How the greater sage grouse became the center of the largest experiment in the history of the Endangered Species Act, sea lions eating salmon, apiaries of non-native bees on federal lands, and more. Cover photo by Doug Dance Nature Photography

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After I read the news in your July 20 special recreation issue, I read all the ads. They were about one-third of the print content. What’s in the ads for me? I’m 20 years over the 55.6 median age of readers, make a little less than the median household income ($63,750), and my M.A. makes me…

by Diane Sward Rapaport

Standing up for regulations

Reading the special recreation edition, a theme came through to me: It is understandable and even honorable to push the envelope, stretch the rules, and even break them now and then in the interests of pursuing the right to recreation. Whether biking, BASE jumping, skiing, etc., rules and restrictions are un-American, even when they exist…

by Anthony Ricketts

A Culture of Privilege

I wanted to give you feedback on the “Living the Dream” article (HCN, 7/20/15). When someone is profiled who only earns $1,800 a summer, it tells me: “This is someone who has a support structure in place to be able to live on that little money.” It’s someone who does not need to support other…

by Erin Uloth

Acknowledging the lawbreakers

Sarah Tory’s July 2 article, “End of the Trail Wars,” ends with, “We reach an intersection where a big Forest Service alert sign warns us that the trail is closed except to pedestrian traffic. ‘Rama’ stops and looks around briefly, ‘Well,’ he says, a mischievous glint in his eyes, ‘I can’t resist.’ ” Why you…

by Lee Rimel

Selling the West

Your latest cover about the West being SHREDDED made me nauseous — not because of the vertigo-inducing image of bikers perched at cliff edge, but because it reminds me that enjoyment of Western public lands is becoming impossible (HCN, 7/20/15). Since my backpacking days are over, my solitude-seeking trips now tend to yield annoyance and…

by Dennis Slifer

How Utah benefits from the national parks it neglects

Sometimes you get your heart’s desire, and it’s too much. On May 23, the Utah Highway Patrol had to close the entrance to Arches National Park after traffic got backed up for five miles on the highway into nearby Moab.  Southwest of Arches, Zion National Park and its gateway town of Springdale also suffer from…

by Tom Ribe

The hammer that never fell

Twenty years ago, I got into an argument with a wildlife biologist over the Endangered Species Act. Environmentalists, he said, were abusing the law in their quest to create an ecologically pristine West devoid of loggers, ranchers and other salt-of-the-earth Westerners. By relentlessly pushing the federal government to protect ever more species and habitat, and…

by Paul Larmer