Boise Cascade Corp. in Monmouth, Ore., got a nasty surprise on Christmas Day, when arson destroyed the timber company’s regional headquarters. The Earth Liberation Front, which took credit for a $12 million fire at Vail Resort in Colorado last year (HCN, 11/9/98), has claimed responsibility. “Boise Cascade has been very naughty after ravaging the forests […]
Rebecca Clarren
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
A dredging dilemma
Dredging the Columbia River would allow bigger ships to sail between the Columbia River Estuary and into Portland, says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its $196 million plan would deepen a 103-mile stretch of river by three feet by dredging every day for two years. According to the Corps’ final environmental impact statement, dredging […]
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
A spick-and-span plan
Every year, untreated sewage flows out of storm drains in Portland, Ore., and into the Willamette River. “Most of the time, when you flush the toilet, it goes straight into the river because basically, when it rains in Portland, the sewers overflow,” says Don Francis of the nonprofit group, Riverkeepers. He estimates that 3 billion […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Clean-air program may suffocate
Washington state voters recently passed a ballot initiative that slashes taxes but leaves the state’s clean-air program gasping for breath. The initiative cuts license plate fees from an annual percentage based on car value to a cheap $30 and dictates that any increase in taxes for state government and schools must be voted on by […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
The Wayward West
Four more national monuments could be coming our way (HCN, 11/22/99). On Dec. 13, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt asked President Clinton to create two monuments in Arizona, including the Arizona Strip north of the Grand Canyon, and two others in California, totaling more than 1 million acres. Nevada’s Paiute Tribe made history this month. In […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
GASP! Some greens are grinning
Most environmentalists would agree they have a hard time throwing a party. They are not a group prone to wild optimism and loud hoorays; development pressures in the West usually make the future look too bleak. Yet some say there’s much to celebrate as 1999 comes to a close. At the top of most lists […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
The Wayward West
Colorado River water is going to the bank. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says a final plan allows Nevada, California and Arizona to negotiate deals for storing surplus Colorado River water. The three states will soon be able to store the water in underground aquifers for later use or even sell it for cash, which Babbitt […]
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
The Wayward West
The first reported case of chronic wasting disease has hit Montana. The fatal disorder has been slowly spreading throughout the West’s elk and deer populations for the past 30 years (HCN, 9/27/99). Early this month, an autopsy report proved it killed a game farm elk on the Kesler ranch in Philipsburg. Josh Turner of the […]
Posted inNovember 8, 1999: A new road for the public lands
Wising up to whirling disease
Scientists are considering new management strategies for whirling disease, which has been attacking fish in the West since the early 1990s. The disease has spread from one Western river to the next, eluding attempts at a cure and draining funds from state game and fish department budgets. Trout get the disease by eating worms infected […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
Dooming a dam saves dollars
Dooming a dam saves dollars The operator of the Condit Dam in southeastern Washington recently concluded that what’s good for the salmon is also good for the company’s bottom line. On Sept. 22, it agreed to demolish the dam by 2006. In 1996, the federal government told dam operator PacifiCorp that a new license for […]
Posted inSeptember 27, 1999: The Millworker and the Forest
Battered borderlands
The Border Patrol seeks a conservation ethic
Posted inJune 21, 1999: The disappearing farm
Big Oil down the tubes?
A Northwest oil consortium’s plan to build a 237 mile-long pipeline across Washington has fueled a fiery debate between environmentalists. Will the pipeline eliminate the risk of oil spills in the ocean or will it create a recipe for disaster right in the heart of the Cascade Range? “It makes more sense to get petroleum […]
Posted inJune 7, 1999: Mining the past
The real thing
Real “country living” means really having the right and opportunity to grow both food plants and animals. A block of apartments plopped into the middle of a cow pasture 10 miles from the supermarket isn’t real “country.” It’s guaranteed commuter clog and developer’s profit (buying cheap agricultural land and turning it into urban-density, perpetual-rent housing). […]
Posted inMay 10, 1999: My beautiful ranchette
Caution: Desert Tortoise Crossing
If a desert tortoise crosses your path and you don’t mind your manners, you could face fines of up to $100,000 or one year in jail. Due to urbanization and development, the animal, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, has lost an extensive amount of its habitat in Arizona, California, Nevada and southern […]
Posted inMay 10, 1999: My beautiful ranchette
A bigger picture
Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument needs to think of itself in the context of a wider world. That’s the conclusion of Crown of the Canyons, an atlas of colored maps and data on the ecology, geology and economy of the monument and its surrounding landscape, compiled by the Wilderness Society. The monument’s 1.9 million acres […]
Posted inMay 10, 1999: My beautiful ranchette
Another plug to pull?
The Sierra Club has a new campaign: It wants to restore the valley John Muir called “Yosemite’s twin.” But California’s Hetch Hetchy Valley, once part of Yosemite National Park, is presently buried under 360,000 acre-feet of water. Resurrecting the valley would require draining the reservoir that the San Fransisco area taps for its primary water […]
Posted inMay 10, 1999: My beautiful ranchette
Wanted: HCPs with teeth
NATION Wanted: HCPs with teeth To win cooperation from landowners, over the last decade the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has embraced Habitat Conservation Plans for saving endangered species on private lands (HCN, 8/4/97). It’s an effective alternative to a “shoot, shovel and shut up” approach, say agency representatives. Critics continue to insist that the […]
Posted inApril 26, 1999: Visionaries or dreamers?
Western weather: feast or famine
In February, Washington’s Mount Baker Ski Area was forced to turn skiers away for two days – a storm had buried even the chairlifts in snow. Boasting 90 feet of snow, the mountain is very close to setting a world record for yearly snowfall. Neighboring Mount Rainier isn’t far behind with 77 feet. Getting much […]
Posted inMarch 29, 1999: Wheeling and dealing
Tree lovers are willing to pay
Washington’s Loomis State Forest has 25,000 roadless acres, and environmentalists say they’ll spend millions to preserve it. In just a few months, the Loomis Forest Fund raised $3 million, but contributors say they need $10.1 million more to compensate the state for the cash it could make by logging. The forest, which borders Canada, is […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Julia Butterfly won’t come down
Julia “Butterfly” Hill has become something of a celebrity. She has lived in a 1,000-year-old redwood tree near Stafford, Calif., for over a year, spreading the message that “each and every one of the old-growth trees is ancient, precious, and priceless.” From the 300 to 500 letters she receives daily, Hill is confident that people […]