I never planned to improve upon any kind of mousetrap but for some reason it appears I’ve done exactly that. This is how it happened: Every year my wife and I spend a few days avoiding the summer heat of western Colorado by camping high up in the White River National Forest. For the past […]
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A railroad through Wyoming and South Dakota grasslands is a stab to the heart
If the legal appeals don’t work, two of the nation’s three largest grasslands will become home to the biggest railroad project since Abraham Lincoln was president. Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad plans to build a 260-mile line through Buffalo Gap National Grassland in South Dakota and Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming. The line would […]
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From a Republican’s perspective:Let’s cut through environmental red tape and cut trees to stop fires
On Aug. 22, President Bush went to Central Point, Ore., to view the devastation caused by catastrophic wildfires and announce his Healthy Forest Initiative. In one simple statement he summed up what Westerners have known for years and what nearsighted environmentalists don’t want to accept: “If you let kindling build up, and there’s a lightning […]
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From a Democrat’s perspective: Let’s fight fire where it counts and stop pointing fingers
This year was among the worst in a string of terrible fire seasons. So far we have lost 6.5 million acres to wildfire “- more than twice the annual average. In my home state of New Mexico where we’ve have had a rough season, many residents are still smarting two years after fire destroyed hundreds […]
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Can’t we all just give a little out on the trail?
“Can’t we all just get along?” With those words Rodney King became the world’s most unlikely idealist. Prior to that famous videotape of his beating at the hands of LA’s finest, Rodney was not only misbehaving, he was out of control. The man whose violent behavior led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots wondered aloud […]
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If it’s good for Florida, it’s good for Montana and the West, too
If Florida Gov. Jeb Bush were governor of Montana, would the Rocky Mountain Front get highest-level protection from future oil and gas development? You bet it would. This May President Bush announced that he intended to buy back more than $200 million worth of oil and gas leases off the Florida coast and in the […]
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A river, a bird and a flock of untruths
Geez, all those punches must sting. In Nebraska and its neighboring Plains states, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and other employees are again taking shots right and left from critics. It would be one thing if those blows were legitimate – almost all of them, however, hit below the belt. A recent Fish and […]
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Retiring to work
Every day I’d leave high school about noon, take the subway to 23rd Street, run down to the basement cafeteria for a nutritious company meal, and then sort and deliver mail. My favorite route was the 40th to 30th floors, up there with the higher-flying Manhattan pigeons. The job was my transition to the adult […]
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Peace of mind is a social contract
When it came time for me to buy a house, I purposely chose the Old Town neighborhood in Pocatello, Idaho, where I live and work. The neighborhood can be described as low-to-moderate income housing with many homes built as long as a century ago. I love the eclectic atmosphere of lived-in houses, each one individually […]
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Floating past ghosts on the Green River
The White Rim is a strip of manila sandstone on the edge of the Green River canyon. We’ve been following it for three days now, floating this 60-mile flatwater stretch above Cataract Canyon in Utah, one small raft and a kayak; 20 miles yesterday, 15 or so today. Sometimes delicately thin, sometimes robust and thick, […]