The Forest Service is about to give designated wilderness the bureaucratic attention it deserves, according to Jim Lyons, the nation’s front-line politician overseeing the agency. The Forest Service is creating a new Washington, D.C.-based job, national director of wilderness, which “will be on a par with other program managers, such as timber, range and minerals,” […]
Staff
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Say what?
The NPS wants help ASAP in de-jargonizing its PR under NEPA. Translated, that means for the first time in 12 years the National Park Service is considering changes in procedure under the National Environmental Policy Act, the mother of all environmental protection. Passed in 1969, the act describes which environmental impacts the federal government must […]
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Wild in Montana
Two former high-ranking Forest Service officials known for their blunt criticism of the agency headline the Montana Wilderness Association’s 36th annual convention in Great Falls, Dec. 2-3. Tom Kovalecky, retired supervisor of the Nez Perce National Forest, and John Mumma, former regional forester for the northern region of the Forest Service, will speak about changes […]
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Blow, whistleblowers, blow
Continuing to emphasize openness at the Department of Energy, Secretary Hazel O’Leary proposed reforms Oct. 17 to protect whistleblowers. Employees who raise concerns about fraud or safety, for example, would be protected against retaliation and litigation costs related to lawsuits brought against them by contractors, and the agency would form a special department for employee […]
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Who are you calling redskin?
When you go to a Saints’ football game “and a little mascot dressed like the pope runs around and sprinkles holy water on all the drunks, then you should start protesting. And us Indians will be right there beside you,” says the director of the American Indian Movement, Clyde Bellecourt. He makes the comparison in […]
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
From Oregon to Wyoming
A former county commissioner in Oregon has taken over the reins of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. New executive director Tom Throop was a commissioner in Deschutes County, Ore., where he helped begin a recycling program and rewrite county land-use laws to protect farmlands and forests. Throop, 47, who spent eight years in the Oregon Legislature, […]
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Fall damps fires of ’94
The arrival of autumn rain and snow brought relief to the West’s firefighters. The summer of 1994 has been the most intense fire season in memory, according to the federal fire center in Boise, Idaho. Nationwide, 3.9 million acres burned this year, nearly twice the yearly average from 1989 to 1993. It was not the […]
Posted inOctober 31, 1994: Water for the taking
Paved “paradise’ for workers
In Telluride, Colo., you can live in your car, but only if you park it in the right place. After passing an ordinance prohibiting car camping on all public land and rights-of-way within town limits, on Oct. 18 the Telluride Town Council designated a public parking lot as an alternative. The “campers’ are people who […]
Posted inOctober 31, 1994: Water for the taking
Elk farming leads to wildlife slaughter
Gunners from the ground and the air shot dead 120 deer and other wildlife this August so that Montana officials could test the animals for tuberculosis. State veterinarians said tests were necessary because elk had developed TB at a game farm along the Bighorn River, north of Hardin, and the disease had been transmitted to […]
Posted inOctober 31, 1994: Water for the taking
Eight charged with bombing a river
A former rafting guide and seven other men may be sent up the river for bombing a Class 6 rapid. A federal grand jury in Phoenix, Ariz., indicted William K. Stoner, 34, and his co-conspirators Oct. 13 on charges they blew up Quartzite Falls in Arizona’s Salt River Canyon Wilderness. The boaters are accused of […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Organizing citizens for the next 20 years
-Where do citizen activists go from here?” asks the 20th anniversary issue of The Workbook, published by the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center. Varying answers come from 19 veteran activists whose essays appear in this special 47-page issue. In New Mexico, Maria Varela says empowering land-based communities to develop their economies is the answer […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Green Classifieds
If you’re a conservationist – budding, seasoned amateur or salaried professional – you may want to check out Earth Work, published 11 times a year by the Student Conservation Association. Every other issue is labeled JobScan and contains nationwide environmental job listings ranging from seasonal internships to career opportunities. Other issues contain interviews with conservation […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Come into the forest
-Nature is not only more complex than we think; it is even more complex than we can think,” said biologist Frank Egler, whose observation is one of dozens of quotations gracing a new, permanent exhibit at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore. Called The Changing Forest, the exhibit features ceiling-high trees and indoor and […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
A wilderness rates one official boss
A wilderness once run by six national forests will get its own supervisor, budget and district managers – just like a national forest. By centralizing management of Idaho’s 2.3 million acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, the Forest Service hopes to save on costs and improve services, says John Twiss, the agency’s national leader […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Celebrate the West
Growth, politics and the future of the region will come under scrutiny at a “Celebrate the West” conference in Jackson, Wyo., Nov. 5-7. The conference honors Western historian and author Alvin M. Josephy Jr., who has helped Indians establish their voice in the telling of Western history. The gathering at the National Wildlife Art Museum […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Parks give free rides
While the Clinton administration proposes charging people more to visit national parks, the National Park Service continues to lose more than $100 million a year in fees it fails to collect. According to an Interior Department audit, the agency took in $68 million in gate and campground fees at the nation’s 367 parks, monuments and […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Pay to play
The Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association believes mountain bikers should pay to use trails on public lands. The group wants Idaho to enact a $10 annual fee to maintain trails, create new ones and develop trail-etiquette education. Cyclists, who would register any bike that they ride off-road, could influence how funds are spent through advisory […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
A sunny future for nuclear test site?
The Nevada Test Site, home to nuclear weapons testing for more than 40 years, may have a brighter future. Clear skies and high insolation – the amount of solar radiation available at ground level – make the test site one of the best places in North America for capturing solar energy, according to a feasibility […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Home on the electric range
-How would you like it if you lost your jobs, your home and communities just because of an animal no one’s even heard of? Is that what America’s really about?” Tammy Jo asked every five minutes, every day, until she was unplugged. She is a member of the life-sized robotic ranching family that enthralled visitors […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Open sesame, grazing boards
The public must now be allowed, if not welcomed, to sit in on Utah’s grazing advisory board meetings. In late June, the state attorney general’s office issued a decision that forces all five of Utah’s BLM advisory boards to open their doors, even to activists such as grazing watchdog Scott Groene of the Southern Utah […]