NAME Brian Moore AGE 50 KNOWN FOR Conserving water by watering his garden with a homemade backyard shower and simple “gray water” plumbing. HE SAYS “We think of the countryside as (the place to live) off the grid, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. I’d like to demonstrate that it is possible […]
Arizona
Posted inOctober 31, 2005: The Public Lands' Big Cash Crop
For this English chef, home is the Colorado Plateau
On Sunday mornings, all summer long, you can find chef John Sharpe at the Flagstaff Community Market, moving among the outdoor produce stalls with the practiced intensity of a hardcore bargain hunter at an outlet mall. He tests the white peaches Rob Lautze has grown at Garland’s Orchard near Sedona: nice, but not enough of […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Follow-up
Southern Arizona’s San Pedro River, the Southwest’s last free-flowing desert river, dried up for the first time since the U.S. Geological Survey started tracking flows in 1904 (HCN, 8/30/04: A Thirst for Growth). Beginning on July 4, river flows fluctuated between zero and 0.3 cubic feet per second. But when the river dried on the […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Private landowners become lords of the public estate
In Arizona, a strange dispute illustrates a growing problem
Posted inApril 4, 2005: Calling It Quits
Developer under fire for destroying desert
A developer who was grading the desert for one of the largest developments in Arizona history now faces a lawsuit alleging major violations of state environmental laws. In February, the state attorney general’s office accused developer George Johnson and the five companies he owns of illegally destroying 40,203 native desert plants, bulldozing seven archaeological sites, […]
Posted inApril 4, 2005: Calling It Quits
Rock jocks fight a mining company
Land swap would undo a presidential order for land protection
Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
The life of an unsung Western water diplomat
Mark Twain once remarked that in the West, “whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.” But Delphus E. Carpenter, who spearheaded the 1922 Colorado River Compact among seven states, would have disagreed twice over. Carpenter not only abstained from spirits, but believed water problems could be resolved through diplomacy instead of fisticuffs. His life […]
Posted inJanuary 24, 2005: Written in the Rings
Capturing a Chediskai childhood
Eva Tulene Watt was born in 1913 on the Fort Apache Reservation, just north of the Salt River in southeastern Arizona. She’s traveled far during her long life, living and working in Spokane, Wash., Stillwell, Okla., and San Francisco, Calif., among other places. But her home has always been in and around the small reservation […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 2004: When a Boom is a Bust
The wages of sprawl
A new documentary, Making Sense of Place: Phoenix, the Urban Desert, uses the Arizona megalopolis to illustrate what happens when suburban sprawl goes unchecked. Historical and current footage shows how cheap land and even cheaper water have encouraged Phoenix to sprawl over more than 1,700 square miles of Sonoran desert. But the resulting generic suburbs, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 2004: When a Boom is a Bust
Dear friends
Potluck High Country News’ next thrice-yearly board meeting will take place in Portland, and we’d love to have you join us for a potluck party on Saturday, Sept. 25. It will take place at the First Unitarian Church, on the corner of 12th and Main, from 6-9 p.m. Beverages will be provided; please bring a […]
Posted inAugust 30, 2004: How Long Will it Flow?
Death of the San Pedro: Not if, but when
Note: this is a sidebar to a main story about the political struggles over protecting the San Pedro River. New evidence has surfaced that pumping in the Sierra Vista area may already be reducing groundwater flow to the San Pedro River. Water levels in seven monitoring wells on U.S. Army property have dropped by roughly […]
Posted inAugust 30, 2004: How Long Will it Flow?
Heard around the West
MONTANA Artist Phil Kunz recalls seeing a vending machine filled with tiny art a few years ago, and the vision stayed with him; now, he’s created one for the former mining town of Butte. Kunz first had to track down an out-of-date cigarette vending machine; then, he enticed fellow artists to help decorate it to […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Heard around the West
ARIZONA Wearing brightly patterned robes and spectacular strands of African beads, Masai warriors livened up the town of Douglas in southern Arizona when they arrived to talk shop with local ranchers. Members of Arizona’s innovative Malpai Borderlands Group had visited the African herdsmen in 2002, and found they had lots in common. Both the Masai […]
Posted inJune 7, 2004: Wal-Mart's Manifest Destiny
Arizona voters say ‘yes’ to open space
Unusual alliances — and a little bit of pork — give land preservation an economic boost
Posted inMay 10, 2004: Shooting Spree
Small steps for wilderness
Arizona activists shop for wilderness by congressional district
Posted inMarch 15, 2004: The New Water Czars
The New Water Czars
A historic water deal could give an impoverished Indian community a path back to its roots — and turn it into one of the West’s next big power brokers
Posted inMarch 15, 2004: The New Water Czars
President Bush should consider a “land grab” of his own
I flew into the sprawling city of Phoenix recently not expecting a nature experience or a political revelation. My colleague and I rented a car and, after an appointment in the city, fought through an hour of bumper-to-bumper afternoon traffic on our way north to Flagstaff. What a relief it was to finally see the […]
Posted inMarch 1, 2004: The Last Open Range
Arizona land swap dogged by questions
Yavapai Ranch Land Exchange called a bad deal for public, spur for sprawl
Posted inMarch 1, 2004: The Last Open Range
The New West collides with open-range laws
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “The Last Open Range.” Kent Knudson picked up a rifle and opened fire, defending his 40 acres in Arizona, and got handcuffed and hauled to jail. John Ward, driving a truckload of hay in Oregon one night, rounded a curve and smashed into 1,300 […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Phelps Dodge looks to revive mining in the Copper State
Would the mine be a boon to southern Arizona, or a taxpayer rip-off?