-I plan on really cleaning house on Rocky Mountain butterflies next year. Am bringing 20,000 envelopes and I expect to fill them all up!” wrote one of three men indicted in a large butterfly poaching ring. All allegedly traded and poached butterflies between 1983 and 1992, from such places as Grand Canyon and Yosemite. An […]
Staff
Posted inJune 27, 1994: Home, home on the range ... where neo-Nazis and skinheads roam
Here come Rainbows
When some 15,000 members of the Rainbow Family meet within Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest later this month, things may be calm after all. In nearby Big Piney, population 454, townspeople are open-minded about the invasion of counterculture types from all over the country, says town clerk Susan Lison. In contrast to Pinedale, where residents are […]
Posted inJune 27, 1994: Home, home on the range ... where neo-Nazis and skinheads roam
In Wyoming, wildlife is public
Landowners can’t own exclusive rights to wild animals on their property, a judge has ruled in Wyoming. Texas millionaire Clayton Williams, owner of a 90,000-acre ranch in Carbon County, and three other Wyoming ranchers recently lost their challenge to a Wyoming law that says the state owns all wildlife as a trustee for its citizens […]
Posted inJune 27, 1994: Home, home on the range ... where neo-Nazis and skinheads roam
Return of the rustlers
Cattle rustling appears to be on the rise in Wyoming and other Western states. Kelly Hamilton, a law enforcement supervisor for the Wyoming State Livestock Board, says over 50 rustling incidents have been reported in the state in 1994. The increase stems from high cattle prices, but a major problem, Hamilton says, is that pickup […]
Posted inJune 27, 1994: Home, home on the range ... where neo-Nazis and skinheads roam
Cougars and caribou
Cougars have emerged as the leading cause of deaths among endangered mountain caribou in the Idaho Selkirk Mountains, reports the Spokane, Wash., Spokesman-Review. Ravaged by clearcuts and roads in their prime habitat, the caribou were listed as an endangered species in the late 1980s. At the end of the decade, 60 caribou were captured in […]
Posted inJune 27, 1994: Home, home on the range ... where neo-Nazis and skinheads roam
Decision kills a dam
A recent Supreme Court decision on water quantity might help the Northwest’s beleaguered salmon. In a 7-2 ruling, the court said states can set minimum flow standards for waters downstream of hydroelectric plants. The case involved a dam that the city of Tacoma and a county utility wanted to build on the Dosewallips River near […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Not for the birds
A grizzly bear that found the seeds in a bird feeder to his liking was recently moved to the southwestern area of Yellowstone National Park. The two-and-one-half-year-old male bear was trapped by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks on private land near Big Sky, Mont., reports AP. The bear was the first trapped […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
A new Navajo newspaper
The Navajo Nation newspaper market already has three major papers competing for readers among the reservation’s 200,000 residents. But Deswood Tome, publisher of a new monthly newspaper, Dinéh Tribune, says there’s still room for one more. “We want to be a newspaper that provides more in-depth news. We want to be the news source for […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Wyoming dam gets go-ahead
Acting on a recommendation from the state’s Water Development Commission, the Wyoming legislature recently approved a $30 million appropriation to build the Sandstone Dam (HCN, 12/27/93). The commission okayed the project despite conflicting evidence regarding the geologic suitability of the site. Mike West, a geologist hired by opponents of the dam, says he found irregularities […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Renewable energy festival
Democracy will be celebrated, but energy independence is the main theme of the first annual Freedom Festival July 3 in Glenwood Springs, Colo. The event features an array of renewable and sustainable energy products. Reggae music, alternative health care and craft booths will also share Two Rivers Park on the shores of the Roaring Fork […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Oil, feathers and EPA
Thousands of birds flying across the Western plains each year fatally mistake oil pits for bodies of water. Once the birds land, their feathers become coated and they die. In its first attempt to address the problem, the Environmental Protection Agency recently fined Texaco Refining and Marketing Inc. and four other companies $300,000 and ordered […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Millions for furniture
Between 1990 and 1992, the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon spent $5.4 million intended for reforestation on staff salaries, new furniture and remodeling buildings, a federal audit reports. Eventually, this misallocation could cost taxpayers up to $200 million from lost timber harvests. The 21-page report also found that since 1990 the Oregon BLM has […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Agency takes out a cabin
Jerry Holliday wasn’t pleased when he found out that Forest Service workers blasted down the walls of his cinderblock cabin in southern Utah’s Manti-La Sal National Forest. “Hell, you just don’t blow somebody’s property up and walk away,” Holliday told the Salt Lake Tribune. Holliday and co-owners Gene and Kenny Shumway had built the cabin […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Reading the West
-Reading and writing the West: explorers, adventurers and civilizers’ is the title of an intensive two-week course July 17-29 at the University of Nevada, Reno. Designed for teachers and others who want to learn about Western problems and issues from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course will explore the Truckee River Basin from Lake Tahoe to […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Who will lead the Navajo Nation?
Six candidates for the Navajo Nation presidency are officially in the running for the August 8 primary. Only two will face off in the November general election. For now the list of candidates reads like a directory of tribal leaders. Current tribal president Peterson Zah is seeking a third term. Running against him are tribal […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Summer camp for grown-ups
From June through August the Teton Science School in Jackson Hole, Wyo., offers day- and week-long natural history seminars for adults. Instructors such as photographer Bruce Thompson, artist Hannah Hinchman and naturalists Larry Livingood and Norm Bishop will offer their expertise on wildflower photography, field journals, alpine butterflies, wolf recovery in Yellowstone and scores of […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Grand traffic problems
Vacationers bound for Grand Canyon National Park may want to take the train this summer. Park superintendent Boyd Evison says 3,800 cars are currently arriving each day, and 6,400 vehicles will pack the park during the peak months of July and August. With only 1,600 parking spaces in the South Rim Village, that means drivers […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Earth voices
Inspired by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Colorado Sacred Earth Institute hosts its first international Voices of the Earth conference July 29-31 in Boulder, Colo. The gathering of environmental, business and spiritual leaders includes Noel Brown, United Nations environmental official; Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop; Matthew Fox, director of […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Roads are the enemies
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says he will halt all construction of new roads, hotels and entertainment facilities in national parks and monuments. “Roads are the enemies of national parks: They disrupt, divide and fragment,” Babbitt said in a speech to Park Service employees on the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. “Our task is to […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
The restless West
Western writers, journalists, historians and photographers will gather at Wallowa Lake in Oregon, July 8-10, to take part in the Summer Fishtrap Gathering. This year’s theme, “The Restless West: World War II and After,” brings together novelists Ivan Doig and Sandra Scofield, historian Richard White, poet Benjamin Saenz, essayist Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and others to […]