The Quivira Coalition wants to bring peace and prosperity to the West’s public grazing lands, but some critics question whether the collaboration-based group can accomplish its goals.
Also in this issue: The Navajo Nation is wrangling over the benefits – and dangers – of the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant in northwestern New Mexico.
Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports to America
Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports to America John Leland 248 pages, hardcover: $29.95 University of South Carolina Press, 2005. We know by now that exotic species often wreak havoc: Asian tiger mosquitoes spread West Nile virus, Australian eucalyptus trees increase California’s fire risk. But Leland shows us that they can bring benefits,…
Maverick Autobiographies: Women Writers and the American West, 1900-1936
Maverick Autobiographies: Women Writers and the American West, 1900-1936 Cathryn Halverson 230 pages, hardcover: $45 The University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. Probably you’ve never heard of the three Western women featured in this book. But if you’re not put off by literary criticism or footnotes, you’ll meet Mary MacLane, who lived in Butte, Mont., and…
Atlas of Pacific Salmon
Atlas of Pacific Salmon Xanthippe Augerot 150 pages, hardcover: $34.95 University of California Press and State of the Salmon, 2005. As far-ranging as the salmon itself, this book examines the state of Oncorhynchus species on both sides of the North Pacific. Packed with colorful maps, photos and graphics, the work is science-based but readable and…
A scourge of the mainland
As the mother and grandmother of Hawaiian, Tongan and Samoan children, my heart breaks as I read these stories. The Polynesians are loving and giving, and family is important to them. They come here to better their children, and find they have to work too many jobs to spend as much time with the children…
‘Brotherhood’ leads to pain and suffering
I am a young Polynesian adult and grew up with many of the same influences (both good and bad). I cried while reading this article. So many of my friends have made terrible choices, bringing pain and suffering to the families of the victims of their crimes, their own families, and themselves, all for the…
Self-defense?
And people ask why I pack heat in Utah. Duh! “Guest”Provo Daily Herald Web site This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Self-defense?.
Gangs are not the norm
The article was an unfair generalization of an entire group of people, devoid of any substantial mention of the culture’s many redeeming qualities. Yes, there are gang issues associated with the culture in Utah. No, that is not the “norm” for Polynesian families, here or elsewhere. The truth is, most Polynesian families in Utah live…
Racism is alive and well…
They were savages there, and as a group, they are savages here. “Guest”Provo Daily Herald Web site This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Racism is alive and well….
No easy way out
I am saddened that this event not only affected the gangster’s family, but it is affecting all of us Tongans. Maybe we have not taken enough time with our children, but spent more time working and making money. These are the side effects of living overseas. There is no easy way out, but I hope…
Don’t give up on your kid
I am a 25-year-old Tongan living in Australia, and I can sort of relate to this article. Growing up was very hard (financially and emotionally). By the time they were 16, my brothers were selling drugs, and most probably doing drugs as well. My brothers have been stabbed and beaten and who knows what else.…
You can’t blame the church
I read most of your article on “Gangs of Zion” in the Logan Herald Journal and was very disappointed by the lack of research that went into it. Granted, you did do some historical research on the history of Polynesians and their migration to Utah, but you would think you would have taken the time…
Judge rejects old-growth forest rollbacks
A federal judge in Seattle has rejected the Bush administration’s elimination of the Northwest Forest Plan’s “survey and manage” rules. The rules required government agencies to survey for hundreds of rare species in the Pacific Northwest’s old-growth forests, logging only where those species wouldn’t be disturbed. In August, Judge Marsha Pechman sided with conservationists, saying…
LDS history buff pleased
As a retired Utah history teacher and long-time LDS history buff, I found “The Gangs of Zion” most interesting! Thanks for taking the time to research this material and then presenting it so well. You filled in my knowledge base with material I wouldn’t have even had enough information to ask questions about. I hope…
Lawsuit spurs endangered species reviews
Dozens of endangered species are finally getting their five-year checkups. But some property-rights proponents want even more done. In July, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began working through its backlog of five-year reviews for flora and fauna protected by the Endangered Species Act. The mandatory reviews assess the health of a species, and can…
The harder they spawn, the quicker they die
After three years of stocking efforts — and an unusually wet start to 2005 — silvery minnows had a good run this spring in the Middle Rio Grande. Now, as the river recedes, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that more of the endangered fish can legally be allowed to die. Biologists found millions…
The restoration will not be televised
In nature, there is neither right or wrong — only consequences. The truth of that is demonstrated in After the Fires: The Ecology of Change in Yellowstone National Park. The wildfires that swept Yellowstone in 1988 were the first prime-time forest fires, according to the book. Television viewers stared aghast at the raging flames and…
The Latest Bounce
The tide may be turning in California’s fight to keep drill rigs away from its shores (HCN, 6/23/03: Will offshore be off-limits?). On Aug. 11, the nine members of the California Coastal Commission unanimously rejected the federal government’s attempts to renew 36 oil and gas leases off the Southern California coast. Two days later, a…
Out of the video arcade and into the woods
For the first time in history, the bond between children and nature has been broken, writes child advocate and journalist Richard Louv in Last Child in the Woods. The culprits are many: Kids prefer to play inside where the electrical outlets are, instead of outdoors where the wild birds sing. Computers, TV and video games…
Pollution for jobs: a fair trade?
Navajos consider benefits — and drawbacks — of a new power plant
The Snake River, unplugged
Salmon-killing dams may amount to ‘takings’ of tribal fishing rights
The ‘New Ranch’ poster child hangs on by a thread
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Rangeland Revival.” Jim Williams steps out of his small, brown, wooden ranch house, and glances out over the shrub-dotted grasslands he has called home for all of his 61 years. Despite the pelting early-spring snow, the land looks sparse. Short and scraggly clumps of…
Science: The chink in Quivira’s armor
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Rangeland Revival.” Over and over, Quivira Coalition leaders have said that sustainable ranching is possible. But that claim isn’t backed up by a great deal of independent research. High Country News investigated rangeland science in southern Colorado and New Mexico, digging through the scientific…
The meeting of heaven and earth
In the dog days of August, Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes were blasted from a custom-made cannon at the top of a 150-foot tower on his land near Woody Creek, Colo. A lot of people were on hand, including former Sen. George McGovern and actor Johnny Depp, when the “gonzo” writer’s cremated remains, encased with fireworks…
Heard around the West
UTAH A work of art newly emerged from the depths of the Great Salt Lake is making waves in the art world. Robert Smithson completed Spiral Jetty in 1970, but three years later it vanished under the rising lake. Smithson himself disappeared as well, dying in a plane crash. Now, the artist is being celebrated…
Rangeland Revival
The Quivira Coalition prophesies a new era of peace and prosperity on the West’s rangelands, but is the group bold enough to make that vision real?
Hope for the West’s open lands
Eighteen months ago, High Country News kicked off a series about the West’s ranchlands with a cover story titled “Who Will Take Over the Ranch?” That first story laid out in stark terms the rapid loss of the West’s wide-open spaces to the real estate economy that now so fervently grips the region. In the…
Dear friends
Change in the Air Last month, we bid farewell to Laura Paskus, who has been HCN’s assistant editor for three years. But this isn’t really goodbye: Laura has moved to Albuquerque, N.M., where she will work part-time as our Southwest editor. The move is part of an ongoing effort to put HCN on the ground…
The return of the hodgepodge
That wasn’t just a transportation bill that President Bush signed earlier this month in Illinois. No, the measure — which will spend $286.45 billion in six years on highways, rail and bus service, and bike and hiking trails — has a far more elaborate name. It’s the “Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act —…