A Missoula, Mont., pulp mill says it won’t pump
chlorine-related pollutants through its smokestacks or into the
Clark Fork River anymore (HCN, 3/30/98). Smurfit-Stone Container
Corp. says it’s pulling out of the paper-bleaching business because
it can’t afford $40 million in EPA-mandated plant upgrades. Local
activists cheered. “It’s just sinking in,” says Darrell Geist of
the group Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers. “It’s great news for the
community.”
A year after the Forest Service
announced it wanted an 18-month moratorium on building any new
roads through national forests, the rule is on the books (HCN,
2/2/98). Critics say the moratorium doesn’t go far enough, however,
because roadless areas smaller than 5,000 acres, for example,
aren’t protected.-We’re glad that we’ve come this far,” says Lesley
Keith of the Oregon Natural Resources Council. “But it’s definitely
a work in progress.”
Southern Colorado’s
Costilla County says it’s suing the owners of the 77,000-acre
Taylor Ranch to halt logging that is breaking county land-use rules
(HCN, 11/24/97). Proponents say the lawsuit marks a milestone in
community activism, because environmental groups joined the mostly
Hispanic, rural county in battling the
logging.
The protective umbrella of the
Endangered Species Act may soon cover another species. Though the
mountain plover was once found across the Western High Plains, only
10,000 birds remain. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the
plover evolved with the black-tailed prairie dog, and as the range
of the prairie dog shrinks and its habitat disappears, so does the
mountain plover (HCN, 2/1/99).
Because North
America’s population of snow geese and the related Ross’ geese has
boomed to more than 3 million – triple the 1960s population –
federal biologists say the birds are fouling their nest (HCN,
5/25/98). In February, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave 24
states permission to relax hunting rules. Fish and Wildlife
Director Jamie Clark said, “If we do not take action, we risk not
only the health of the Arctic breeding grounds but also the future
of many of America’s migratory bird populations.”
* Dustin Solberg
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Wayward West.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
