Wamsutter, Wyo., is a boomtown these days, but the town is struggling to be a real community, instead of just a barracks for the natural gas industry.
Also in this issue: In Colorado and elsewhere in the West, the fear of West Nile Virus brings the controversy about spraying pesticides to a boil.
Wamsutter Profiles
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “When a Boom is a Bust.” The preacher Mike Smith has put in nine and a half years as pastor of Wamsutter Baptist Church, the town’s only surviving church (four others have closed in recent memory). He used to mine uranium in Jeffrey City,…
A thin, dry border between heaven and hell
“The first impression of the country — one that does not wear off — is that of magnificent confusion,” writes Walter Webb of the southwestern corner of Texas, also known as Big Bend country. Some visitors feel as though they’ve discovered hell on earth. Other people find that this region of vast open spaces, colorful…
Calendar
The U.S. Geological Survey is sponsoring a conference, Working Together to Ensure the Future of Wild Trout, at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The conference, which will be held from Sept. 20-22, will feature discussions concerning everything from balancing native, introduced and invasive fish species, controlling non-point source pollution and talking to the public about…
The wages of sprawl
A new documentary, Making Sense of Place: Phoenix, the Urban Desert, uses the Arizona megalopolis to illustrate what happens when suburban sprawl goes unchecked. Historical and current footage shows how cheap land and even cheaper water have encouraged Phoenix to sprawl over more than 1,700 square miles of Sonoran desert. But the resulting generic suburbs,…
Occupying less
This excerpt from Solace by Mary Sojourner has been removed from High Country News Web Archives as the request of Scribner, the publisher. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this creates for our readers. If you need access to this essay, hard-copy back issues of High Country News are sometimes available. Email circulation@hcn.org to…
Backpacker magazine responds
As longtime fans of HCN, we were deeply disappointed by the unprofessional reporting and inflammatory tone of Sean Neilson’s “Writers on the Range” column in the Aug. 2 issue. Neilson grossly mischaracterizes a recent Backpacker article on Yellowstone, accusing the magazine of three things: 1) Sending readers on illegal routes; 2) Failing to mention backcountry…
The writer replies
Mr. Dorn states that, “the very essence of backpacking is exploring remote places.” I would hope that any attempt to define the essence of backpacking would also include the need to explore remote places in a responsible manner such that others can continue to enjoy these same places in their natural state. In this particular…
Bush neglects parks
Thanks for the recent story on penny-pinching by the Bush administration when it comes to funding our National Park Service (NPS) (HCN, 8/16/04: National parks pinching pennies). The budget shortfalls that are being forced on the NPS by the White House are just one more of the many examples of how Bush is hell-bent on…
Parks need efficient money management
Dan Wilcock’s piece on national park budgets relates a “shouting match” between the Interior Department and parks observers about how much is or isn’t being spent (HCN, 8/16/04: National parks pinching pennies). But focusing on money spent is diversionary, since money can be used inefficiently, siphoned to other uses, inflated away, and otherwise disguised. The…
Chambers was a part of the problem
I’ve worked in government for 20 years, and I am aghast at your notion that a manager or department head has some kind of First Amendment right to trash her bosses in public (HCN, 8/16/04: National parks pinching pennies). Teresa Chambers had every right to go to the Washington Post and lobby for a different…
When a Boom is a Bust
Natural gas has pumped money and workers into Wamsutter, Wyoming. But the town struggles to be anything more than a barracks for industry.
The beauty of the ugly West
The other evening, I drove out to the unofficial shooting range in the hills outside of town. It consists of a metal shack and a dusty flat area glinting with bullet shells, where locals fire away at a remarkable variety of appliances, plastic chairs and other refuse. Hardly any vegetation covers the denuded hills, save…
Dear friends
Potluck High Country News’ next thrice-yearly board meeting will take place in Portland, and we’d love to have you join us for a potluck party on Saturday, Sept. 25. It will take place at the First Unitarian Church, on the corner of 12th and Main, from 6-9 p.m. Beverages will be provided; please bring a…
Communities search for a safer way to kill mosquitoes
West Nile virus brings a long-simmering controversy to a boil
Heard around the West
UTAH The Davis County Library in Layton has a neurotically uptight patron, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The unknown reader has been changing every “hell” and “damn” in certain mystery novels to “heck” and “darn,” doing the deed with a purple pen. So far, only books based on the Murder, She Wrote TV series have…
A water-and-wilderness bill kicks up dust in Nevada
Critics say an economic development initiative could suck desert springs and rural counties dry
Colorado voters hold the cards on renewable energy
In the state Legislature, utilities have had the upper hand — but now the choice is up to voters
Japanese cars may get all the good lanes
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Colorado voters hold the cards on renewable energy.” A proposed new law would give some hybrid-vehicle owners access to California’s coveted commuter lanes — and the CEO of Ford Motor Co. is feeling left out. The bill,…
Composing the new Western: Calexico
NEW YORK CITY, New York — Joey Burns, the guitarist and singer of the rock band Calexico, is sitting just a few blocks from Ground Zero, looking across the water at the Statue of Liberty. It is the Fourth of July. He assesses the situation with rock ’n’ roll profundity: “It’s a trip, man —…
Failure of leadership, not a lack of water, dooms the Klamath River
Unfortunately, it’s business as usual in the Klamath River watershed, where all the conditions are in place for yet another fish kill similar to the one that claimed at least 34,000 salmon in the fall of 2002 (HCN, 6/23/03: Sound science goes sour). It’s another dry year, with the same low river flows, and water…