In early June, GOP leaders in the House promised to
end logging subsidies for the timber industry, agreeing with the
Clinton administration that “road credits’ should die. Soon after,
the Forest Service, for the second time in its history, posted a
number for what its road-building program really lost last year:
$88 million.
Jet-boat
enthusiasts were not pleased by Olympic National Park’s decision to
ban “personal watercraft.” But the Bluewater Network, based in San
Francisco, cheered the decision and said it sets a precedent for a
“system-wide ban on these high-impact machines.” Each park will
make its own decision on
jetboats.
The Forest Service
came out with a ban of its own June 1 against “permanent fixed
anchors’ for rock climbing in wilderness portions of national
forests. That means no metal bolts drilled into rock, no pitons
left behind, and no permanent slings or ropes. The Boulder,
Colo.-based Access Fund quickly vowed to “block enforcement” and
defend any climber
arrested.
Colorado politics
are getting yeasty. Former first lady Dottie Lamm seemed a shoo-in
to win the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Sen. Ben
Nighthorse Campbell. Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler seemed certain to be
the party’s nominee for governor. All that changed at the state
convention when under-financed Gil Romero bested Lamm, and underdog
Mike Feeley trumped Schoettler for top lines on the primary ballot.
More startling was the upset at the Republican state convention.
Popular Republican Rep. Scott McInnis had been talked out of
challenging Sen. Campbell by party regulars, but at the GOP state
convention Denver attorney Steve Eggert won enough votes to force
Campbell into a primary anyway.
* Betsy
Marston
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Wayward West.
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