“Rants from the Hill” are Michael Branch’s monthly musings on life in the high country of Nevada’s western Great Basin desert. 1919 was a pretty decent year, all in all. The Grand Canyon received protection as a national park, the 19th Amendment finally gave women the vote, the world witnessed the end of the war […]
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The clean blue line
California State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) remembers the day he picked up a local newspaper and read the shocking news: A 940-passenger cruise ship had chucked a 18-ton load of sewage, dirty water and oily bilge perilously near to the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary off the California coast. Simitian, then serving in the California […]
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Oil and gas water use: the real issues
When I read Tasha Eichenseher’s recent Land Letter article (sub reqd) about fracking’s use of water, I was alarmed by the numbers. In Colorado, alone, hydraulic fracturing operations use about 4.5 billion gallons of water per year. That’s expected to increase to more than 6 billion gallons over the next few years. The takeaway is […]
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Exploring the myths of the Yellowstone supervolcano
Editor’s note: These stories were produced for High Country News by students in the University of Montana’s online news class. They will be running over a period of two weeks in the Range blog. See a list of all the stories here. By Tor Haugan When bestselling alternative-history writer Harry Turtledove published a recent novel, […]
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“The Way Home: Returning to our National Parks”
The beauty and grandeur of our national parks may best be witnessed through the eyes of those visiting them for the first time. And in a new film by Amy Marquis, a vision of Yosemite is revealed to a group of people absent from the parks not just over their own lifetimes but for many […]
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Boy Scout habitat takes a hit in Idaho
The US Forest Service maintains habitat for endangered owls and salmon — so why is the agency retreating when it comes to habitat for Boy Scouts? Today, the Idaho Panhandle National Forest is reviewing its forest plan, including its plan for one of the most special places it manages — the Mallard-Larkin Area. Mallard-Larkin is […]
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Green Revolution 2.0? Using molecular markers to speed up Mendel
In agricultural technology circles, when talk turns to plant breeding as a way to boost crop yields, combat plant diseases, and adapt to a hotter, drier world, genetic modification has frequently dominated the conversation. This includes the Roundup-ready suite of crops, resistant to herbicides, or BT corn and soy, which are modified to manufacture their […]
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Good news for pine, bad news for spruce
For years now, towns in the Mountain West have watched as the green needles of their surrounding lodgepole pine forests turned a burnt orange. That orange signifies the tree’s death from pine bark beetle, a native pest whose populations have been boosted by climate change, resulting in the killing of enormous swaths of trees across […]
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Friday news roundup: reporter spies and Bryce Canyon coal mine
Annals of paranoia Vigilantes in Nevada cracked an alleged Los Angeles Times spy network last weekend, revealing the identity of an undercover ‘reporter,’ Ashley Powers. Disguised beneath her press pass issued by the Clark County GOP and madly scratching words in a suspicious yellow notepad, the proud, alert citizens of Nevada precinct #1721 properly “uncovered” […]
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Seal Stories from the Pribilof, middle of everywhere
Stiff winds blow over the treeless islands of St. Paul and St. George, over 300 miles from mainland Alaska. The Pribilof Islands, breeding grounds to the northern fur seal in the middle of the Bering Sea, seem unlikely actors in world events. “People come and say, ‘It’s in the middle of nowhere,’” says Aquilina Lestenkof, […]
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Air quality and energy development
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House It used to be that oil and gas development happened somewhere ‘out there’ in rural areas that most of us living in the highly-populated areas of the Rockies didn’t think much about. But now that tapping domestic fuel sources is being supported on all political levels, that development is encroaching on cities […]
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Martinez making her mark
updated 2/9/12 “New Mexico Governor Rushes to Undo the Agenda of Her Predecessor“ That headline ran in the New York Times last August, about eight months after Susana Martinez, a republican, took the helm from Bill Richardson, a democrat. Martinez had just sold the gubernatorial jet for a cool $2.5 million, and in one of […]
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The buzz on bees
Since 2005, the nation’s honeybees have been on a fast track to oblivion. Thousands of once-thriving, humming hives of pollinators have become empty husks, their inhabitants vanished. Scientists have been racing to pin down the culprits behind what’s known as Colony Collapse Disorder. So far, they’ve implicated a parasitic mite, an immune deficiency disorder, and […]
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Lessons From the Musselshell: The Flood
Editor’s note: This is the third blog in a series by contributor Wendy Beye, chronicling a restoration effort on Montana’s Musselshell River. Montana’s 2010-2011 winter was a skier’s delight. Snow began piling up early, and continued to fall in record amounts through March. In April, when the expectation at this latitude is that snow will […]
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Friday news round up: Romney in Nevada, Glacier thief in handcuffs
As we slip from January to February, allowing a few more New Year’s resolutions to fall by the wayside, we’re rallying our strength as spectators: both for the Superbowl this Sunday, and the drawn out GOP presidential drama. Amid the hustle, bustle and bluster of the week, a few headlines caught our eye. PUBLIC LANDSOn […]
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Arizona turns 100
Now that February has arrived, I’d like to wish everyone a happy and festive Arizona Centennial! But wait – you say you didn’t realize that Arizona became a state one hundred years ago, on February 14th, 1912? Well, I’m not surprised. What with the recession, most of the publicity and celebrations had to be scaled […]
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Beyond control
Let’s say you don’t want an oil and gas drill operating 250 feet away from your kitchen window. The 1000-megawatt lights keep your Yorkie in an extraordinary state of duress, and your kids won’t stay off the dang fence. What can you do? El Paso and Arapaho counties, on the Front Range of Colorado, have […]
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EPA grilled over Pavillion report
The opening act of yesterday’s hearing led by the House subcommittee on Energy and the Environment was uncommonly action-packed: Josh Fox, documentary filmmaker and director of “Gasland,” was lead from the room in handcuffs, on the grounds he did not have the right credentials. Earlier, a camera crew claiming to be from ABC news was […]
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Alaska wildlife woes raise red flags “outside”
Anyone who cares about wildlife should pay attention to a scandal unfolding in Alaska. Earlier this month, Alaska Fish & Game Division of Wildlife Conservation director Corey Rossi resigned under allegations that he systematically falsified bear hunting records and violated guiding regulations shortly before being appointed to the agency in 2008. If convicted, Rossi is […]
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Monopolies march on
Pity the antitrust regulator. As the Obama administration pacifies its way toward the 2012 elections, those bureaucrats charged with protecting small businessmen from monopolies are dropping like flies. Take J. Dudley Butler, the head of the soporific-sounding Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration. Butler, a lawyer who built a career fighting powerful, giant poultry companies […]