The Air Force wants to close Cannon Air Force Base, but the nearby town of Clovis, N.M., is not ready to let go of its main economic engine.
Also in this issue: California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo holds a hearing in New Mexico on the National Environmental Policy Act, and it’s up to Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, to defend the law against its conservative attackers.
Super-sized dam could be a cash register for California farmers
New federal contracts give water districts more than they need
Follow-up
The 2003 wilderness settlement between Interior Secretary Gale Norton and then-Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt may be on the ropes (HCN, 4/28/03: Wilderness takes a massive hit). The settlement eliminated protection for 2.6 million acres of potential wilderness in Utah and barred the BLM from proposing any new land for wilderness designation without congressional approval. But…
Drilling leases slowed by paper jam
At a Denver gas industry conference Aug. 3, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson said a “staggering” increase in protests is hobbling gas drilling in the Rocky Mountains. Pre-lease protests — attempts to stop the Bureau of Land Management from auctioning off parcels of land to oil and gas companies — are up 664…
Ferret recovery pioneer moves on
In his 18 years as Wall District ranger in Buffalo Gap National Grassland, Bill Perry led the effort to restore endangered black-footed ferrets. He helped write the plan to bring in captive-bred ferrets, engineered land swaps to consolidate habitat, and helped manage the pens where the animals were acclimated before being released. Perry built the…
Overhauled wolf program isn’t ‘collaborative’
I was dismayed to read HCN’s profile of John Morgart, the man at least partially responsible for crafting the proposed one-year moratorium on Mexican gray wolf releases in the Blue Range, and other changes to the reintroduction standard operating procedures — because it did not mention the dubious circumstances leading up to the release of…
Immigration fuels Western growth
D.J. Waldie writes of something which many of us have tried to warn of, that “smart growth” isn’t necessarily smart (HCN, 8/8/05: In the suburbs of Los Angeles, your future awaits). Portland, hailed as the icon of smart growth, will in a generation or so be as high-density as Los Angeles. It will have, in…
Leave sociology coverage to National Geographic
I have subscribed to HCN on and off since I met my husband 20 years ago (he introduced me to the paper) because of its coverage of environmental news. When I read in the notes on the board meeting a month ago that someone from Washington state thinks HCN should cover news other than environmental…
Change is good — but be careful
Good idea, good color, good printing. And it’s about time! I don’t think any of us would be averse to a suitable increase in subscription cost to 1) keep that up and 2) keep the ads down. You have one hell of a good publication. Be very careful with it; change nothing except to make…
Bad for horn hunters, but good for wildlife
Regarding the HCN article on antler hunting, I was glad to see that something positive has come out of the ludicrous Viagra/Cialis craze that fills up my e-mail spam filter daily (HCN, 8/8/05: Horn hunters face hard times). Now that artificial drugs have supplanted “traditional” remedies, we should see some relief for African rhinoceroses, North…
Stop picking on Pombo
In Greg Hanscom’s July 25 editor’s note, he states that Wyoming is riding its current oil and gas boom like a meth-crazed bronc rider. That’s some analogy, Mr. Hanscom. I thought most cowboys were pretty straight. From viewing your picture in the column, you have more of the appearance of most dope-heads that I have…
Cano’s Vision
Just outside the small town of Antonito, in southern Colorado’s sparsely populated San Luis Valley, a highway sign points to the state’s oldest church, a twin-towered sanctuary built of brick and local dark volcanic rock. A bit farther on, the towers of a very different sanctuary rise over a dusty neighborhood on the other side…
Congress and Indians spar over lost money
McCain proposes a settlement on trust accounts, but Cobell is wary
Heard around the West
OREGON Joseph, Ore., population 1,100, doesn’t often get rowdy, so local police quickly followed up on a complaint June 9, regarding some noisy teens. A youth group had apparently massed on the sidewalk in front of their church, where they practiced singing. Here’s the sweet denouement, as reported by the town policeman in the Wallowa…
Dear Friends
SUMMER VISITORS We’re always a bit surprised (and pleased) that so many of you manage to find us, since Paonia, Colo. — HCN’s hometown — is really not on the way to anywhere. Rick and Susie Graetz from Helena, Mont., came by with two young friends from nearby Crested Butte. The couple founded Montana Magazine…
Feds oppose state’s effort to empower landowners
Wyoming’s new “split-estate” law was meant to give property owners more control over energy development on land where the underlying minerals are owned by someone else, usually the federal government. Now, the law has hit a huge obstacle — the Bush administration. Years of lobbying by ranchers and environmentalists persuaded the Legislature to pass the…
Island’s pig problem pits animal-rights activists against conservationists
An animal rights group is trying to stop the killing of thousands of feral pigs on Southern California’s Santa Cruz Island. But the National Park Service says the hunt, which started in April, is necessary to put an end to the pigs’ destruction of native plants and animals. Channel Islands National Park occupies the eastern…
His playground pulls fun hogs off the public lands
NAME: Jeremy Parriott VOCATION: Extreme-sports videographer and promoter AGE: 32 HOME BASE: Moab, Utah CLAIM TO FAME: Helping to create “Area BFE,” a private playground for “extreme” off-roaders, mountain bikers and climbers. HE SAYS: “Public lands around here are getting pretty bombarded with use — why not bring it to a private place?” Standing…
Military Base Closures in the West
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane.” BASES ON CURRENT BRAC REALIGNMENT/CLOSURE LIST 1. Cannon Air Force Base, Clovis, NM 2. Naval Base, Coronado, CA 3. Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA 4. Navy Broadway Complex, San Diego, CA 5. Naval Support Activity, Corona, CA 6.…
Leavin’ on a Jet Plane
As the Air Force prepares to fly away from New Mexico’s Cannon Air Force Base, the town it helped to build won’t let go
Boom and bust, military style
There’s an economic debate we often have in this western Colorado valley, and it centers around our underground coal mines. How big a hit would our community take if the mines, which have been part of the landscape for a century and directly provide for some 800 people and their families, suddenly closed? The debate…
Bedrock environmental law takes a beating
Pombo’s task force tears into the National Environmental Policy Act
Winnebagos: Don’t fear ’em, cheer ’em
This is America: You can drive just about any kind of gas-guzzling, hydrocarbon-spewing rust-exhibit you want — unless you drive a recreational vehicle, otherwise known as an “RV.” Among the pundits of political correctness, driving an RV puts you one social notch above suspected terrorist. Sure, RVs are big, ugly, get notoriously poor mileage and…