The controversial salvage logging rider, signed by President Clinton a year ago, has been harassed throughout its short life by loud and growing protest – including civil disobedience.
Waste creeps toward Yucca Mountain
Nevada’s Yucca Mountain is one step closer to becoming a temporary nuclear waste dump. Republicans rushed a bill to the Senate floor before the August break that would clear the way for shipping nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain as early as 1998 (HCN, 4/1/96). It passed in late July despite an attempted filibuster by Democratic…
This dam will die
Dear HCN, Thanks for the story of the U.S. House of Representatives voting 221-200 to cut funding for the Animas-La Plata Project (HCN, 8/5/95). Since the Senate then voted to include funding, it will now go to a conference committee for some sort of compromise. But it is clear that the dam’s days are numbered.…
Catch-22
Dear HCN, In response to your article about benefits from releasing water from Glen Canyon Dam (HCN, 7/22/96), I called the Bureau of Reclamation in late April, and their best projection was that 104,000,000 kwh of hydro generation would be lost due to the release. It takes more than 60,000 tons of coal to generate…
What drivel on llamas
Dear HCN, Those of us who regularly pack with llamas were dismayed by the condescending nature of Hal Walter’s essay (HCN, 8/19/96). This burro packer’s diatribe against llamas is fraught with misinformation. For example, Walter states that he has never seen a llama perform well when carrying over 40 pounds. I regularly put 80 pounds…
Not welcome
Dear HCN, Catron County Attorney James Catron may be correct when he asserts that “he and Catron County residents personify the frontier ethic portrayed by James Fenimore Cooper” (HCN, 6/24/96), but is he aware that Cooper despised frontiersmen and their “ethic’? In The Pioneers, the 18th century settlers’ only “ethic” is the myth of superabundance;…
Where the wolves are
Though the media’s attention has focused on the wolf reintroduction effort in Yellowstone National Park, wolves in Idaho may reach the recovery goal of 10 breeding pairs first. Biologists received good news last spring when they confirmed that eight pairs of wolves in Idaho had denned. Three litters have been sighted so far. In 1995,…
Montana grizzlies move west
For a decade, Montanans have complained about the influx of Californians. The trend has reversed, at least for three grizzlies. A sow and her two 16-month-old cubs had run into trouble by repeatedly raiding garbage cans and cabins just outside Yellowstone National Park. Even after land managers relocated the family, the grizzlies returned to their…
Babbitt takes the offensive on Utah wilderness
At a wilderness hearing last spring, Utah Rep. James Hansen challenged Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to find 5 million acres of BLM land in Utah that qualify for wilderness designation. Now that competing Utah wilderness bills are dormant in Congress, Babbitt has taken him up. The Interior boss has assembled “a small team of career…
Birds get eviction notice
When the Bureau of Reclamation floods the endangered southwestern willow flycatchers out of their nesting habitat near Phoenix, Ariz., will the birds simply move to the next best spot? The Bureau says they will. But conservationists fear the move will drive the local population of songbirds to extinction. The deluge comes next spring as a…
Devils Tower may get a second name
To Plains Indians, the name Devils Tower dishonors a sacred place. But to local Wyoming residents, the name stands for community identity and tourist dollars. When Devils Tower National Monument Superintendent Deborah Liggett revived the idea of renaming the feature, people spoke out in opposition. At an Aug. 15 meeting, says Liggett, “I was labeled…
A “bizarre” alliance fights logging
The southern Colorado town of San Luis, population 850, is predominantly rural, Hispanic and Catholic. Everyone here knows everyone else. But at a special sunrise service on June 10, the local priest welcomed some new faces from environmental groups such as Ancient Forest Rescue, Greenpeace and Earth First! Afterwards, the motley congregation drove to the…
The Republicans weren’t dull by a long shot
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – As you no doubt noticed, some of the reporters covering the Republican National Convention here were so bored they wanted to go home. Indeed, one of them did. Ted Koppel of ABC’s Nightline imperiously announced he was leaving before the party ended. Ted missed a good story. Come to think of…
Recreation fee startles locals
