In Riverside County, Calif., the conflict between the Endangered Species Act’s critical habitat rule and the West’s booming, sprawling, growth-driven economy comes to a head.
Also in this issue: The seven states of the Colorado River Basin have come to a groundbreaking agreement that, among other things, will allow cities such as Las Vegas to lease water from out-of-state farms during times of drought.
Critical Habitat: The Inside Story
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “High Noon for Habitat.” 1973 — Congress passes the original Endangered Species Act. Section 7 says that federal agencies must ensure that any federal action “doesn’t cause destruction or modification of habitat” that is deemed critical for a listed species. 1975 — The Fish…
Roadless areas are for elitists
Recently, Pat Wray claimed that the National Rifle Association does little for hunters (HCN, 1/23/06: What’s the NRA’s beef with roadless areas?). He is wrong. The NRA works with federal, state and local legislatures and regulatory agencies to preserve and improve hunting rights and opportunities throughout the country. Wray acknowledged that the NRA is working…
The NRA has it wrong
The NRA has emptied its big guns on Pat Wray, and I find that hard to understand (HCN, 1/23/06: What’s the NRA’s beef with roadless areas?). Why would a huge, powerful national organization fear a man who thinks they should return to their roots, spending their time fighting on behalf of the Second Amendment? It…
Stalking the boojum in the Sonoran Desert
From afar, the Sonoran Desert is a stonewashed, monochromatic expanse. Look closer, and you’ll swear that fantasy writer Lewis Carroll did the landscaping. Two rainy seasons each year give the Sonoran Desert stunning biodiversity and some pretty quirky plant species — many so specialized to a particular place that budding naturalists are likely to need…
Just where is that home on the range?
It’s easy to write about coming to the West. Legendary figures, such as Jack Kerouac, Ed Abbey and even John Denver, still inspire young people to follow them to the land of Rocky Mountain highs and red rock deserts in search of enlightenment. What’s harder to do, however, is to write about leaving the West.…
The Latest Bounce
Taxpayers have been losing money on public-lands grazing, and now the feds have a solution: Charge ranchers even less. Although the Government Accountability Office says the federal grazing program loses $123 million annually, the Forest Service and the BLM plan to cut the fee that ranchers pay to pasture a cow and calf on public…
Under Ground: How Creatures of Mud and Dirt Shape Our World
Under Ground: How Creatures of Mud and Dirt Shape Our World Yvonne Baskin 237 pages, hardcover: $26.95 Island Press, 2005. Yvonne Baskin, a science writer, takes us on an intriguing tour of the planet’s soils and sediments. Did you know, for example, that because earthworms aren’t native to much of North America, fishermen should dump…
Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes and the Trial that Forged a Nation
Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes and the Trial that Forged a Nation Paul VanDevelder 324 pages, softcover: $19.95 University of Nebraska Press, 2005. “Coyote warriors” are the new generation of American Indian leaders who leave the reservation to train as attorneys, scientists or other professionals, then return home to help their tribes. Tribal governments,…
Downwinders say fallout study numbers don’t add up
Almost all of the 140 million Americans alive during the nuclear bomb tests of the 1950s were exposed, in some degree, to radioactive fallout. Thirty million have died or are expected to die of cancer. Yet only a tiny fraction of those cases — no more than 16,000 — can be attributed to nuclear fallout,…
BLM rolls back environmental review
The Bureau of Land Management is punching holes in the National Environmental Policy Act big enough to drive a 30-ton thumper truck through. In January, the BLM proposed adding 11 new categorical exclusions to the 73 already existing. The designation, used for projects routinely found to have no significant environmental impact, allows the agency to…
Southwestern farmers, lawmakers seek solutions to worker shortages
Thanks to increased border security, and competition from other industries offering better pay and working conditions, Southwestern farmers are facing a severe shortage of workers this winter. It’s so bad that some political leaders — including President George W. Bush — are beginning to talk beyond party lines and look at immigration reform. The Western…
Wilderness fashion police
I read with amusement John Nelson’s letter regarding wheelchairs in the wilderness, not because of the wheelchair issue, but because of his obvious disdain for fluorescent kayaks (HCN, 1/23/06: Wilderness with horses, not wheelchairs). What will it be next? Objections to the color of one’s tent or polar fleece vest? Public-land agencies such as the…
Editorial an exercise in hypocrisy
Congratulations on your editorial concerning Western land sales (HCN, 1/23/06: For sale: The West). You succeeded in insulting a sizeable group of hardworking people in your own community. I find it somewhat ironic that right next to an article blasting the announcement of new Realtors who have joined our local Paonia real estate firms is…
Larmer’s generalizations unfair
Paul Larmer’s blatant attack on Realtors in the most recent High Country News makes me wonder exactly what he was thinking when this dribble was deemed printworthy in a publication with such high journalistic standards (HCN, 1/23/06: For sale: The West). My “mug” is one of those that he would recognize in area publications “hawking”…
High Noon for Habitat
In Southern California, a host of imperiled wildlife lies in the path of America’s worst urban sprawl. The battle over the last patches of habitat is ringing through the halls of Washington, D.C.
The difficulties of cohabitation
Way back in 1973, when I was a pimply middle schooler living in a Chicago suburb, President Richard M. Nixon signed into law a bill that embodied America’s noblest conservation intentions. The Endangered Species Act set an amazingly ambitious goal: to conserve all of the imperiled plant and animal species in the country. The act’s…
The many problems of Richard Pombo
This must be the winter of Richard Pombo’s discontent, or it would be if they had winter in California. It isn’t just that his plan to privatize 15 national parks and other public lands went kerblooey, or that he found it prudent to give away several thousand dollars of embarrassing campaign contributions. It isn’t just…
Dear friends
NEW ARRIVALS The HCN family has grown by two in recent weeks. Laura Paskus, HCN’s Southwest editor, gave birth to a baby girl on Sunday, Jan. 29. Lillian Jane arrived at 11:38 p.m., weighing 6 pounds, 15 ounces, and measuring 19 1/4 inches long. Laura and her husband, Hollis Lawrence, report that Lillie is “ridiculously…
Colorado River states reach landmark agreement
In severe drought, farms could become cities’ life support systems
Tribe brings on the tourists
Hualapai Nation plans ambitious development at Grand Canyon
‘Ghost fleet’ in search of a final resting place
Ship recycler promises jobs, but coastal community decides costs outweigh benefits
Waiting for Rain
This year, I spent Christmas in Albuquerque lounging on my back porch, reading in a tank top and suffering a fool’s sunburn. Now, in late January, it’s sunny and in the mid-50s. And although two days ago, the local newspaper kept posting updates about a storm system heading into the state, here in the city,…
Heard around the West
COLORADO Whoever owns Bongo Billy’s Café in Salida, Colo., must just love kids. A sign by the cash register announces, “Unaccompanied children will be given an Espresso and a free puppy.” THE WEST So much for the mystique of the Old West. Mega-millionaires are putting their pricey ranches on the market, reports the Wall Street…
Dr. Sharon and the lion hunters
NAME Sharon Seneczko VOCATION Small-animal veterinarian AGE 45 HOME BASE Custer, South Dakota KNOWN FOR Educating the public about mountain lions. SHE SAYS “Nobody is looking at the value of wild animals until they’re gone. That’s why I’m stepping up to the plate now. We have to leave a place for wildlife.” Inside a veterinary…