New Mexico’s Petroglyph National Monument is threatened by problems that include the runaway growth of the neighboring city of Albuquerque, disagreements over how to manage the resource, and a controversial, embattled superintendent, Judith Cordova.
Living in the outdoors
Wilderness Guide, by Mark Harvey, Simon and Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020; paper, illustrated, $15. This starting-from-scratch revision of The National Outdoor Leadership School’s Wilderness Guide will tell you what to wear, how to navigate, and how to get across streams and scree fields in the backcountry. It will give…
Environmental Restoration Conference
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will talk at an Environmental Restoration Conference: Challenges for the New Millennium, Nov. 11-13, at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Speakers also include writer Terry Tempest Williams, David Wegner of the Glen Canyon Institute, and Dan Luecke of the Environmental Defense Fund. Call 520/621-8430, or write to Environmental Restoration Conference,…
Rivers, Dams and the Future of the West
-Rivers and dams are the lifeblood of the West,” says the University of Utah’s Wetlands and Riparian Center, which holds its second annual conference, Rivers, Dams and the Future of the West, Nov. 18 in Salt Lake City. The gathering will bring together riparian experts and those concerned with dams and river exploitation. Contact Jack…
Water aficionados
The Idaho Water Resources Research Institute holds monthly video-link seminars with water aficionados in Boise, Moscow, Idaho Falls and Coeur d’Alene. To find out more about topics for the fall series, call Christian Petrich at 208/327-5409, or e-mail kathyo@uidaho.edu. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Water aficionados.
What should every Westerner know
The Center of the American West wants to know. What should every Westerner know, and, how does someone become a Westerner? If you have strong opinions and hanker for a good discussion or debate, log on to the Center’s Web site at http://www.centerwest.org/westerner, or send a postcard to the University of Colorado-based Center of the…
The Wayward West
Conservationists in north-central Washington worked hard and fast to raise over $13.1 million to keep chain saws out of the 25,000 acre Loomis Forest (HCN, 5/24/99). Now, the state’s Board of Natural Resources says they’re millions of dollars short. After wrestling over the value of the forest’s timber for more than a year, the board…
Conference for the Animals
Animal Protection of New Mexico Inc. will host its 1999 Conference for the Animals Nov. 5-7 in Albuquerque. The gathering’s aim is to strengthen animal-activist networks and educate the public about domestic and wild animals. Speakers include Alan Green, author of Animal Underworld, and Steven M. Wise, animal rights attorney. Contact APNM at 505/265-2322 or…
Volunteer work in the nation’s parks
Student Conservation Association interns will soon have more than pretty pictures and increased conservation acumen to show for their volunteer work in the nation’s parks, refuges and forests. Starting in 2000, the group’s resource assistants will also receive educational awards, ranging from $1,200 to $4,000, depending on program length. The money is allocated through the…
River Network
Merged: River Network from Portland, Ore., and River Watch Network of Montpelier, Vt., on Oct. 1. The new group will keep the name River Network and headquarters in Portland, with field offices in Montpelier, Vt., Helena, Mont., and Washington, D.C. Over 800 local partner groups participate in the network. Contact the group at 800/423-6747 or…
Clinton proclaims a far-reaching forest plan
President Clinton made headlines Oct. 13, when he announced a sweeping initiative to protect 40-60 million acres of unroaded national forests. At a ceremony in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia, Clinton put his full support behind permanent protection for land currently covered by an 18-month road-building moratorium, in addition to roadless…
Mohave agrees to clean up its act
Mohave agrees to clean up its act The view from the rim of the Grand Canyon will be clearer, thanks to a major cleanup at one of the Southwest’s largest coal-burning power plants. Owners of the Mohave Generating Station in southern Nevada and environmental groups announced the news Oct. 3, following a court settlement. “This…
The least of these
A tiny, colorful fish that lives in the desert springs and marshes of western Utah is on the rebound – without ever having been listed as threatened or endangered. The algae-feeding least chub once lived throughout Utah’s West Desert, but by the early 1990s, the fish were found only in four ponds along the Utah-Nevada…
Three cheers for cities
Dear HCN, While Thomas Powers’ analysis of the economic value of the Western environment is powerful and persuasive, I wish he could make his point without denigrating other places (HCN, 8/2/99). Those of us who live in large urban areas – New York City, for example – are well aware of the negatives Power lists:…
CAP could feed a new Arizona lake
Sonoran Desert dwellers between Tucson and Phoenix might one day be able to boat the Colorado River without leaving their backyards. Rural Pinal County says it wants to take a billion gallons of Colorado River water and pump it into a manmade lake. Thanks to the Central Arizona Project, the three-quarter mile, $7 million reservoir…
The Right rules the rural West
Dear HCN, The recent debate between Ed Marston and Thomas Power (HCN, 8/2/99) over low wages and living standards touches on one of the biggest issues facing the West today: i.e., Why has the rural West become so reactionary, and what can be done about it? My wife and I recently cancelled our plans to…
See the secret desert
X-Files fans and conspiracy theorists dream of visiting Area 51, the test site for America’s advanced aircraft and weapons systems – and, some say, the place where UFOs are hidden. Now the curious can visit, sort of. In Los Angeles, an exhibit by the Center for Land Use Interpretation offers an inside look at the…
How to keep hummers happy