In July, radio talk show hosts in Tucson, Ariz., went after an unlikely target: forest ranger Tom Quinn. “They roasted me for a week,” said Quinn, who works on the Coronado National Forest. The reason for the fuss? The Forest Service wants to charge an entrance fee for the popular Mount Lemmon recreation area just…
Grassroots grit beat ‘the mine from Hell’
The campaign to stop the New World Gold Mine on Yellowstone National Park’s northern boundary could rank with the great environmental victories of the 20th century. It’s not so much what happened as how it happened. Mine opponents started with a textbook grassroots plan to stop the $600 million gold mine. They ended with a…
Last line of defense
Civil disobedience and protest slowdown ‘lawless logging’
What a difference a year makes
Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. A brief history of the salvage logging rider: July 27, 1995: President Bill Clinton signs the salvage logging rider. The measure, attached to a budget bill containing financial aid for victims of the Oklahoma City bombing and for war-torn Bosnia, expedites logging on national forests…
When the crackdown came
Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. For nearly a year, the Forest Service patiently accepted the presence of the protesters at Warner Creek. But after the Clinton administration announced that logging would be at least delayed at Warner Creek, the agency’s attitude toward the protesters changed abruptly. Law enforcement officers moved…
Cove-Mallard: ‘I’m just trying to right what I feel is wrong’
Content removed at freelancer’s request. Article and three sidebar articles are available in print edition, found in bound volumes at HCN’s Paonia headquarters and in several university libraries. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Cove-Mallard: ‘I’m just trying to right what I feel is wrong’.
Dear friends
Fires – again First, you read about the 700 new fires breaking out in Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Washington and Wyoming – most started by lightning. Then, if you live in Colorado or Nevada, where fires are already burning, you notice the intense salmon colors of dawns and sunsets. Suddenly, it seems, the West…
The pole-sitter
Content removed at freelancer’s request. Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The pole-sitter.
The innkeeper
Content removed at freelancer’s request. Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The innkeeper.
The activist
Content removed at freelancer’s request. Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The activist.
Radioactive waste is hot issue in Idaho
BOISE, Idaho – Nuclear waste critics have taken on Idaho Gov. Phil Batt with a bang. In 10 weeks they collected 52,000 valid signatures – some 10,000 more than were needed – to get a “Stop the Shipments” initiative on the November ballot. If voters say yes Nov. 3, not only will Batt’s agreement to…
Earth First! The Next Generation
Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. NEZ PERCE NATIONAL FOREST, Idaho – Environmentalists aren’t usually judged by the cars they drive, but in the case of this summer’s Earth First! Rendezvous in Idaho, a roadside survey quickly underscores the fact that one of the nation’s most notorious environmental groups is changing.…
Politics in cyberspace
What happens when a computer whiz with a penchant for the outdoors decides to tackle politics? Brad Udall, creator of one of the first on-line political action committees, hopes he can influence the composition of the next Congress. Following in the footsteps of his father, former Arizona Rep. Morris Udall, and his uncle, former Secretary…
Big trees in Oregon continue to topple
Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. Though forest activists have stopped controversial timber sales offered under the salvage rider in some places, they have taken a drubbing in others. Ninety minutes by car north of Warner Creek in the Detroit Ranger District, hundreds of big trees have tumbled like tenpins all…
Forests worth fighting for
Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. While acts of civil disobedience have captured much of the media spotlight, environmentalists throughout the West have also waged countless smaller battles – by letter, lawsuit and protest – since the passage of the salvage rider. Here are some of the region’s most contentious sales…
Heard around the West
In an attempt to keep a tragedy in perspective, one small-town editor is said to have written the following lead paragraph: “While 200 students studied quietly at their desks, Johnny Jones threw principal Bob Smith out of his fourth-floor office window.” A similar lead out of Steamboat Springs, Colo., in early August might have read:…