There are right ways — and there are wrong ways — to dispose of an unwanted horse, according to Brent Glover, who for 33 years has operated Orphan Acres, a 50-acre equine sanctuary in northwestern Idaho. Here are some of the wrong ways, based on recently reported incidents: Don’t tie the horse to a stockyard […]
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Regulating the river
Jim Hagenbarth has spent his life ranching along the banks of the Big Hole River in southwestern Montana, on land his family has worked for more than a century. The area remains sparsely populated and mostly agricultural, much as it was when Hagenbarth used to get in trouble as a kid for riding calves behind […]
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Riparian restoration guru
NAME: Bill Zeedyk AGE: 72 years OCCUPATION: Riparian restoration guru MILES DRIVEN TO EDUCATE THE MASSES: 35,000-40,000 per year. FAVORITE ROAD FOOD: Nestle’s Crunch bars. He eats them by the box. CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: A seven-foot walking stick, cut from a century plant while hiking in the El Concillo Mountains. It serves as a pointer […]
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PRO: The Tejon agreement is a true conservation victory
Anyone reading about the Tejon Ranch — California’s largest contiguous private property — has probably heard about the three controversial development projects: Tejon Industrial Park, the Tejon Mountain Village and the Centennial Planned Community. But have you heard about the Tejon Golf and Hunting Resort, or maybe the Whitewolf Village and Shopping Center? People haven’t […]
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CON: A housing development that’s a tragedy for condors
In recent weeks, several high-profile environmental organizations have been celebrating a deal they call “perhaps the greatest victory for conservation that many of us will see in our lifetime.” If only this were true. Sadly, it is not; the deal in question represents a major setback for conservation. The “deal” does result in permanent preservation […]
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When choosing a house, think past a lifetime
We’ve had some minor flooding lately in the Gallatin Valley in southwestern Montana, the consequence of a good mountain snowpack and a two-day heat wave, followed by a big rain. It reminded everyone of the way things used to work. Some local landowners, however, were “shocked,” I read in the paper. “I’ve lived here 12 […]
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A little regulation can be a very good thing
The gas industry won the battle of the stickers that festooned people’s ball caps, chests and arms. Some 2,000 folks had gathered in Grand Junction to tell the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission their feelings about proposed new rules for oil and gas drilling in Colorado. It was easy to see that “Please don’t […]
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Who you calling terrorist?
The Cold War was hot when I was growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s. It affected our domestic discourse because politicians so often sought to discredit their opponents as “Communist sympathizers” or “comsymps,” people “soft on Communism,” “just a little bit pink” or outright “pinkos.” Something as basic as the integration of public facilities […]
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Don’t trash Joshua Tree National Park
Which word doesn’t belong with “national park?” Wildflowers, wildlife, hiking, night sky, garbage dump? No doubt you answered “garbage dump,” yet the biggest landfill in the United States may be developed right next to California’s Joshua Tree National Park. Fortunately, a lawsuit filed by the National Parks Conservation Association and others is trying to halt […]
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Guest workers: Laborers or commodity?
Mexican workers are people with “a good old-fashioned work ethic” who are “very friendly and easy to work with,” says www.mexican-workers.com. Labormex.com, which guarantees the lowest prices around for Mexican workers, boasts that hiring them is “the most cost effective way of handling all your agricultural labor requirements.” Some companies, however, temper their advertising copy […]
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The high carbon cost of la vida rural
My wife recently calculated our carbon footprint for a project at the school where she teaches. Just how much CO2 are we contributing to global warming? I was smugly confident that our footprint would be tiny compared to others. We are seriously green, after all, trying to live a simple rural life. We heat with […]
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Primer 5: Wildlife
Wild animals are as much a part of the American West’s mystique and grandeur as its mountains, canyons and plains. Nowhere else in the United States can you encounter wolves, grizzlies, buffalo, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, golden and bald eagles, condors, mountain goats, and moose, wandering more or less at will across a varied landscape. […]
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Putting out the welcome mats
Southwestern Wyoming’s Upper Green River Valley is home to the most extensive wetlands and riparian areas in the state, and its vast sagebrush prairies have long been a stronghold for sage grouse, antelope and mule deer. The Upper Green is also the site of the huge Jonah natural gas field. The Jonah Field stretches over […]
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Welcome to Smart Grid City, Colorado
Boulder, Colo., is known for a lot of things, including the University of Colorado, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and a distinctive hippie-progressive-outdoorsy vibe. And now, it’s about to get the nation’s first fully-integrated “smart grid.” A smart grid is exactly what it sounds like: an “intelligent” power grid that uses broadband technology to […]
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More precious than gold?
Updated May 14, 2008 In the ’80s, activist David Kliegman was worried about logging companies over-cutting the forests on Buckhorn Mountain, the high point of the picturesque Okanogan Highlands in north-central Washington state. Then he learned that a mining company just might “take the mountain right out from under the trees.” That was back in […]
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One down, three to go
Four Western states could see big chunks of new wilderness — roughly three-quarters of a million acres – thanks to a flurry of wilderness legislation. Three bills are now wending their way through Congress, and a fourth, designating the Washington State Wild Sky Wilderness, awaits President Bush’s expected signature. Many Northwesterners are enthusiastic: Idaho may […]
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Sovereign immunity on trial
Tribal governments may no longer be exempt from being sued by tribal members. Since the early 1800s, the U.S. government has acknowledged that Indian nations have full legal rights to manage their own affairs. This doctrine of tribal “sovereign immunity” has prevented legal attacks on tribal governments and shielded them from lawsuits brought by states, […]
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Can wildlife weather the gas boom?
In northwestern Colorado’s Piceance Basin, the sage and juniper landscape is home to flocks of the dwindling greater sage grouse and one of the country’s largest migratory mule deer herds. It also happens to hold one of the nation’s largest natural gas reserves. Now, Colorado Division of Wildlife researchers are beginning a $1.3 million-per-year study […]
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Jaguar’s road to recovery unmapped
Some Native American cultures attribute divine power and magical stealth to the American jaguar — traits that could come in handy now that the endangered cat won’t be getting a federal recovery plan. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in mid-January that creating a recovery plan for borderland jaguars would “not be sensible.” Under […]