a $3.4 billion settlement with several hundred thousand Native American plaintiffs last month, it was the largest court-ordered payout in the history of the United States government. The restitution finally closes an unsavory chapter in American history that began more than a century ago, when Congress passed […]
Posted inWotr
Anatomy of a disaster
The hydrologic havoc playing out in the Mississippi Delta is not a freak of nature. This slow-motion, manmade disaster is our inheritance from a previous generation of politicians, farmers and ranchers, who made bad decisions to correct short-term problems even as the best available science warned of long-term consequences. Like it or not, we will […]
Posted inWotr
A fish tale in the land of Oz
The most expensive and protracted battle over an endangered species is at last approaching its day of reckoning in Portland, Ore. Sometime this spring, federal District Court Judge James Redden will decide the terms of a recovery plan for some two dozen endangered salmon stocks in the Columbia River Basin. Like the famous Boldt Decision […]
Posted inWotr
Oregon halts corporate affluenza
Tea Party activists across the country probably shuddered with horror when they read what Oregonians did at the polls recently. But for a majority of us who live in this state of rain, big trees and mighty rivers, voting for new taxes during an economic downturn was common sense. For the first time since 1930, […]