Dear HCN, The story about the remarkable concentrations of migrating hummingbirds at Jesse Hendrix’s home outside Nogales, Ariz., has piqued a great deal of interest in attracting and feeding these living jewels (Heard around the West, HCN, 9/13/99). The Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory offers the following recommendations for making hummingbirds feel at home in your…
Powerful Images at the Heard Museum
The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz., known for its extensive collection of Native American art, opens its 70th season in an expanded facility, an $18.1 million, 50,000 square-foot addition that doubles its size. Three major exhibits are slated for the new space this year: Powerful Images: Portrayals of Native America, opening Nov. 13, explores the…
Home Free
With the number of new land trusts topping 1,200 in this country, it’s not surprising that even the Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States has come on board. Its Wildlife Land Trust has protected 46,391 acres in 18 states, including recent additions of 500 acres in northern California and 1,280 acres in southwest…
You have to show you care
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Matthew Schmader is the assistant superintendent for Albuquerque’s Open Space Division, which manages about 4,000 acres of city lands within the monument acquired by the city through a local, dedicated open-space tax. Matthew Schmader: “A lot of sweat and blood has gone into protecting…
It should embarrass the Park Service
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Dave Simon, who is based in Albuquerque, is the Southwest regional director for the nonprofit National Parks and Conservation Association. Simon helped draft the bill that established the monument. Dave Simon: “Given current circumstances, turning over total control of the monument to the National…
Dear Friends
Getting it right Mount Evans, Mount Elbert, they’re not the same, many readers note. The former, which we’d called highest (HCN, 9/27/99) is merely 14,264 feet; the latter, near Leadville, Colo., is number one at 14,431 feet. In gently correcting us, Roger Williams of Boulder, Colo., adds that Mount Evans boasts a herd of Rocky…
A man to match our mountains
The West lost a legendary mountaineer and outdoor educator Oct. 6. Paul Petzoldt, founder of the National Outdoor Leadership Training School (NOLS) and Wilderness Education Association (WEA), died at 91. “Paul was a tireless visionary,” said Jeff Liddle, former director of WEA. “He was one of the first people to draw a line in the…
Nevada rebellion ends with a whimper
JARBIDGE, Nev. – Is this is the way a Sagebrush Rebellion ends: not with a revolution, but with one more barbecue to clean up? The latest skirmish began with great promise, at least according to organizers. More than a thousand people were supposed to show up with picks and shovels to open a washed-out Forest…
Keeping ’em down on the High Plains
It’s a largely Old West fantasy that if Wyoming just had more access to federal lands, fewer environmental regulations and minimal taxation for industry, the state would thrive. Right now it isn’t. Wyoming has missed out on the boom (HCN, 7/7/97). While most state coffers bulge, Wyoming expects a $183 million revenue shortfall for the…
Harsh words from inside the Beltway
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another article, “Keeping ’em down on the High Plains.” On Oct. 6, 1999, Wyoming got another scolding from the outside. After attending a University of Wyoming-sponsored conference titled “Leadership and the Future of Wyoming,” Washington Post columnist David Broder chided…
Bones of Contention
For reasons still debated among scientists today, Anasazi culture in the Southwest had collapsed by 1300, creating what is known to academics as “The Great Abandonment.” According to Navajo oral histories, the Anasazi were dispersed by a whirlwind because they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors. Whatever the causes, the eastern part of…
Heard around the West
Have cows been getting a bad rap? Do their bovine exteriors hide graceful interiors? Peoa, Utah, resident Randy Barton did not know, but he hoped that dressing cows for the ballet would at least draw an audience and help raise money for the town’s two parks. “Clad in nothing but tutus,” the Cow Ballet drew…
Finally, a National Grassland Wilderness?
LONG X DIVIDE, N.D. – The green Forest Service rig pants like a winded dog on the rim of this canyon. The two-track ahead is washed out; I’ve taken the vehicle as far as it will go. But the view from the edge is breathtaking. On the horizon, a dusky cerise sky. Below lie rugged…
Water starts fires in Tucson election
TUCSON, Ariz. – Late one fall night in 1992, car dealer Bob Beaudry awoke to the sound of water gushing from a burst pipe. The water spilling into his basement, bedrooms and his front and back yards came from the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a long-awaited, $4.7 billion concrete canal that…
Monumental chaos
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The shooting has stopped at Petroglyph National Monument. Established in 1990, the park protects 17,000 petroglyphs that Native Americans pecked into volcanic boulders on what is now the city’s west side (HCN, 11/1/93). Yet just a few years ago, weekend joyriders and even the National Guard drove to the monument for target…
We’re the good guys
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. A 24-year staffer with National Park Service, Petroglyph National Monument Superintendent Judith Cordova came to Albuquerque, N.M., from Grand Junction, Colo., where she was superintendent of Colorado National Monument. She is the only female Hispanic superintendent in the Park Service. Judith Cordova: “We’re here.…
An overall poor attitude
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. A Park Service team, composed of employees from other monuments in the region conducted an “oversight review” of Petroglyph National Monument, submitting its 20-page report on Sept. 25, 1998. The group, chaired by Linda Stoll, asked 19 employees the question, “What is working well?…