Just as it seemed the local communities were starting to accept the BLM’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the rise of conservative national politics has helped to revive old grudges and stir up opposition.
Also in this issue: Conservationists say it’s too soon for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to declare that wolves are no longer endangered.
Bikers are not entitled to unchecked access
Dear HCN, I appreciated the debate offered on both sides of the mountain bike issue (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). I have owned or managed outdoor-related retail businesses most of my life in all the beautiful parts of the country. One of my sons still makes his living running a bike shop. Since our livelihood…
The Latest Bounce
Rep. “Butch” Otter, R-Idaho, and 17 Republican co-sponsors have introduced the “American Wilderness Protection Act.” Under the act, all wilderness study areas would lose protection as wilderness either immediately, as determined by the secretary of the Interior or secretary of Agriculture, or within 10 years of the act’s passage (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). Taxpayers…
Mike Matz is a visionary
Dear HCN, While I applaud High Country News for sharing the recent success of Nevada wilderness advocates, and for reminding its readers of the approaching 40th anniversary of the landmark Wilderness Act, (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card), I was very disappointed by your characterization of the Campaign for America’s Wilderness, and its executive director, Mike…
Forest thinning slows fires, increases concerns
Not only did forest thinning slow the spread of last summer’s Hayman Fire in Colorado, it helped prevent subsequent damage from erosion, according to a study conducted by the U.S. Forest Service (HCN, 7/8/02: The anatomy of fire). The blaze, which was the largest fire in Colorado history, slowed when it hit the sites of…
Wildlife Services must go
Dear HCN, In response to your cover story, “Tinkering with nature,” (HCN, 3/31/03: Tinkering with nature), one must remember that Animal Damage Control, now masquerading as Wildlife Services, was set up in the 1930s at the instigation of livestock operators for the sole purpose of killing coyotes, lions, bears and bobcats for the ranchers. (Wolves…
Westlands farmers sell out
After being locked for years in a legal battle with farmers in California’s Central Valley, the federal government has decided to buy its way out. Westlands Water District irrigates more land than any other district in the country. But the salty, selenium-laced ground has grown increasingly less productive, because the district lacks adequate drainage for…
Ranchers are behind predator control
Dear HCN, Tom McNamee’s predator-prey article is one of the finest pieces on the subject of predators and predator control I have ever read (HCN, 3/31/03: Tinkering with nature). Typically writers who tackle this highly controversial issue are biased either for or against predators. Such articles seldom shed light on the issue, but do generate…
Fate of the Red Desert up in the air
A new Bureau of Land Management plan could re-open the door to oil, gas and coalbed methane leasing on over 432,000 acres of the Jack Morrow Hills, the heart of southwestern Wyoming’s Red Desert. The hills are home to a migratory herd of 48,000 antelope, a rare desert elk population, and seven areas being studied…
Tribes, residents find a solution in the Sandias
Congress has settled a long-standing dispute between an Indian tribe, the federal government and private landowners over the western face of the Sandia Mountains (HCN, 11/9/98: Who controls the sandias?). Starting in 1976, Sandia Pueblo fought to reclaim about 10,000 acres of private and national forest land. Citing a 1748 Spanish land grant, the tribe…
Off-roaders steer agencies with dollars
A proposal for an off-road vehicle (ORV) trail in central Idaho is kicking up dust. The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation wants to link 460 miles of existing routes already open to ORVs on federal lands. The agency says the loop trail, which would run through the Lost River Valley and the towns of…
Be careful what you ask for
Dear HCN, I am concerned that the mountain-biking community may be starting down the same trail already taken by many outdoorsmen. Hunters and fishermen, many of whom truly care about the environment, strongly support the Bush administration, due in large part to the emotional issue of gun control. The administration has betrayed them with unprecedented…
Where do we draw the line?
Dear HCN, As both a mountain biker and a supporter of the idea of wilderness areas, I read your “Writers on the Range” debate on the subject of mountain bikes in wilderness areas with great interest (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). While I support the idea of allowing mountain biking in wilderness areas, I think…
Bicycles are machines
Dear HCN, I read, with bemused interest, the vaunted “face-off’ between Michael Carroll and Jim Hasenauer over allowing mountain bikes in wilderness areas (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). My puzzlement was engendered by the comments of Hasenauer. He explains that his pleasure is derived from “pedaling through wild places, experiencing the views, the changing colors…
What about horses?
Dear HCN, As a dedicated mountain bike enthusiast and wilderness preservation advocate, I take keen interest in the divergent opinions expressed by Carroll and Hasenauer in “Do mountain bikes belong in the wilderness” (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). I frequently ruminate over both sides of this debate when enjoying wilderness outings, by foot, in designated…
Change comes slowly to Escalante country
In the BLM’s showcase monument, local grudges and national politics create a nasty quagmire.
Republicans wave guns, but where’s the butter?
Western Colorado Congressman Scott McInnis occupies a congressional seat that until 1972 was the most powerful one in the West. It was owned by the late Wayne Aspinall, a Democrat who chaired the House Interior Committee in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the federal government was continuing the development of the Interior West. Federal…
Dear Friends
Your chance to weigh in Spring is springing in Western Colorado, and work continues on the redesign of High Country News. We’re getting a stream of good advice from readers. “HCN has made its mark by doing the kind of in-depth reporting that dailies now do less and less, and at the same time has…
The Northwest’s diehard diplomat
Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber fought to bring a divided state together
Reopening the wounds in southern Utah
I visited the spectacular Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, when it was still a raw wound in the body politic of southern Utah. As I talked to people in the scattered, dusty towns around the almost 1.9 million-acre-monument, I found deep-seated anger. There was the rancher who predicted he would never again be allowed…
Monument presents a management morass
In Arizona’s Ironwood Forest, recreationists, ranchers and illegal immigrants vie for space
Debate rages over ‘de-listing’ wolves
Wolves may not be ‘endangered’ anymore, but have they recovered?
Heard Around the West
Watch out, Satan, your number may be up. Route 666 in northwest New Mexico has been called the Devil’s Highway, Satan’s Highway and the highway to Hell — because 666 is “the number of the beast,” in the biblical book of Revelation. It’s also been called downright dangerous, reports the Albuquerque Journal: At least 15…
Grass roots prevail in ANWR and Wyoming
Conservationists chalk up two big victories — but they’re bracing for a long war
Of avalanche forecasting and snow haiku
Last winter in southwestern Colorado, on the kind of bluebird day when a ski-toting fellow endowed with more bravado than avalanche acumen could be seduced into believing the whole world was a benign winter playground, I found myself in good company in tricky terrain. The day began on a sub-zero morning before dawn in the…
The BLM’s conservation kingdom
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Change comes slowly to Escalante country.” The National Landscape Conservation System is a blend of new and old. It includes not only the 15 monuments designated by President Bill Clinton, but also some 800 protected areas that the BLM has managed for as long…