Western literature, politics and ecology will merge at the Seventh North American Interdisciplinary Wilderness Conference. The event is sponsored by the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities at the University of Nevada, Reno, and will take place at the Nugget in Reno. The Feb. 29-March 2 workshop features T.H. Watkins, editor of Wilderness magazine, and […]
Books
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
13th National Trails Symposium
Trails ranging from urban bikeways to wilderness hiking paths will be discussed at the 13th National Trails Symposium, March 9-12, in Washington, D.C. American Trails, public-lands agencies and the Federal Highway Administration are sponsoring the workshop, which also features special on-the-trail field trips in the D.C. area. Contact American Trails, Box 200787, Denver, CO 80220 […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Small town design
SMALL TOWN DESIGN Conservation and development can go head-to-head in rural America. A new publication describes a two-year project in which landscape architects worked with rural communities to combine the two. The National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service sponsored the arrangement, which placed a landscape architect […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
Miners seek jackpot
MINERS SEEK JACKPOT Despite the depressed market for uranium, Green Mountain Mining Venture hopes to hit a jackpot in south central Wyoming. The companies spearheading the operation, U.S. Energy and Kennecott Energy, have asked the Bureau of Land Management for permission to construct, operate and reclaim the Jackpot uranium mine on public land. The mine […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
Earthtones
EARTHTONES Essayist Ann Ronald and photographer Stephen Trimble want to redeem Nevada from John Muir’s century-old slur that the state “seems one vast desert, all sage and sand, hopelessly irredeemable now and forever.” Earthtones: A Nevada Album takes readers beyond the Muir clichés, although the authors admit that the Great Basin is an acquired taste. […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
Keeping the wolf at bay
KEEPING THE WOLF AT BAY As U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists ship more gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, the agency is considering how it can get out of the wolf reintroduction business. An agency draft proposal says the wolf could be considered recovered throughout the West once 10 breeding pairs have […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
American Ground Zero
AMERICAN GROUND ZERO “My profession, which is in my soul, is to document things,” says photographer Carole Gallagher. For seven years, she worked on American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War, a book that documents the aftermath of nuclear testing in Utah and the West’s “culture of cancer” through photography and oral history. In an […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
How they beat takings
HOW THEY BEAT TAKINGS Thanks to A Clear View, a five-page publication of the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C., we have a better understanding of how a proposed takings law in Washington state was defeated. The toughest in the nation, the law would have forced taxpayers to pay property owners whenever any government regulation […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
Bees need our backing
Bees need our backing Scientists concerned about the decline of pollinators have found something that everyone can care about: food. “If we lost all honey bees in the U.S. without any wild pollinators taking over their chores, the resulting price increases for food in the U.S. would amount to $6 to $8 billion a year,” […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
Threatened and Endangered Species are our Mine Canaries
A flock of eagle lovers will gather Feb. 16-18 at the Klamath Basin Bald Eagle Conference in Klamath Falls, Ore., site of the largest concentration of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. Threatened and Endangered Species are our Mine Canaries includes a photography contest, footrace, field trips and workshops. Contact the Oregon Department of […]
Posted inFebruary 5, 1996: Lack of enchantment: Santa Fe's boom goes flat
Great Salt Lake Issues Symposium
A group called the Friends of Great Salt Lake has organized the Great Salt Lake Issues Symposium, an educational forum on the future of the lake’s ecosystem. Speakers from such groups as the National Audubon Society and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will discuss the lake from historical, political and biological perspectives. Registration for […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Fish for your wall
FISH FOR YOUR WALL A new Trout Unlimited poster tells a few good fish stories. The Apache trout and greenback cutthroat trout are both on the road to recovery since being listed as endangered species in 1973. But the poster, Threatened and Endangered Trout and Salmon of North America also shares less cheery tales of […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Let’s keep talking
LET’S KEEP TALKING The Navajo word for newspaper means “the paper that gossips,” according to a new booklet on the history of Native American journalism, Pictures of Our Nobler Selves. The author, Shoshone-Bannock journalist and Salt Lake Tribune editor Mark Trahant, says that to create an accurate portrait of Native communities, it’s crucial for Native […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
One forest, two studies
ONE FOREST, TWO STUDIES In the old West, arguments may have been settled by a gunfight on Main Street, but in the battle over Southwest forests there is a new kind of showdown – dueling studies. A recent Forest Service report claims that the number of larger trees in the region has decreased little over […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
States and tribes
States and tribes Now that many tribes are aggressively asserting their sovereignty on issues ranging from water rights to Indian gambling, cooperation between tribal and state governments has become crucial. That’s the conclusion of States and Tribes: Building New Traditions, a recent publication of the National Conference of State Legislators. The report outlines some major […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
The Northwest’s new economy
THE NORTHWEST’S NEW ECONOMY When the Pacific Northwest’s timber and aerospace industries started declining, some people predicted the region would become the next Appalachia. Instead, the region is thriving, says University of Montana economist Tom Power, whose conclusion is endorsed by 34 other Northwest economists. Growth in earnings, employment and population in Idaho, Montana, Oregon […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Survival of a trickster
SURVIVAL OF A TRICKSTER The coyote has never gotten much respect. For the past two centuries, ranchers, farmers and federal agents have ruthlessly gunned and poisoned the tawny predator. Yet unlike its larger cousin, the wolf, the coyote has thrived, and expanded its range into virtually every ecosystem in North America. How the legendary trickster […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Beyond the Rangeland Conflict: The Future of the West
Northeastern Nevada’s Elko County has been torn apart by conflict between ranchers and the Forest Service (HCN, 10/30/95). But there are efforts under way to create some common ground by weaving together environmental values and sustainable grazing practices. The Great Basin College in Elko wants to be part of that change. During the Cowboy Poetry […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Headwaters
Environmental activists convene Feb. 1-4 at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Ore., for the annual winter Headwaters conference. Registration is $60-$100, on a sliding scale, and academic credit is available. For more information, contact Chant Thomas, P.O. Box 729, Ashland, OR 97520 (541/899-1712). This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the […]
Posted inJanuary 22, 1996: At Hanford, the real estate is hot
Whirling Disease – Where Do We Go From Here?
Whirling disease experts from around the world will gather in Denver Feb. 6-8 to discuss solutions to what has become a problem worldwide. The Colorado Division of Wildlife and other state and national organizations are sponsoring the event, called Whirling Disease – Where Do We Go from Here? Registration costs $100. Contact Beverly Cline or […]