Here, in large and sunlit land … I will lay my hand in my neighbor’s hand And together we will atone For the set folly and the red breach And the black waste of it all. -Rudyard Kipling On New Year’s Eve 1987, in Niger, West Africa, I camped with friends at the foot […]
Peter Chilson
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
An era ends: old industries face reality
Note: a sidebar article titled “Surrounded by dogs, bikers, developers” accompanies this feature story. RIFLE, Colo. – Logging is a touchy subject with Kent Strong, owner of K & K Lumber near this Colorado River Valley town 70 miles west of the ski resort at Aspen. Ask about business and he says, “There’s no logging […]
Posted inApril 27, 1998: The old West is going under
Surrounded by dogs, bikers, developers
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. RIFLE, Colo. – Jim Snyder wants to give a piece of his mind to every driver hurtling down Interstate 70 past his ranch seven miles east of this town. He wants to tell them that they are driving over what was some […]
Posted inMarch 16, 1998: Olympic onslaught: Salt Lake City braces for the winter games
The Wayward West
In Santa Fe, N.M., one-term Mayor Debbie Jaramillo lost her re-election bid March 3 to a retired state highway engineer. Larry Delgado won with 8,517 votes to the mayor’s 2,176. Jaramillo drew criticism for nepotism when she appointed her brother to the city manager’s job and he in turn appointed Jaramillo’s brother-in-law police chief (HCN, […]
Posted inMarch 16, 1998: Olympic onslaught: Salt Lake City braces for the winter games
Lawmakers struggle to rewrite the Endangered Species Act
For six years, the federal Endangered Species Act has been on probation, limping along on a budget renewed in Congress every year while lawmakers try to come up with a new law that pleases conservationists and conservatives alike. What’s new this year is legislation introduced by Sen. Dirk Kempthorne, R-Idaho. Although no environmental group fully […]
Posted inMarch 2, 1998: Wild horses: Do they belong in the West?
The Wayward West
The Canada lynx has gotten its due. After years of resisting, on Feb. 12 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed, under pressure from conservation groups and an order from a federal judge, to list the lynx as a protected species in the lower 48 states (HCN, 11/24/97). Conser-vationists have long argued that logging and […]
Posted inMarch 2, 1998: Wild horses: Do they belong in the West?
The Grand Canyon struggles with reality
TUSAYAN, Ariz. – Just south of Grand Canyon National Park, this hamlet of 1,600 people is a model for what federal planners don’t want near a national treasure. The main street takes millions of visitors a year past an Imax Theater opposite an RV park, Babbitt’s General Store, motels and fast-food restaurants that tourists overwhelm […]
Posted inMarch 2, 1998: Wild horses: Do they belong in the West?
A Nevada power plant earns itself a lawsuit
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – South of Las Vegas, Nev., the Mohave Generating Station remains the last coal-fired power plant in the Southwest to resist installing pollution controls. Now, the plant, one of the largest sulfur dioxide polluters in the West and a significant polluter of the Grand Canyon, sits in the crosshairs of the federal […]
Posted inMarch 2, 1998: Wild horses: Do they belong in the West?
Into the canyon: Fear and heat on foot
On the southeast rim of the Grand Canyon, at the South Kaibab trailhead, wind blows hard and cool at 4:20 a.m., even in July. I walk past the yellow sign with the fretting boy sitting on a rock under the sun. The sign reads, “Heat Kills!” A bus left five of us here moments ago, […]
Posted inFebruary 16, 1998: Private rights vs. public lands
The Wayward West
The League of Conserva-tion Voters congressional scorecard is out. The only Western senators to score 100 percent on their voting records are Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both Democrats from California. The entire Senate delegations of Idaho, Texas, Utah and Wyoming scored 0. The League gave 0 scores to 30 senators, all Republicans, and 12 […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 1998: After the gold rush
The Wayward West
Tension over logging the Taylor Ranch in southern Colorado continues. Costilla County sheriff’s deputies and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation haven’t found who sabotaged seven electrical power poles on the property last month. Ranch manager Vic White says someone with a saw severed three poles and cut the others three-quarters through. White calls the action […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 1998: After the gold rush
A ‘liberal’ court gets some breathing room
Western conservatives in the U.S. Senate tried to add language to a spending bill last fall to neutralize an old nemesis – the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But the senators, facing heavy opposition in the House of Representatives, had to compromise: a commission will review the appeals court system and the San Francisco-based […]
Posted inDecember 22, 1997: Gold Rush: Mining seeks to tighten its grip on the 'last, best place'
The Wayward West
For the first time in its history, the U.S. Forest Service admits it has lost money on national forest timber sales. Losses amounted to $14.7 million for fiscal year 1996. The agency says the shortfall comes mostly from rehabilitation projects such as forest thinning and stream restoration, while commercial logging operations continue to profit. Utah […]
Posted inDecember 8, 1997: Mono Lake: Victory over Los Angeles turns into local controversy
The Wayward West
The Quincy Library Group Bill is tangled in holiday traffic, after flying through the U.S. House of Representatives last July (HCN, 9/29/97). Sens. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., put holds on the bill, stalling it in the Senate. But proponents like Sen Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., are confident it will move quickly when Congress […]
Posted inNovember 24, 1997: Restoring a refuge: Cows depart, but can antelope recover?
The Wayward West
Three Wisconsin Chippewa tribes wanted to start a casino. Nearby tribes didn’t want the competition. They had given money to the Democratic Party. After the regional office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs endorsed the casino, higher-ups in Washington rejected it. Conflict of interest? Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says no. His old friend and former […]
Posted inOctober 27, 1997: Deconstructing the age of dams
Germany targets U.S. airspace
The German Air Force has trained quietly over the American Southwest for 30 years. Now, a proposed bombing range for German planes has attracted the ire of ranchers and environmentalists. The U.S. Air Force, which manages the training program, wants to put the targets on part of the McGregor Range in southern New Mexico. The […]
Posted inOctober 13, 1997: The land is still public, but it's no longer free
The land is still public, but it’s no longer free
Skip Edwards sits at one end of a long table, looking like a criminal facing a parole board. He argues passionately before nine stern faces. “We are taking the soul out of the reason for public lands,” he says. “We are losing our freedom to roam our open spaces, for a pittance to balance the […]
Posted inOctober 13, 1997: The land is still public, but it's no longer free
At Mount St. Helens fees go dangerously high
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. At Mount St. Helens National Monument in Washington state, the money problems began two years ago, when officials had to close the Silver Lake Visitors’ Center four days a week. The funds just weren’t there to keep the center open full time. Things got […]
Posted inOctober 13, 1997: The land is still public, but it's no longer free
Guy Clark: Fees draw fire from two public-land users
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Guy Clark is an avid hunter who lives in Crawford, in western Colorado. He grew up on a ranch bordering the West Elk Wilderness, a place he calls “my back yard.” The Bureau of Land Management plans to impose a user fee on another […]
Posted inOctober 13, 1997: The land is still public, but it's no longer free
Barbara Sutteer: Fees draw fire from two public-land users
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Barbara Sutteer, a career National Park Service staffer, has roots in both the Northern Ute and Cherokee tribes. She is former superintendent at Little Bighorn National Monument and now works as a tribal liaison officer for the Park Service in the agency’s Denver office. […]