In the dark of a far-north winter night, amidst 70-mph winds, the nine-member crew of the tugboat Alert released its towline and set the Kulluk oilrig adrift on heaving seas. Loaded with about 139,000 gallons of diesel and 12,000 gallons of combined lubrication oil and hydraulic fluid, the Kulluk ran aground off uninhabited Sitkalidak Island […]
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Sin City’s downtown is on the brink of reinvention
“We must discard the view that environmentalism means living around trees and that urbanites should always fight to preserve a city’s physical past. We must stop idolizing home ownership, which favors suburban tract homes over high-rise apartments, and stop romanticizing rural villages. We should eschew the simplistic view that better long-distance communication will reduce our […]
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Wilderness vandalism sparks legislation in Utah, plus a look at what makes a vandal good
Last month, two Utah Boy Scout leaders inadvertently became internet sensations after posting a video of themselves toppling one of the ancient rock formations that gives Goblin Valley State Park its name, then laughing and high-fiving each other. The men, David Hall and Glenn Taylor, said they acted out of concern for public safety, but […]
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Discovery: Good ol’ tallgrass was formed by good ol’ bacteria
It’s always tempting to reflect on how wonderful the West used to be. You know what I mean: Conservationists and Natives lament that the first invasions by white settlers wrecked everything, and ranchers and loggers long for a return to the era before 750-page environmental-impact statements. Who among us hasn’t conjured up wistful images of […]
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New study shows how helping desert soil could save our snow
It’s the start of snow season, which means that everyone who cares about water is keeping an eye on the mountains, anticipating how long we’ll ride the wave of snowmelt into next summer. The runoff season is never as predictable as anyone would like, but in the last decade or so there’s been a new […]
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Public lands with no way in: New report details access problems
What do the Troublesome Wilderness Study Area in Colorado, the Sabinoso Wilderness and Cowboy Springs WSA in New Mexico, and the Fortification Creek WSA in Wyoming have in common? They’re all public lands – and none of them can be reached by the public. Western lands have long had a patchwork of owners: federal, state, […]
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Accident sours the return of hardrock mining to a SW Colorado town
Like many of the historic mountain towns in Colorado, most of the mining that goes on in Ouray these days is of tourists, not ore. In between high alpine jeep tours and ice climbing, visitors can get a glimpse of Ouray’s romanticized mining heritage by dining at the Goldbelt Bar & Grill and the Silver […]
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California fracking regulations proposal gets mixed response
Last week, California regulators proposed new rules to oversee hydraulic fracturing across the state, and depending on whom you ask, they are either a move toward stronger oversight of the extraction of the state’s oil reserves, or a thinly veiled capitulation to industry. The regulations come as a result of SB 4, which was introduced […]
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Emerald ash borers arrive in the West. How far will they go?
Alongside the spotted knapweed and zebra mussels, the non-native species is a new unwelcome visitor.
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An important win for black-footed ferret reintroduction
Once a thriving predator on prairie landscapes, the black-footed ferret was squeezed out of its range by agriculture and development, and their populations ravaged by diseases like sylvatic plague, which was introduced from Asia at the turn of the 20th century. Ferrets’ main source of food, prairie dogs, have long been considered pests to agriculture […]
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Will the farm bill leave private lands conservation behind?
Right now, following the farm bill’s progress seems a lot like watching corn grow. The bill is due for reauthorization and the senators and representatives charged with finding a compromise are under pressure to make progress before Thanksgiving. The major hurdle to clear right now, and that’s received a fair bit of media attention already, […]
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Why it doesn’t matter whether Colorado’s fracking bans hold up in court
If anything illustrates just how contentious fracking has become on Colorado’s urban Front Range, it’s the closeness of the vote on a Broomfield ballot measure to ban the practice for five years. When results came in after the Nov. 5 election, it had lost by a mere 13 votes, triggering a mandatory recount. Last Thursday, […]
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Regulations for Native American ‘artifacts’ auctions may still be too lax
Two weeks ago, a Lakota sacred object advertised as a “Sioux Beaded and Quilled hide Shirt” was set to be auctioned off in Boston, Mass. and was expected to fetch $150,000-250,000. Minutes before the bidding began on Nov. 9, Skinner auction house pulled the item in response to pressure from attorneys and tribal officials representing […]
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Immigration reform is pivotal for the future of agriculture in the West
When farmer Kerry Mattics sunk several thousand dollars into building a bunkhouse for 12 workers to stay on his property during planting and harvest seasons, he figured the house would be useful for at least a decade. But by 2012, he had no workers to fill it up and his Olathe, Colo. fruit and vegetable […]
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Pisaster disaster: When starfish wasting disease strikes, there’s only one man to call
Dr. Chris Mah may be the only man in the world who can correctly identify any species of starfish on sight. Growing up in San Francisco on a steady diet of sushi and Japanese monster movies, it was no wonder he was attracted to the weird, slimy invertebrates he plucked from the shores of the […]
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Drought and population growth punch Colorado in face, state fights back with water planning
Last week, while speaking at lunch during the Upper Colorado Basin Water Conference in Grand Junction, the director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board could have put his audience to sleep in their cannoli. He was talking about the narcolepsy-inducing topic of water planning, after all. Instead, James Eklund captured the room’s attention by quoting […]
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Could oil companies incentivize coal plants to use carbon capture tech?
When Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, stood before the National Press Club on September 20 and announced draft rules for regulating carbon dioxide from new power plants, she said the proposal, “rather than killing future coal, actually sets out a certain pathway forward for coal.” That way forward is through carbon […]
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Arizona solar war hearings to start soon amid costly PR battle
What started out as a simple request to alter the way Arizona residents are compensated for power generated by rooftop solar has exploded into a full-blown, national headline-making, wacky political war complete with shady dealings and nasty ads. But it should be all over soon. Perhaps. Arizona Public Service is trying to get that state’s […]
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Obama picks Nevadan Neil Kornze as next BLM head
A native Nevadan is expected to become the next overseer of much of the West’s public lands. Neil Kornze is President Obama’s nominee to head the Bureau of Land Management, which manages 245 million acres, mostly in Western states. Kornze joined the agency in 2011, and has been its principal deputy director since March. He […]
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Will Obama’s climate preparation order force flood planners into the future?
It’s been over a month since rain-swollen creeks tore through roads and flooded homes in Colorado’s Front Range. While the camera crews have long since gone home, the disaster isn’t over for families who suffered property damage. Of the 20,000 single-family homes in the Boulder area, only 3,504 had flood insurance – one of the […]