The era of massive federal reclamation projects is long over, yet a changing climate will demand more work from less water. And so a new movement — watershed management — has quietly taken the place of building the big dams. Visit the tiny town of Mancos near Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado to […]
Tom Wolf
Posted inWotr
The secret of Los Angeles’ great-tasting water
Los Angeles has done it again — topping the list for the World’s tastiest tap water. “Good water rises to the top,” said producer Jill Klein Rone of the 18th annual “academy awards” of water held in Berkeley Springs, West Va. “Our tasting process is vindicated when the same waters are rated by a completely […]
Posted inWotr
When dams were young and gardenias a nickel apiece
My mother at 90 prefers the distant past to the present. When she sees the Tournament of Roses parade on television, she recalls coming of age during the Great Depression. When she hears that the nation might be sliding into recession, she tells me what hard times were really like. Her job during the 1930s […]
Posted inWotr
Is Glen Canyon Dam pulling the plug on itself?
The engineers have had their say on the Colorado River, plumbing it with dams and diversions, so as the drought continues, we have no choice but to turn to poets. As A. R. Ammons wrote, “If anything will level with you, water will.” Glen Canyon Dam is currently leveling with us. The last time I […]
Posted inOctober 26, 1998: The Oregon way
‘Mr. Dominy, are you a hero or a villain?’
Floyd E. Dominy doesn’t seem to hear the question from a college student right away. “Floyd Elgin Dominy, larger than life,” as Marc Reisner called him in Cadillac Desert. Maybe the former commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is listening instead to the hum of the nearby turbines. Maybe the shine of his eyes […]
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Just a hatchet job
Dear HCN, Your article on federal judges and FREE puzzled me. It contained no fresh reporting, so I wonder why you bothered to run it. You could have referred your readers to the original hatchet job in the Washington Post. Or you could have taken a look at what actually goes on at these conferences. […]
Posted inDecember 12, 1994: Shrink to fit
Shrink to fit
National Park Service may be downsized and reorganized
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
A forester thrives in the belly of the beast
Wildfire is burning in the Wet Mountain Valley near Colorado Springs, Colo. I smell the smoke before I see it. I might be glad for a stirring burn: we’re a century or so overdue. But three generations of us are here for a family reunion. Just a few steps west of our cabin, the San […]
Posted inAugust 26, 1991: Government tames its wild, destructive dam
Politics can’t save endangered species
We proudly say that ours is a government of laws, not of men. But there are times when we expect too much of laws and not enough of women and men. This is the case with the failure of the Endangered Species Act. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/23.15/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inJune 23, 1986: Where's the market?
Ranchers ask: Where’s the market?
From roughly 1970 through 1985, the beef industry put money and research into improving productivity instead of learning the marketing techniques that would have addressed America’s changing eating habits — and now it’s in trouble. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/18.12/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inAugust 5, 1985: The Wilderness Society's outstanding alumni
Will politics doom the ferret?
Endangered species biologist Tim Clark has chosen to occupy a world rife with contradictions, politics and emotion. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/17.15/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inJanuary 21, 1985: The Forest Service meets its critics
The Forest Service meets its critics
Forest Service Chief Max Peterson comes to Casper, Wyo., and San Francisco, Calif., to speak about recreational user fees, logging subsidies and other controversial issues. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/17.1/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inFebruary 6, 1984: Wyoming: a small town with long streets
James Watt lacks the touch to be Wyoming’s governor
James Watt has as little chance of becoming governor of Wyoming as he has of being reappointed Secretary of Interior. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/16.2/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inFebruary 6, 1984: Wyoming: a small town with long streets
Who will inherit Wyoming?
If James Watt doesn’t have the political touch to become Wyoming’s next governor, who does? Perhaps the best clue can be found by looking at the present Governor, Ed Herschler, a Democrat. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/16.2/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inMarch 4, 1983: To cut or not to cut
When cutting paperwork means cutting trees
Before even one complete forest plan emerged from 1979 regulations, which were the product of compromises between environmentalists and industry, the Reagan administration began to undermine them. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/15.4/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inMay 28, 1982: The price of prosperity
The price of prosperity
Wyoming’s Industrial Development Information and Siting Act of 1975 has helped the town of Wheatland cope with construction of a giant coal-fired power plant. But the law hasn’t been able to address familiar boom-town social ills. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/14.11/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inApril 30, 1982: Using the best guess
Wyoming reviews national forest management
Controversy over two western Wyoming timber sales has prompted Gov. Ed Herschler to call for a re-examination of forest management policy on the Bridger-Teton, Shoshone and Big Horn National Forests. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/14.9/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E