How genetic research on common species could be the key to saving the greatest number of plants and animals. Also, a bull trout comeback, innovations in agricultural water leasing and an ode to morel hunting. Cover Image: Original illustration by Bryce Gladfelter.
Ch-Ch-Changes
Staffing changes and visitors to the office.
Trade imbalance
There is something missing from “Trade winds blow through the West” (HCN, 5/25/15). There is much talk about poor Rifle and other communities suffering from depressed natural gas production, and the hopes that the Trans-Pacific Partnership will once again increase production and, therefore, jobs in the West. This is undoubtedly true. But what about the obvious…
Western cities ranked by most polluted air
Los Angeles and Fresno are worst, Prescott and Bellingham best.
Wetland clarification
A little clarification is needed to better understand the setting of “The Wetland Wars” (HCN, 5/11/15). The Los Angeles River did not flow continuously through the Ballona Wetlands previous to the calamitous flood of 1825. A flood that had occurred 10 years earlier caused the river to shift westward, away from the hundreds of square…
Citizen pseudoscience
Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi’s legislation to mandate use of local, county, state and tribal data in Endangered Species Act decisions (“Sagebrush bureaucracy,” HCN, 5/11/15) sounds like a reasonable idea, citizen science at its very grassroots. The more information that’s included, the better the decision, right? The devil, of course, is in the details. I have…
Genetic research lays foundation for bold conservation strategies
To save the greatest number of species, should we focus on the most common?
Grave dangers and satisfying ends
Review of ‘Crow Fair’ by Thomas McGuane.
Heart cracked wide open
Review of ‘Tom Connor’s Gift’ by David Allan Cates.
High-flyin’ hypocrisy
In her May 11 “Writers on the Range,” Kathleen Dean Moore laments the view of the North Dakota oilfields at night from her jetliner window at 31,000 feet. And, admittedly, vistas with drilling rigs, pumpjacks and gas flares leave something to be desired, compared with vast sweeps of virgin prairie. The excellent article on Theodore…
Latest: New air quality regulation for oil and gas operators
Wyoming will require companies to retrofit equipment
Latest: Toxic fumes inhalation added to list of oil & gas worker dangers
Center for Disease Control investigates recent deaths.
Lust for fungi
A writer has a holy experience while mushroom hunting in southern Oregon.
Senate approves major reform of the chemical safety law
The biggest bipartisan environmental legislation to pass the Senate in decades.
New perspective from Edward Abbey on the river
Review of ‘The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey’ by John Blaustein
Remembering ‘the creek’
“The Wetland Wars” struck a chord with me. I went to Loyola Marymount University from 1960 to 1963. The campus was above and just to the east of Ballona Creek. In that era, it was known as “the creek.” After a long day, I often walked around the area to capture some of the tranquility…
A bull trout reintroduction in Oregon proves what’s possible
The ambitious effort brings a threatened predator back to the Clackamas watershed.
Shallow understanding
Reader Brandt Mannchen takes issue with rainwater harvesting as presented in a recent article (“Letters,” HCN, 5/25/15; “Tucson’s rain-catching revolution” HCN, 4/27/15)). He deplores local Tucson water expert Brent Cluff’s belief that “water harvesting could support unlimited growth.” I know of Brent Cluff but have never heard of and certainly do not share this opinion.…
Big cat cruelty in Utah and the first recorded California condor in New Mexico
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Southwest rain, Endangered Species Act, school-to-prison pipeline and more.
Hcn.org news in brief.
Can leasing irrigation water keep Colorado farms alive?
Farmers try to stop “buy and dry” by pooling water rights to supply growing cities.
The precious common
Imagine a white burqa crossed with a beekeeper’s suit. At the end of one arm protrudes a pterodactyl-esque puppet head with a long bill, a blazing red pate and cheeks streaked a vivid black. But its golden eyes are flat and unmoving, like those of a specimen in a museum diorama. If you’re a whooping…