Flanked by massive cottonwoods and sycamores, Pinto Creek winds through the rugged mountains of central Arizona’s Tonto National Forest. Its narrow valley is a haven for an endangered hedgehog cactus, it contains scores of archaeological sites and it may soon become an open-pit copper mine. That prospect has roused local protest and national criticism, yet […]
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Posted inMarch 17, 1997: Working the Watershed
Cut the fat out
Cut environmentally damaging subsidies and save $36 billion doing it, urges a report targeting 57 wasteful federal programs. The third annual Green Scissors describes how each program costs both taxpayers and the environment. Ending below-cost timber sales, the report says, could save $1 billion over five years. Twenty-five taxpayer and nonprofit groups contributed to the […]
Posted inMarch 3, 1997: Hunters close ranks, and minds
No more cheap thrills
How much should we pay to play in the great outdoors? More than we do now, say government auditors. A report by the federal General Accounting Office finds that the Forest Service loses millions of dollars each year by not charging enough to private and commercial recreationists. Investigators say the outdated permit fees charged to […]
Posted inMarch 3, 1997: Hunters close ranks, and minds
Big sky or big sprawl?
Montana, the state that rejected speed limits, is heading toward a lot more traffic. According to a recent report, the number of miles traveled by car in Montana grew twice as fast as population from 1970 to 1990 and is projected to double again by 2015. With 1.7 cars per licensed driver, Montana residents already […]
Posted inMarch 3, 1997: Hunters close ranks, and minds
Wanted alive
Bewildered by declining numbers of boreal toads, the Colorado Division of Wildlife is hoping the “help wanteds’ will yield some clues. The agency is displaying colorful posters at trailheads and outdoor equipment stores, describing the small toads and asking for the public’s help in finding them. Since the boreal toad is uniquely adapted to the […]
Posted inMarch 3, 1997: Hunters close ranks, and minds
Caretakers wanted
Taking care of other people’s property for a living is taking off, says Gary Dunn, publisher of Washington state’s eight-page newsletter, The Caretaker Gazette. The bimonthly newsletter, first printed in 1983, lists some 90 caretaking opportunities in the United States and nine foreign counties. Interest is equal on either side of the equation, Dunn says: […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 1997: No home on the range
This trip’s to the pits
It’s not exactly the Grand Canyon, but your next Arizona vacation could include the enormous crater of an open-pit copper mine. ASARCO Inc. ow offers bus tours of its Mission Mine near Tucson, hauling visitors to an overlook of the two-mile-long, 13’4-mile-wide hole deep enough to hide a 100-story building. Tourists can also see “the […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 1997: No home on the range
The houses that HUD built
On the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Washington state, taxpayers’ money administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development built a 5,300-square-foot home for a couple making $92,000 a year. That mansion soon became a symbol of excess for a five-part Seattle Times series in December documenting tribal housing scandals. Because of deregulation of […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 1997: No home on the range
Go native
Native plants are enjoying a new celebrity with Western gardeners, landscapers and conservationists. But just what makes a plant a native? Art Kruckeberg, a botanist at the University of Washington and a founder of the Washington Native Plant Society, says the short answer is this: Natives are plants that were here before European contact. The […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 1997: No home on the range
Alien invasions
The aliens have landed and they’re killing the natives. It may sound like the plot of a bad movie, but it’s real life: Alien species threaten the survival of native plants and animals across the country. In the report, America’s Least Wanted, The Nature Conservancy has named the 12 most threatening invaders of our nation’s […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 1997: No home on the range
Whose West is it?
Developers, planners, attorneys and conservationists will talk about urban and rural land development at the sixth annual conference on land use, sponsored by the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, March 13-14. High Country News publisher Ed Marston will debate what’s happening to the economy and culture of the New West with William Perry Pendley, […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 1997: No home on the range
When parks close, towns lose
For Nevada fishing guide Jim Goff, who works at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, last winter’s government shutdown cost him a lot of money. “The first week they closed down, I had charters booked every day. I lost $1,200,” says Goff. Goff’s experience as a result of the 26-day shutdown was not unique. A […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 1997: Bringing back the bighorn
Dear friends
About that toilet paper Cadillac Desert author Marc Reisner sent us a copy of a letter he wrote to former Durango, Colo., mayor Jeff Morrissey, a friend of the Animas-La Plata project and an enemy of all A-LP’s opponents. Morrissey was quoted as saying he wipes his *** with Reisner’s book. Reisner’s response, only the […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 1997: Bees under siege
Mostly you need faith
Grassroots Grants: An Activist’s Guide to Proposal Writing belies its title by first listing all the reasons why nonprofits should not chase grants. That’s because only 12 percent of nonprofit funding comes from foundation or corporate grants, compared to 88 percent from individuals, writes Andy Robinson, who lives in Tucson, Ariz. To make matters worse, […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 1997: Bees under siege
Andy Robinson’s tips for activists
Pick your fights. It pains me to say this, but you must develop an aversion to lost causes. If you can’t see your way to victory – even if that victory won’t occur for years or decades – pick another fight. To maintain your sanity and stamina, focus your energy where it will do the […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 1997: Bees under siege
Cowboy Poetry Gathering
The Cowboy Poetry Gathering is back Jan. 25-Feb. 1, to celebrate the ranching traditions of poetry, music, art, dance and “plain old visiting.” The 13th annual shindig in Elko, Nev., pays special tribute to Canadian cowboys, while daytime events range from workshops on ranch-kitchen cooking to multi-day classes on songwriting, saddle-stamping and rawhide-braiding. Evenings feature […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 1997: Bees under siege
Rivers Festival
Sometimes all it takes is a fish and you’ve got a festival. California salmon and how to save them is the focus of the 17th annual Rivers Festival Feb. 7 to 9 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Keynote speeches by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., writer and environmentalist Tim Palmer, and Cadillac Desert […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 1997: Bees under siege
Volunteer student interns
The Colorado State Senate seeks volunteer student interns for its regular session Jan. 8 through May 7, 1997. Each intern will be assigned to a senator to answer phones and mail, do research and attend some committee meetings. For more information contact Mary Marchun at 303/866-3065. This article appeared in the print edition of the […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 1997: Bees under siege
Santa Fe’s Forest Trust
What makes a forest product from the Southwest socially and ecologically responsible? That’s what directors of Santa Fe’s Forest Trust will try to determine at six public meetings Jan. 18 to Feb. 16 in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. The eventual goal is the creation of a voluntary “green label,” to help consumers make […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 1997: Bees under siege
National Mining Conference and Exhibition
The 100th National Mining Conference and Exhibition will be held at Denver’s Hyatt Regency Hotel Feb. 2-5. Call Nina Marrone of the Colorado Mining Association at 303/894-0536. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline National Mining Conference and Exhibition.