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 […]
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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 […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Cattle kicked off salmon range
To protect spawning salmon, cattle on four allotments in Oregon’s Wallowa-Whitman National Forest have been shifted away from streams. The Forest Service reacted to a federal appeals court injunction that banned all grazing, logging and road building in parts of the Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla national forests. The appeals court had found that the Forest Service […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Whose public lands?
The evolving battle over management of the West’s vast public lands is the focus of a three-day conference sponsored by the University of Colorado’s Natural Resources Law Center. “Who governs the public lands: Washington? The West? The community?” features Western heavyweights from academia, industry, environmental groups and federal agencies discussing everything from grazing reform to […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
‘Takings’ takes a hit
The state can block development that threatens Native American burial mounds, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled. The court rejected an argument that to block such developments would weaken property rights, reports AP. The dispute began when developers bought a 59-acre tract in rural Story County, Iowa, to develop a pricey subdivision. When developers sold […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Salmon spiral down as allies challenge barging
Only an estimated 1,500 wild Snake River spring and summer chinook salmon returned to Idaho to spawn this summer, the lowest count on record. That compares to a 10-year average of 10,000 returning adults. “We’re going rapidly down the track to zip,” says Dexter Pittman of the Idaho Fish and Game Department. Meanwhile, the U.S. […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Surprise!
Bloody encounters between grizzly bears and people at Yellowstone National Park this summer weren’t really attacks or maulings, says park public affairs officer Marsha Karle. They were more like surprises, she says. In June, Glen Lacey, a park maintenance employee, startled a bear which then punctured his shoulder with its teeth. When park concessionaire Randy […]
Posted inAugust 22, 1994: Whose fault? A Utah canyon turns deadly
Rancher finds fame expensive
If you seek publicity, you might just find it. Just ask rancher Marcus Rudnick, who was declared a “limited public figure” by an appeals court judge in Ventura, Calif., on June 13. The controversy began in San Luis Obispo County in 1991, when Rudnick put up for lease 75,000 acres he had owned and grazed […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
No room for “pseudo-Indian charlatans”
New-age religion and Native American tradition clashed at Bear Butte State Park in western South Dakota earlier this summer. The Lakota and other tribes say the 4,422-foot landmark is being desecrated by non-Indians who use it for male-bonding weekends and crystal worship. More than 100 people, mostly Lakota, protested at the butte in June. “Sometimes […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Idaho wilderness bill fails
Idaho Rep. Larry LaRocco, D, abandoned his attempt to push an Idaho wilderness bill through Congress this year. LaRocco struggled for 18 months to formulate a bill, but shelved it this July. “Once you get into the summer months and closer to November … the people who like to kill things become active,” said LaRocco […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Where have all the tourists gone?
After all the worry and publicity about overcrowding at the Grand Canyon, the Park Service reported that visitation this summer has dropped by nearly 12 percent from last year. Not everyone is relieved; local businesses banking on a record-breaking flood of tourists are hurting. Theories about the decline range from the hot weather to foreign […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Colorado water map
To help end the chronic battling over water in Colorado, a group has formed to provide impartial information on water issues. The nonprofit Colorado Water Education Forum is made up of 33 volunteers representing virtually every water interest in the state, ranging from farmers and dam builders to environmentalists and wildlife agency staffers. The group’s […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Now you see them …
Indian ruins in the Southwest are disappearing, but it’s for their own good. Cartographers are wiping famous Anasazi sites off their maps. Due to a hot black market for sacred Indian objects and increased numbers of tourists, ancient cities such as Keet Seel, Awatovi, Hawikuh and Cutthroat Castle will no longer appear on many road […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Pesticides linger in Northwest
A report commissioned by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides found major groundwater contamination in five Northwest states. Neva Hasanein, the author of Uncovering the Legacy of Pesticide Use: What We Know About Ground Water Contamination in the Northwest, gathered information from researchers and government agencies in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and northern California. […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Animas-La Plata a financial boondoggle
The Inspector General’s office of the Department of Interior says costs have soared so high on the $635 million Animas-La Plata water project that it is “economically infeasible.” That pronouncement was made in a draft report addressed March 14 to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Dan Beard on the controversial dam-and-irrigation project proposed for southwestern […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Eating the scenery
Communities throughout the rural West worry about their futures, as wealthy urbanites buy property for vacation homes and speculation. Will congestion, pollution and increased property values destroy the very qualities that make these areas attractive? A report by CHEC, an Oregon economics consulting firm, says that it doesn’t have to be this way. Rural communities […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Life after Barbee
Fresh from a stint as superintendent of Yosemite National Park in California, Michael Finley will take over the helm at Yellowstone in early fall. When Finley, 47, replaces Robert Barbee, who has been in charge for 11 years, he will inherit a wide range of management controversies including the proposed Noranda gold mine adjacent to […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
Ferrets to find new homes
The endangered black-footed ferret may be hunting down prairie dogs in South Dakota as soon as September. The National Park Service recently approved release of at least 38 ferrets onto 42,000 acres of wilderness area in Badlands National Park. But there may be a hitch. Joe Zarki, public information officer for the park, says similar […]
Posted inAugust 8, 1994: Glitz and growth take a major hit in Santa Fe
The list no Idaho stream wants to be on
Prodded by court order, the EPA has increased its official list of polluted streams and lakes in Idaho from 36 to 800. The agency had been relying on information compiled by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, but the Idaho Conservation League and Idaho Sportsmen’s Coalition sued, claiming that hundreds of polluted waterways had been […]