The land trust may be one of the last defenses Western communities have against the rapid development of private lands. The Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts will hold an Oct. 8-9 workshop in Estes Park, Colo., to help land people stay abreast of the latest tools of the trade. Hosted by the Estes Valley Land […]
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Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Sue the cattle
Open range, one of the West’s oldest prerogatives, needs to be retired, according to a new activist group, the Alliance for Property Rights. The alliance, based in Hailey, Idaho, is collecting horror stories from people whose property has been trampled or who have suffered car wrecks due to wandering livestock. “Clearly this is an ongoing […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Dueling studies
Will an injunction prohibiting grazing on eastern Oregon’s Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla national forests devastate the local economy? Yes, says Oregon State University economist Fred Obermiller. No, says Pacific Rivers Council, the environmental group whose lawsuit forced the injunction to protect habitat needed by endangered salmon. The dueling studies respond to a July federal court ruling […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Return of Compound 1080?
One of the most lethal poisons ever used in the West’s war on predators may be staging a comeback. President Richard Nixon banned Compound 1080 in 1972 following its widespread misuse and the death of untold numbers of birds, animals and even humans. Now the Texas Department of Agriculture wants the EPA to allow its […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Green buzzword
The Grand Canyon Trust and the National Park Service will hold a three-day symposium to explore the untested concept of ecosystem management as it applies to public and private lands in the West. “Ecosystem Management: Buzzword of the “90s,” which runs Oct. 6-8 in Flagstaff, Ariz., features National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy; Ray Rasker, […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Hawk sees opportunity, snatches it
Taking a nap on the rocky banks of the Flathead River in Montana can be dangerous, especially if a snake has the same idea. When hiker Bill Gustafson, 17, of Columbia Falls took a break to snooze in the sun July 5, he fell asleep bare-chested. A non-poisonous garter snake then slithered onto his warm […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Catron County readies for battle
Catron County, N.M., which pioneered local land-use planning against federal control of public land, has passed a resolution urging every household to own a gun. It’s a protest against gun-control laws and a tool in Catron’s war of nerves over cattle grazing. Originally, the county commission considered an ordinance requiring gun ownership. That got watered […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 1994: Flame and blame in the Northwest
Will Navajos take a gamble?
Navajo President Peterson Zah recently vetoed a tribal ordinance that would have laid the groundwork for legalized gambling on the tribe’s reservation. But his rejection doesn’t mean gambling is dead for the Four Corners tribe. In July, the Navajo Nation Council passed the gaming ordinance spelling out procedures for acquiring licenses, deterrents to criminal activity […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Liquid lures mountain goats
For mountain goats in Glacier National Park, Mont., sweet-tasting antifreeze seems to be the drug of choice. Heading toward 6,000-foot Logan Pass, motorists can see up to 20 goats at a time fighting for the coolant that drips from overheated cars. At the summer parking lot many habituated goats gather where the leaking liquid forms […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Danger on the fairway
Working on a golf course can be hazardous to your health. A survey of 618 golf course superintendents who died between 1970 and 1992 revealed that an uncommonly high number perished from cancer of the lung, brain, intestine or prostate. The culprit could be pesticide use, which has caused the demise of thousands of birds. […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Undoing a dam is expensive
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the National Park Service want to tear down two dams on the Elwha River in Washington’s Olympic National Park. But White House budget director Leon Panetta says the federal government can’t afford it. A Park Service study found that removing the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams is the best way […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Not another icon
On the 50th anniversary of the fire-surviving bear that became a symbol for the Forest Service, an 18-month-old bear cub was found digging through embers near the Tahoe City, Calif., fire. Smokey was younger than this cub when found, and spent the rest of his life at the Washington, D.C., National Zoo. But the 1994 […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Does Utah need an eco-challenge?
A California promoter of “Eco-Challenge: The Adventure Race” hopes to send up to 50 five-person teams running, biking, rafting, canoeing and riding horses through 300 miles of southeastern Utah’s deserts next spring. MTV cameras and other media would document the 12-day race, which features environmental consciousness as its theme. State economic developers love the idea, […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Let’s make a deal
Hoping to gain support for the Endangered Species Act, the Interior Department offered a deal Aug. 10. Any person or group agreeing to protect endangered species through a Habitat Conservation Plan will not be expected to make further concessions. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt called the new policy flexible and urged its support. More than 130 […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Flu-ing with the river
When 88 Colorado River rafters – including 22 experienced river guides – came down with stomach flu-like symptoms this June, they sounded the alarm. “That’s a lot of cases in a relatively short period of time,” says Marlene Gaither, a Coconimo County health specialist. “When it’s 100 degrees on the river and you vomit and […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 1994: Can planning rein in a stampede?
Park concessions to be corralled
A reform ending windfalls for concessionaires in national parks seems certain this fall. Only minor differences remain between House and Senate bills that passed overwhelmingly. Both bills mandate competition for contracts of more than $500,000, require that concession fees return to parks, and establish a briefer duration on contracts. The current law, passed in 1965, […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
No new roads
New rules proposed by the Interior Department limit the ability of states and counties to build highways across public lands. The rules clarify Revised Statute 2477, an 1866 law that granted rights-of-way on federal lands (HCN, 3/21/94). The law was repealed 18 years ago but it did not nullify any earlier rights-of-way. Since then, some […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Incoming
The U.S. Army still plans to eject missile debris over Utah, but wants to adjust its aim. Many residents of Moab, Utah, as well as environmentalists from elsewhere, protested an earlier plan to drop 1-ton missile boosters northeast of a heavily visited area in Canyonlands National Park (HCN, 4/19/94). Now the Army proposes to allow […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Ranchers face competition
In a break with precedent around the West, conservationists in Oregon will now be allowed to bid against ranchers for leases on state-owned land (HCN, 7/25/94). By a 2-1 vote, the Oregon Land Board gave the okay July 29 to competitive bidding and specified that state land can be leased for “conservation use.” Some parcels […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
From sacred to suburb
A neighborhood group in Boise, Idaho, is trying to raise $75,000 to protect Native American burial sites from residential development. The East End Neighborhood Association wants to buy land sacred to Shoshone, Bannock and Paiute tribes near Castle Rock, a mile from downtown Boise. For centuries, the tribes say, their sick and wounded came to […]