When membership and funds drop, most nonprofits
pinch, prune and make minor adjustments. Greenpeace USA crashed. In
early August, the organization announced it would close each of its
10 regional offices, lay off over 300 employees, end its
neighborhood canvass and concentrate only on its climate change and
logging campaigns. Employees who work on less high-profile
campaigns, such as toxics, pollution or environmental justice, want
to challenge the extreme cutbacks. The group’s voting membership –
172 selected staff members and volunteers – has called for a vote
on the changes that were made by the eight-member board of
directors …
Ten years ago, Phil Hocker started
the only national group fighting for mining reform. At the end of
this year, Hocker will leave the Mineral Policy Center. Hocker says
he’s seen major changes during these 10 years. When he started the
group, “if a mining project was proposed, people would say: It’s
awful, but there’s nothing we can do. Today, more people are
fighting these projects.” …
Earlier this year,
the Interior Department approved the reintroduction of the Mexican
gray wolf in Arizona and New Mexico. Now, media mogul Ted Turner is
jumping the gun. He plans to breed the endangered wolf in pens on a
ranch he owns near Truth or Consequences, N.M. Mike Phillips, who
oversaw the release of Canadian gray wolves in Yellowstone National
Park, will organize his project …
When the
Forest Service announced that a timber sale of 269 acres near
Yosemite National Park would earn only $1,966 for taxpayers, 269
people wrote checks to the Forest Service made out for $7.31 each
to “purchase” the roadless area. The Forest Service rejected the
checks …
It is back to Denver for Bill
Yellowtail, a Wyola, Mont., rancher and member of the Crow Indian
Tribe. He left his post as the regional administrator for the
Environmental Protection Agency last year to launch an unsuccessful
bid for Montana’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Now, President Clinton is re-appointing him to the
job.
* Heather Abel
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Wayward West.
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