The Anchorage Daily News has been gamely reporting on the Great Alaska Senate Race Write-in Campaign Spelling Snafu with updates on challenges to poorly-penned appellations inscribed in the blank space on the state’s ballots, mostly in favor of write-in Senate candidate Lisa Murkowsi. Huffpo riffed on the many misspellings, and we thought we’d jump into […]
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Posted inRange
Another Tesoro Flare-Up
By Eric De Place Earlier this week we learned that Tesoro — an oil refiner with nasty politics and a rap sheet a mile long — will be facing a criminal investigation for the April explosion at its Anacortes, Washington facility that killed seven workers and earned it the largest L&I fine in state history for “willful disregard of safety […]
Posted inGoat
Canyoneering, four ways
Ever wondered what it’s like to don harness and wetsuit and delve into one of southern Utah’s deep, cold, water-filled slot canyons? A new documentary called Gorging, due out next summer from DFS Films, follows notorious guidebook author Michael Kelsey and three other canyoneers (a photographer, a guru, and a weekend warrior) into the twisting, […]
Posted inGoat
Pop quiz: What national conservation land is nearest you?
The National Landscape Conservation System — America’s youngest permanently protected collection of public lands — celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and grassroots organizers and BLM managers are meeting in Nevada to plan for the next 10 years in the “sportsman’s park service.” Before the upcoming meetings in Nevada, you might brush up on the […]
Posted inRange
HCN reader photo – fall colors
It’s almost winter — time for the obligatory shot of autumn leaves and impending clouds. Reader photo of Depuys Spring Creek in Livingston, Mont. from Flickr member Daryl Hunter. Add your photos to the HCN Flickr group!
Posted inRange
Wolverine: Chasing the phantom
Rebecca Watters researches wolverines (gulos) and other large carnivores for the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative. She recently lent her expertise and tracking skills to the new PBS documentary Wolverine, Chasing the Phantom. Here, she presents a review and overview of the film, which airs on PBS November 14, 2010. When PBS Nature called Gianna Savoie […]
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When Shelton met Oprah
Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson was as surprised as anyone. “I was more than surprised,” he said in a recent phone conversation. “I was shocked. When the EMTs resuscitated me I was pretty much flat-lined.” Standing outside the south entrance to Yosemite National Park, Johnson thought he was awaiting the arrival of six African-American […]
Posted inRange
The water footprint scam
Editor’s note: David Zetland, a Western water economist, offers an insider’s perspective into water politics and economics. We will be cross-posting occasional posts and content from his blog, Aguanomics, here on the Range. Scam may be a harsh word, since well-meaning people seem to want to improve water management, but I wonder if they aren’t […]
Posted inRange
Counting Fish
Bruce Barcott’s essay last week in the online magazine Yale e360 reveals an interesting environmental paradox, one in which Pacific salmon might be both endangered and, simultaneously, too populous. As Barcott writes, “How can numerous Pacific salmon runs be on the verge of extinction while total salmon numbers are straining the limits of the ocean’s […]
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A just transition to a clean energy future off coal can happen
In my first opportunity to join the blogosphere of High Country News, I wish to extend a big thanks to all those who have come before and are currently working towards achieving environmental justice (EJ) in the west. Many EJ struggles are a real challenge, rooted in a complex history with timelines and landscapes that cross vast […]
Posted inGoat
Sharing the (reduced) bounty
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hasn’t made a secret of its preference for catch shares as a management tool for the nation’s fisheries. And Friday, the agency, which is headed by marine biologist and fishing quota proponent Jane Lubchenco, released a formal policy that pushes catch shares as the primary management tool for America’s […]
Posted inRange
A bear’s gotta eat
For the six months or so of the year that grizzly bears are active, they have one thing on their mind: food. And they need lots of it. To survive the long winter months of hibernation, a four- to six-hundred-pound adult grizzly bear must be constantly eating whenever it has the chance, a process known […]
Posted inRange
What does this week mean for Northwest climate policy?
By Eric DePlace It’s conventional wisdom that the heavier GOP configuration in Congress spells bad news for climate policy in the Pacific Northwest. There’s some truth in that, but there’s a more positive story for advocates to tell too. Here’s how I see the events of this week through the lens of climate policy. The […]
Posted inRange
Beyond Boardman
By Jennifer Langston Oregon has been having a robust debate over the appropriate date for closing the state’s lone coal power plant. The Boardman plant could theoretically operate until 2040, but its owners have proposed an earlier closure to avoid investing in expensive pollution controls. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether the plant […]
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The morning after
The Tea Party didn’t take the West Tuesday night. Power did shift to the right, as it did nationwide, but not dramatically. In New Mexico, Republican Steve Pearce took his House seat back from Harry Teague, but the state’s other two Democratic congressional incumbents held on. The GOP gained two seats in the House in […]
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Where should green planning efforts come from?
Hundreds of urban planners, architects, developers, environmentalists, entrepreneurs and policymakers danced around this question last week as they convened on Portland for the second annual Ecodistricts Summit. Hosted by the Portland Sustainability Institute (PoSI), the event complements a maturing experiment to make five of the Oregon metropolis’s neighborhoods into “Ecodistricts,” neighborhoods designed to be more […]
Posted inRange
California state parks funding measure fails
Dominated by the Sierra Club, California’s “Environmental Establishment” operates politically largely as a subsidiary of the Democratic Party. This fact plays heavily in what sorts of environmental initiatives this establishment chooses to put on the California ballot. This year, the state’s environmental establishment put Proposition 21 on the ballot. It proposed a surcharge on vehicle […]
Posted inRange
We, the American people, are united by our divisions
All election night the message was about how the people have spoken with a clear voice and returned Republicans to power. In Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul called it the “Tea Party tidal wave.” Or the soon-to-be Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said “it’s clear tonight who the real winners are, that’s the American […]
Posted inGoat
Oh deer
For the last 10 years, Western Ecosystems Technology, Inc. — an environmental and statistical consulting group — has been studying the mule deer that winter on the Pinedale Anticline. Over the first four years of the study, But the latest data, just released in a new report [pdf], makes those increases look like a temporary […]
Posted inRange
River course restored after recovery diversion
The Arkansas River is back on course after a diversion last week to recover the body of Kimberly Appelson, a 23-year-old Breckenridge woman who fell out of a raft on July 11 and had been missing ever since. It happened two miles north of Buena Vista at a spot known as Frog Rock Rapids. Beneath […]