Editor’s note: David Zetland, a water economist who recently finished a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley 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. RM sent me the “Review budget for Bay Delta Conservation Plan […]
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The Public Trust makes a comeback in California
When the Mono Lake Decision was issued by the California Supreme Court in 1983, environmental spokespersons claimed that it would revolutionize the way water is managed in California. Citing both the ancient Public Trust Doctrine (which dates to Roman Times) and a modern California Fish & Game Code, the state’s highest court stated unequivocally that […]
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At what price aesthetics?
Last weekend I sat outside Los Angeles’ Union Station, the last of the great train stations,waiting as two of my closest friends prepared to marry one another in the station’s sunlit courtyard. They finally arrived, along with their chuppah, by way of the Red Line subway and the station’s main passenger hall. As they joined […]
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A new twist in an old contention
For more than a century — the first court case was filed in 1901 — Kansas and Colorado have fought over the Arkansas River, with Kansas claiming that Colorado keeps too much of its water. Now there’s a new twist in the long dispute. (The two states can’t even agree on how to pronounce the […]
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Mystery Salmon
Pull up to any fish buying station in the Salish Sea and you will likely spy many stupid grins. The reason, as Mary Ellen Walling crowed last week, is that “The Sockeye are back!” The news is as good as it gets in this long suffering fishery. In the last few decades sockeye runs have […]
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Adopt-a-gelding?
I’ve been thinking about horses lately. Actually, I think about horses a lot, often when I should be thinking about something else, like work. Usually my thoughts involve my eccentric gelding, Rex, and other horses that I know. However, some recent coverage of the wild horse roundups in Nevada and California has reminded me of […]
Posted inGoat
Out of breath
A dry cough rattles the throat of 63-year-old John Mionczynski, who is sun-tanned, fit and active and should be one of the healthiest people in Wyoming. He’s spent his life goat packing through the Wind River Mountains and living off wild plants in the Red Desert. An ethnobotanist and wildlife biologist, he calls high, dry […]
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Remembering Labor on Labor Day
Labor Day comes on Monday. It inspires thoughts of picnics and mountain outings, but it also brings to mind a conversation I had years ago with my state representative — the rare Republican who carried a union card. Several mines had closed. Our area had lost a lot of well-paid steady jobs with excellent benefits. […]
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Deconstructing Lisa
It’s official: The Tea Party toppled Lisa Murkowski. On Tuesday, the Alaska incumbent conceded the state’s Republican U.S. Senate primary to staunch anti-government challenger Joe Miller, the state’s newest overnight political sensation. (Take note, Harry Reid.) Murkowski was the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Her loss will shake-up that important […]
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What will the Indian health system look like?
What will the Indian health system look like a decade from now? That’s an impossible question to answer. There is the potential of a court ruling striking down at least part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. And, there is always the possibility of Congress will rewrite the law (I view this as […]
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Land trade angers locals
A land swap between the feds and the most generous campaign contributor to a Colorado congressman is stirring up controversy on the state’s Western Slope. If the plan goes through, the National Park Service will gain two valuable inholdings, and, proponents say, the traded federal land will be even better protected than it is now […]
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Enchanted with carbon caps
New Mexico is known for its stunning desert and mountain landscapes, vibrant mix of cultures and unique history. But this month the state is perched on the brink of becoming a leader in climate change regulation and plays a major role in moving the nation to a greener, stronger economy. The New Mexico Environmental Improvement […]
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The ethics of wildcrafting
Thoreau once said, “The woods and fields are a table always spread.” Apparently the National Park Service agrees. In blatant noncompliance (or perhaps misinterpretation) of its own leave no trace policy, national park managers have been allowing Native Americans to harvest wild plants and roots from parks, according to a letter from the Public Employees […]
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On the radio
Laura Paskus was recently interviewed about her story “The life and death of Desert Rock” on KVNF, Paonia’s community radio station, by former HCN intern Ariana Brocious. Take a listen below, or check out an interview Laura did with KUNM in Albuquerque. Listen here!
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The role of higher education
Recently, the New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote “We should be able to….establish a set of concrete understandings about what government should and shouldn’t do. We should be able to have a grounded conversation based on principles 95 percent of Americans support.” Instead, as former congressman (and now Chairman of the National Endowment on […]
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Cows, coyotes and a revelation
Reporting on the West’s public lands and environment can be a gloomy task. The news from four decades of High Country News – battles over massive strip mines, ancient forests decimated by greedy timber companies, the sorry state of public grazing land, gas wells popping up like a pox and recreation enthusiasts trampling the land […]
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The Goliath of beets
By Michelle Venetucci Harvey As of a recent court hearing, a multinational biotech company feels threatened, thousands of farmers in the Pacific Northwest see impeding doom, and half of the US sugar industry is potentially depleted. What could be causing all this ruckus? The sugar beet. This month’s ruling by US District Judge Jeffrey White […]
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A renter’s market?
For the first time in decades it’s cool to be a renter. So why is it so hard to rent a home and still be “green”? This week, as news outlets across the board reported a steep decline in home sales and prices in July, especially in the West, some reported increased preferences for renting, […]
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The Amargosa
The chef at Las Vegas’ Luxor hotel has a special recipe for dates: pit them, stuff the sweet, succulent fruit with cheese, and wrap them in bacon. It’s a recipe that takes skill, planning, and a certain panache. But what’s unique about this hors d’oeuvre isn’t just its sweet and savory flavor, but the fact […]
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Idaho’s Republican dairy farmers embrace socialism
This is a good counterpoint to the rightwing Tea Party accusations that Obama and Congressional Democrats are “socialists” because they increase the government’s role in health care and economic stimulus and so on. Dairy farmers in Idaho — and around the country — want new federal subsidies that would guarantee they make a certain profit […]