An unusual consensus may stave off industrial tourism in Washington’s Methow Valley.
Boycott, effigy-hanging disgraces Joseph, Oregon
Dear HCN, To the people of Wallowa County, Oregon: My dictionary says an environmentalist is “a person working to solve environmental problems such as air and water pollution and the exhaustion of natural resources.” Andy Kerr and Ric Bailey are true environmentalists (HCN, 11/14/94). If you in Wallowa County are not yet concerned about the…
Enviros sue state land board
Better – but not good enough – says a coalition of Oregon environmentalists that is suing the state land board to institute “truly competitive bidding” for leases on state-owned land. In a break from tradition across the West, the board in July opened the bidding process so that conservationists could compete with ranchers for leases…
Horses must back off
Horses can’t poop in a source of drinking water for 25 homes in Lama, N.M. The Taos County court recently found Dr. John Wilson and his wife Barbara guilty of allowing their horses to pollute the El Rito de Lama Acequia, reports The Taos News. For more than 200 years, the acequias – irrigation ditches…
Forest plan rapped
Forest plan rapped The first revision of a forest management plan in the nation is a flop, says a coalition of environmental groups that monitors activities on South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest. The draft plan emphasizes logging and fails to implement ecosystem management, says Brian Brademeyer, conservation chair of the Black Hills Sierra Club.…
Victory in Idaho: Canyon lovers defeat the military
The Air Force’s decision Oct. 6 to back off on building a new bombing range in the Owyhee canyonlands is a victory – and therefore shocking. Who would have thought that a coalition of local and national environmentalists, hunting groups and a few members of Congress could stop the military and Idaho’s forceful Gov. Cecil…
How Methow Valley grew an economy
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Beauty eludes the beast. METHOW VALLEY, Wash. – While developers and government officials spent two decades and millions of dollars trying to turn this valley into a destination downhill ski resort, residents quietly built and maintained a world-class cross-country skiing area. Now the proposals for…
Dear friends
Good news, bad news This column is usually free of the “issues” that permeate the rest of the paper. The “Dear friends” column is HCN’s version of a small-town cafe’s liars’ table. It is here that we gossip, remark on who got married or had a child, and welcome visitors. But this fortnight’s mix of…
BuRec to allow water thefts to continue
A crackdown against illegal use of federal water from dams in the West won’t take place anytime soon (HCN, 10/31/94). That’s because a long-awaited plan for curbing abuses is being shelved by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Under pressure from farm irrigators, the BuRec has begun work on what some observers predict will be a…
Farmers spin federal dollars into hay
When Utah environmentalists began complaining about new water-conservation proposals during a recent public hearing, farmer Howard Riley leaned toward the man next to him and muttered: “It depends on how you define conservation.” Riley, a director of the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, represents farmers in Juab County and southern Utah County who would receive…
Election ’94 postmortem
Conservationists’ pre-election nightmares became real Nov. 8. A landslide gave Republicans a majority of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, and turned already conservative state legislatures in the West further to the right. “It’s not just the reversal, it’s the size of the reversal,” says Bruce…
Goodbye, New West; hello lords of yesterday: Dispatches from the field
Wyoming geared up for war In Wyoming, “It wasn’t the year to be seen as a thoughtful problem-solver,” says Sierra Club Northern Plains representative Larry Mehlhaff. “It was the year to have a bumper-sticker campaign.” Wyoming’s new senator, Republican Craig Thomas, lambasted Democratic Gov. Mike Sullivan during the campaign by associating him with President Clinton…
The valley around us is deep
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Beauty eludes the beast. Close to the Canadian border, Washington’s Methow Valley startles visitors with its wild 8,000-foot peaks and lively weather: sunshine one minute, boiling clouds the next. What words could do justice to its stark beauty, seen by visitors during an hour and…
Environmental records of ranking Republican members ofcommittees addressing natural resource issues
Note: this is a sidebar to the news story titled “Election ’94 postmortem“ Environmental records of ranking Republican members of committees addressing natural resource issues. Compiled by League of Conservation Voters, based on bill sponsorship and recorded votes in the 103rd Congress. Sen. John Chafee, Committee on Environment and Public Works – 79 percent Sen.…
Beauty eludes the beast
Washington’s Methow Valley may avoid industrial tourism
Citizens held off big money for years
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Beauty eludes the beast. METHOW VALLEY, Wash. – Only by sticking determinedly to their vision of this valley for 20 years did environmentalists force a compromise from all-out development. When the Aspen Ski Corp. and the Forest Service wanted to develop a downhill ski resort…