President Bush wants to sell my land to fund rural schools. I mean my land — not the vast tracts of federal forests and grasslands I co-own with the proverbial New York cabbie, the Seattle widow and all other American citizens. My private land — the 12 acres I own with my husband. We bought […]
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What I learned as a self-appointed immigration agent
Like millions of others, he was going to overstay his visa and remain in the country illegally. Months earlier, my sister had returned to Arizona from her studies in Colombia with a boyfriend in tow. Though our parents were very conservative, she was their only daughter, and they agreed to sponsor his entry into the […]
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The trailers of Montezuma County
It’s like a soap opera romance, this ongoing affection of mine for the old-style single or double-wide mobile homes, more commonly known as trailers. To me, their appeal is strongest when I’m driving a gravel county road, and out in a field I see one, perched like an alien spacecraft on a few open acres. […]
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A new civil rights movement is born in America
I became a part of American history March 25, when I took to the streets of San Jose, Calif., along with 15,000 other people, most of them young. We marched to protest the anti-immigrant proposals welling out of the Congress, but more importantly, we walked to honor our parents who came to this country as […]
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Preserving native language is more than just words
Seated around tables in Prescott, Ariz., Yavapai elders swap stories, learn who’s related to whom, and gossip in their fluid tongue. Ladies with a lifetime of experience etched on their faces converse in “Yavaglish” when the right word just isn’t available in Yavapai. Elders from the Prescott, Camp Verde and Fort McDowell reservations compare notes […]
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Don’t blame the Indians for the Abramoff scandal
It is a bitter irony that Indian nations have become scapegoats for corruption in Washington, D.C. In response to the Abramoff lobbying scandal, one newspaper in Montana, the Missoulian, even called for a ban on any tribal contributions in federal elections. Some perspective is needed. In the 2004 election, contributions from so-called casino tribes to […]
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President Bush nailed it: Our real addiction is to oil
The U.S. oil and gas industry wants marijuana to be legal. That’s how it looks to me. The CEOs of Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other oil companies haven’t swapped their business suits for tie-dyed outfits and jewelry shaped like reefer leaves. But the industry’s support for legalizing pot seems clear from the pattern of its […]
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Changing times, changing hats
I don’t wear my cowboy hats much anymore. I have two, both bought cheap at Wal-Mart: a gray wool felt for winter and a light yellow straw for summer. Maybe I don’t wear them around town because fewer people seem to favor them. Lately, Cody, Wyo., sports a new fashion statement: those canvas, earth-tone wide-billed […]
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Westerners watch as the past slips away
There was a grand opening for a Walgreens drugstore in my western Colorado town recently. I’m sure it was a welcome change for some people, but I remember the grand old ranch house that once stood in its place. The house with the wraparound porch was surrounded by an orchard and majestic cottonwood trees. It […]
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Thank you, Gale Norton
Five years ago, the Interior Department, which oversees one-quarter of the nation’s land, 9,000 employees and nine federal agencies, appeared to have turned a corner. Outgoing Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had just pulled off a remarkable conservation offensive, getting his boss, Bill Clinton, to create and expand more than a dozen national monuments in the […]
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Ocean fishing ban will be a drastic step
Sometime during the first week of April, regulators will decide whether to close a 700-mile stretch of the California and Oregon coasts to commercial salmon fishing, and much of the West Coast will learn whether locally caught king salmon will show up at fish markets this summer. At first blush, it seems like a case […]
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Seeing the legacy of Interior Secretary Gale Norton
I met Gale Norton, who has announced her resignation as Interior Secretary, in the public restroom at the Denver International Airport. She was coming out of the handicapped stall with a black roller bag. She is a tall, handsome woman. We ended up washing our hands at neighboring basins. Should I or shouldn’t I? I […]
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Eco-terrorism and the Trial of the Century
In case you hadn’t noticed, 12 young people (average age 33) have been charged with arson and conspiracy to commit arson in several Western states. The 83-page indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury in Oregon, and it must be important because the story made the front page of the Western edition of […]
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What’s behind all these natural disasters
That was some mudslide that hit Leyte Island in the Philippines last month, when something like several tons of sludge and rock a mile wide slid down a mountain onto the village of Guinsahugan, killing children in their schoolrooms and villagers in their stores and homes. No wonder. In just two weeks before the Feb. […]
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SUWA, can you spare a dime?
When I made southeast Utah my home, almost 30 years ago, I came for one reason — the rocks — the most stunning display of intricately carved, brilliantly hued red rocks imaginable. It’s the kind of place one can believe only exists in dreams. I’ve lived here ever since. Naturally, I went searching for kindred […]
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Oil shale is still a pig in a poke
More than half the world’s oil shale is found in Utah and Colorado, and for a century, men have tried to unlock this energy source. The rocks have proved stubborn, promising much, delivering little. “I find it disturbing that we import oil from Canadian tar sands, even though our oil shale resource remains undeveloped,” complains […]
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Selling forestland won’t solve the real problem
Selling federal forest land to subsidize rural schools and road projects is a bad idea for many reasons. But a proposal to do just that, incorporated into the Bush administration’s 2007 budget, has one powerful virtue: It has focused welcome public attention on a century-old welfare program that has yet to achieve its goals. Bush […]
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Requiem for a messy small town
I live in one of those Western towns that’s booming. Fast and furious. Set near a national park, surrounded by 2.3 million acres of national forest, and right at the base of a ski resort, Whitefish, Mont., lures not only visitors but also the affluent who want to buy into the Montana lifestyle. Ironically, newcomers […]
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How to build a ghost town with great views
A teacher friend of mine just shook the change out of his trousers to buy and then fully remodel a dump in Telluride, Colo. The house cost $1 million, and it was the cheapest thing going. I didn’t ask about the cost of the remodel. At the same time that my friend was assembling his […]
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We all lose when scientists sell their credibility
Ever wonder why science and scientists are taking such a beating in the public opinion department these days? Then consider the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Their recent decision to praise pulp novelist Michael Crichton as “journalist of the year” feeds not only cynicism about the oil and gas industry, but also drains public faith […]