RURAL REALITY CHECK Four years ago, economist Ray Rasker began touring towns in the Greater Yellowstone region with a slideshow. His message: New growth in local economies comes mostly from high tech and service industries, not resource extraction like mining or grazing. Rasker, with The Wilderness Society in Bozeman, Mont., says, “Most people told me, […]
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Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Environmental Activism 101
Environmental Activism 101 The University of Montana will train activists as well as scholars during a new 16-week joint venture with the federally funded Green Corps. Called the Environmental Organizing Semester, it will teach 26 college juniors and seniors from around the country how to run petition drives, investigate environmental abuses, write press releases and, […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Defending the desert
Defending the desert In the minds of far too many people, says former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, the Southwest’s public lands are a wasteland. “Indestructible because there is nothing to destroy; unworthy of protection.” Now, a new handbook by the Environmental Defense Fund provides activists and educators with the tools to tackle this myth. Defending […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Untangling Washington
UNTANGLING WASHINGTON When the 1994 Congress cut funding for its research groups, the Environmental and Energy Study Conference didn’t die, it reorganized as the for-profit Congressional Green Sheets. As a part of Congress, the conference had provided information about House and Senate actions on environmental issues. With the same staff and its new name, Green […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Helping hand isn’t
Helping hand isn’t The best way to help wildlife live through a bitter winter is to leave them alone, says the Montana-based Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Free food can accustom deer and elk to human hand-outs and erode instincts that protect the animals, says the group. If the ration suddenly disappears, the animals may descend […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
The Snake runs through it
THE SNAKE RUNS THROUGH IT Lewiston and Idaho Falls stand like bookends at either end of the Snake River’s path through Idaho. Those two ends will converge Nov. 28-29 in Boise, Idaho, at Snake: the River Between Us, a conference about the future of Idaho’s largest river. The meeting grows out of a series of […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Yearning for balance
YEARNING FOR BALANCE Americans find simplicity complicated. According to a recent survey conducted for the Merck Family Fund, a foundation that promotes environmental sustainability, the majority of people questioned said they want to simplify their lives, spend more time with loved ones and consume less. But they have found it’s easier said than done. Although […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Preserving open spaces
PRESERVING OPEN SPACES Colorado Open Lands works to preserve large stretches of undeveloped land across the state. So it’s only fitting that the nonprofit group’s quarterly newsletter, which includes photos and descriptions of recently completed projects, is laid out on big, airy pages. The group’s projects, detailed in past issues of Landscape, include acquisition of […]
Posted inOctober 30, 1995: Nevada's ugly tug-of war
Water and faith
WATER AND FAITH “How do we live faithfully in an arid land?” Rural congregations will gather in Twin Falls, Idaho, to reflect on this question at the eighth meeting of the Forum on Church and Land, Water, Power and Place, Nov. 8-11. Among the speakers will be University of Colorado law professor Charles Wilkinson, who […]
Posted inOctober 30, 1995: Nevada's ugly tug-of war
Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF? Ranchers concerned about wolves killing livestock should buy a new piece of equipment – a video camera. That’s the advice in Dealing with Wolves on the Ranch, a pamphlet from the Montana Stockgrowers Association that explains the legal do’s and don’ts of dealing with endangered wolves in Idaho, […]
Posted inOctober 30, 1995: Nevada's ugly tug-of war
No profit in Kaiparowits Mine
NO PROFIT IN KAIPAROWITS MINE A company trying to open a coal mine on southern Utah’s Kaiparowits Plateau had better take a second look at its numbers, concludes a recent study by the Grand Canyon Trust. The report says the high cost of trucking coal over 225 miles of roads to rail transfer sites will […]
Posted inOctober 30, 1995: Nevada's ugly tug-of war
Smog talk
SMOG TALK The crystal-clear skies of the sparsely populated Colorado Plateau have become increasingly muddied by power plants, mining operations, wood-burning stoves, and even automobile smog from Los Angeles. From Nov. 27 to Dec. 7, the public will have a chance to comment on five proposed solutions to the problem at meetings in eight Western […]
Posted inOctober 16, 1995: In the heart of the New West, the sheep win one
The exhaustion of a metaphor
THE EXHAUSTION OF A METAPHOR Skinheads in the Northwest, migrants pouring into California, 1,000 American factories just over the border in Mexico, coffee vendors in Seattle: Are these images of the Western frontier? Journalist Richard Rodriguez says they are, and they’re replacing the old idea of a land without limits. He will consider this transformation […]
Posted inOctober 16, 1995: In the heart of the New West, the sheep win one
Peak preserved
PEAK PRESERVED Hikers on the summit of 13,462-foot Treasury Mountain, near Crested Butte, Colo., may not have known it, but until recently they were standing on private property. That changed Aug. 21 when the Wilderness Land Trust purchased 200 acres of private land inside the Raggeds and Maroon Bells-Snowmass wilderness areas. Much of the land, […]
Posted inOctober 16, 1995: In the heart of the New West, the sheep win one
Buy some shorts: Save a salamander
BUY SOME SHORTS: SAVE A SALAMANDER All 50 state wildlife agencies have joined a campaign to add user fees to outdoor products. Their aim: to save wildlife that isn’t hunted or endangered but still in need of habitat. The International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and seven conservation groups, including the World Wildlife Fund […]
Posted inOctober 16, 1995: In the heart of the New West, the sheep win one
Saving salmon
Saving Salmon Billy Frank, chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, said it was now or never: “You going to wait until the last salmon is gone from the last spawning bed?” Frank was speaking at a ceremony in Seattle, Wash., marking the formation of For the Sake of Salmon, an organization of Northwest government, […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
Growth in the Intermountain West: Impacts on the GreenLine
How do you plan for growth and protect riparian areas? Look for some answers Oct. 11-13 at Growth in the Intermountain West: Impacts on the GreenLine, the 7th annual conference of the Colorado Riparian Association in Frisco, Colo. Topics include land-use planning and regulation, land trusts and riparian restoration. Contact Alan Carpenter, 303/444-2985. This article […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
The West … Pioneering Technology into the 21st Century
Do Western states really want to take possession of Bureau of Land Management Lands? Elected officials will talk about Utah Representative James Hansen’s bill and other proposals that would catapult a host of federal programs over to the states at the 48th meeting of the Western Legislative Conference, Oct. 7-10, in Salt Lake City, Utah. […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
The Politics of Sustainable Agriculture
Ponder the future of farming, free trade and technology with Wes Jackson and other researchers and writers at a University of Oregon conference, The Politics of Sustainable Agriculture, Oct. 7-8. For details, contact the Department of Political Science, 1284 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1284 (503/346-4868). This article appeared in the print edition of the […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
All about river guides
ALL ABOUT RIVER GUIDES Members of Grand Canyon River Guides will gather in Fredonia, Ariz., Oct. 28-29, to share music, food and perspectives on their trade and the future of the Grand Canyon. Their publication, boatman’s quarterly review, chronicles the feisty group’s concerns, including opposition to the Park Service’s proposed requirement that guides wear plastic […]