In Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, the coming energy boom in coalbed methane gas has local ranchers and environmentalists worried.
Welcome to (your name here), Wyoming
If you have hankered all your life to have a town named after you, the opportunity arose last June at the Casper, Wyo., Holiday Inn. A High Plains municipality named Jeffrey City went on the auction block for cheap, complete with water and sewer, pavement, tract houses, apartments, a post office, and beer on tap.…
The Latest Bounce
Has the Department of Interior blown its last chance to straighten out the Indian trust fund fiasco (HCN, 1/31/00: Judge rules on Indian money mess)? Over the past several months, a court-appointed monitor has reported that the agency filed inaccurate and false reports about its progress in untangling the case. Now, the Native American Rights…
Navajo-Hopi dispute persists
ARIZONA In early September, the roar of bulldozers and chainsaws in the remote desert of the Hopi Reservation gave modern resonance to an ancient feud. Hopi officials destroyed a site sacred to Navajo Sun Dancers, even removing the site’s “Tree of Life.” The act was the latest in more than a century of dispute over…
A stark contrast to truck hunters
Dear HCN, Although I long ago gave up hunting, it was refreshing to read such a sensitive, respectful view of nature, wilderness and wildlife as was depicted in Tom Reed’s essay, “In the house of the grizzly” (HCN, 9/24/01: In the house of the grizzly). I wish many more hunters and people out for recreation…
Port Angeles deserves credit
Dear HCN, As one involved in political discussions that led to the Elwha River legislation, and to progress made for dam removal, I think Adam Burke deserves an A- (nobody is perfect) for his article “River of dreams” (HCN, 9/24/01: River of dreams). I am sure Burke discovered this is a complicated story with many…
Long’s speculations unhelpful
Dear HCN, It’s clear that Ben Long simply used his impression and interpretation of something that happened nearly 60 years ago to write an article about an unfortunate event in American history that, I’m sure, all Americans wish had never occurred (HCN, 10/8/01: Lessons of an intolerant past). Was it wrong to intern those Japanese…
Ferrets weasel onto public lands
MONTANA The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that successful reintroduction of the black-footed ferret is nearly as rare and elusive as the weasel-like predators themselves. So when the Bureau of Land Management asked the agency this summer for an allotment of ferrets for release in less than ideal habitat, it ranked the request…
Pedal where Lewis and Clark paddled
In 1976, a time when bikes were still mostly for kids and cross-country cycling was virtually unheard of, a few friends got together to map a bicycling route across the U.S. in celebration of the nation’s bicentennial. Twenty-five years and 25,000 miles of bike trails later, the group, the Adventure Cycling Association, is attempting to…
All’s fair in smog and waste?
Ever wonder if being a renter increases your risk of cancer from hazardous air pollutants? Or whether your income level correlates to how far you live from a Superfund site? Now, by entering your ZIP code into a new Web site, you can get answers to questions like these, based on data collected from your…
Utah’s flower child
Flower aficionado Paul Ames is no pansy: Gathering wildflower seeds under a Utah sun is hot, back-breaking work. Besides, he dislikes the pansy. It and all exotic flowers, he believes, are pampered intruders that drink too much water and don’t belong in a desert state. For the past three years, Ames has been a champion…
Buying into salmon recovery
Shopping smart just became a way to help imperiled Northwest salmon. The new Chinook Book is the region’s first salmon-friendly resource and coupon guide to restaurants, recreation, food and household products. Created by the Celilo Group, a Portland, Ore.-based environmental consulting firm, the $18 book contains $5,000 worth of coupons for products like soaker hoses,…
Curriculum for a desert classroom
Nearly a decade ago, Christine Beekman of the National Park Service stepped outside of the visitor center classroom and into the desert of southeast Utah, leading a boisterous third-grade class into a maze of sandstone formations. She organized a game designed to teach the students about predator-prey relations in ecosystems, dividing the kids into groups…
Miles Keogh, Wyoming rancher
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Miles Keogh, Wyoming rancher: “I’ve told them (drillers) all the same story. If you guys want to play hardball, I’ll play hardball. I’ve been around the block. So part of the terms and conditions of this agreement is you take total responsibility, so the…
Wyoming’s powder keg
Coalbed methane splinters the Powder River Basin
Defending the Red Desert’s desolation
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. OREGON BUTTES, Wyo. – “This is what the pioneers saw. This is what Wyoming was,” says Mac Blewer, a 30-year-old who works for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, an environmental group headquartered in nearby Lander. From the top of a sheer-sided cliff, Blewer is looking…
Dear Friends
Never say never For decades, High Country News has monitored the rise and fall of extractive industries in the West. In recent years, we’ve joined a growing number of scholars and pundits in asserting that the West has turned a corner: Logging, mining and grazing are on their way out, even as a new amenity-based…
Mickey Steward, coordinator for the Coal Bed Methane Coordination Coalition
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Mickey Steward, coordinator for the CoalBed Methane Coordination Coalition: “The fastest way to kill the coalbed methane industry is for gas prices to drop below a dollar. The surest way to get significant attention paid to even the slightest (industry) concerns is for gas…
Wasting disease spreads in Colorado
Game farm shipped 400 exposed elk to 15 states
Montana gets a crash course in methane
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The Powder River Basin doesn’t end at the state line; about one-third of the sprawling basin lies in Montana. Though the coal seams are thinner here than in Wyoming, coalbed methane development is expected to explode in the northern third of the basin and…
Cattle make way for tortoises in the Mojave
Closures could spark a modern-day range war
The Arctic: A slave to luck
In politics, as in comedy, timing is everything. Sometimes you get lucky, but if you don’t get lucky at the right time, you might as well not have gotten lucky at all. The folks hereabouts fighting the Bush administration’s plan to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge got a lucky break recently…
Utah’s Grand Staircase turns 5
Locals still wondering if the monument will provide an economic step up
Agencies tangle over Hells Canyon dams
Federal energy commission evades endangered species conservation
Heard around the West
Where’s Humpty Dumpty when we need him? The egg on the other side of the looking-glass told Alice that “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” The word in question these days is “organic,” whose definition counts a lot in the booming billion-dollar…
My ghost town
A vanishing personal history
Patricia Clark, Wyoming rancher
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Patricia Clark, Wyoming rancher: “We’ve had this place in the family for 105 years, and I’m looking to keep this in the family for another 105 years, and I want to keep it as pristine as I can. Once the damage is done, it’s…