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 […]
Books
Posted inDecember 25, 1995: Utah hearings misfire
For media mavens
The first-ever Media and Democracy Congress invites journalists to San Francisco for four days to hear 52 speakers, including Backlash author Susan Faludi, National Public Radio’s Ray Suarez and Victor Navasky of the Nation magazine. Up for discussion: “Publishing activism: How to transform readers and consumers into citizen activists,” “Commercialism: The quest for truth in […]
Posted inDecember 25, 1995: Utah hearings misfire
Do-it-yourself preservation
With just a handful of federal agents patrolling millions of square miles of the West, it’s not surprising that looting and vandalism of Indian artifacts are rampant. But with budget cuts portending even less money for enforcement, where will help on the ground come from? One answer is from volunteers, people who give their time […]
Posted inDecember 25, 1995: Utah hearings misfire
DOE’s little list
Environmental journalists interested in knowing how they measure up have a new yardstick: a rating by the Department of Energy. In a report made public in early November, the DOE ranked reporters by how they treated the agency – a 100 score being most favorable. “As far as I’m concerned, if you have too good […]
Posted inDecember 25, 1995: Utah hearings misfire
Agency chooses death
Killing is the method most frequently used by the federal government to control livestock predators such as coyotes, lions and bears, according to a recent report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Although guidelines for Animal Damage Control staff require them to consider non-lethal methods of control first, federal investigators found […]
Posted inDecember 25, 1995: Utah hearings misfire
Bird Brains
-If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.” * Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, c. 1880s Like coyotes, some members of the crow family have long been considered vermin. Scruffy crows steal crops; ravens rip into garbage; magpies and jays steal eggs and nestlings from “innocent” […]
Posted inDecember 25, 1995: Utah hearings misfire
Short takes
Coeur d’Alene Resort will serve as the backdrop for “Dynamics of Northern Idaho Forests: A Symposium on Plants, Animals and People,” Feb. 2-3. Sponsors include the Sierra Club, the Intermountain Forest Industries Association and the Bureau of Land Management. Write North Idaho Forest Symposium, P.O. Box 564, Potlatch, ID 83855 (208/875-1528). Chip away at today’s […]
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
More and more friends
Following the lead of other states that face a fast-growing population and diminishing open space, New Mexico residents recently established 1000 Friends of New Mexico. The organization hopes to “encourage responsible land-use planning and find innovative alternatives to the expansion of suburban sprawl,” says Ken Balizer, a planner who is the group’s founder and president. […]
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
Fire on the mountain
Synthetic rubber, sulfa drugs, nuclear power – those are a few of the better-known medical and technological byproducts of war. Less known is that World War II also spawned the snowmobile, the snowcat and the modern ski industry. Those are some of the stories told in Fire on the Mountain, a film that documents the […]
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
Green fellows
Environmental journalists with at least three years’ experience are invited to apply for a fellowship year at Harvard University. The two selected Nieman fellows – one U.S. and one international – will take undergraduate and graduate classes. They will also meet with distinguished figures from journalism, business, education, the arts and public service. The fellowships […]
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
Southwestern writers hit the airwaves
-Every writer has one thing they want, need to work out desperately in their writing … I seem to be dealing with transformation, a way to make sense of, to rectify, a terrible, beautiful history.” * Joy Harjo Joy Harjo, a Creek poet, screenwriter, and saxophonist, is one of 13 Southwestern authors featured in Writing […]
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
Western Images
The University of Southern Colorado is now accepting papers for a March 21-23 conference in Colorado Springs, Colo., The Image of the American West in Literature, the Media, and Society. Topics may include anything from rodeos to tourism, immigration to heroism. One-page abstracts are due Jan. 5. For more information, contact Professor Steven Kaplan, 719/549-2764, […]
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
The plumber’s guide to the Colorado Basin
When John Wesley Powell rafted down the Colorado River, he was probably not thinking of plumbing. But that’s the metaphor the Dinosaur Nature Association brings to life in a poster of the dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts that have transformed the rivers of the Colorado Basin. Based on Lester Doré’s illustration from HCN’s book, Western Water […]
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
How rivers really run
Ever wonder how rivers shape mountains? How to classify stream erosion? Wildland Hydrology Consultants, a firm based in Pagosa Springs, Colo., offers courses from spring through fall in Applied Fluvial Geomorphology, Stream Classification and Applications and River Assessment and Monitoring. The five-day courses for hydrologists, fisheries biologists, and other riparian ecosystem specialists cover urban, agricultural […]
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
Revving up rural schools
Without the drama of guns and gangs, the popular media usually leave rural education in a time warp of little red schoolhouses and outdated textbooks. But rural schools, which house one-quarter of the nation’s students and teachers, turned decades ago to interdisciplinary studies, multi-grade classrooms and community- based learning – all “innovations’ being introduced in […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Defending the desert
Defending the desert In the minds of far too many people, says former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, the Southwest’s public lands are a wasteland. “Indestructible because there is nothing to destroy; unworthy of protection.” Now, a new handbook by the Environmental Defense Fund provides activists and educators with the tools to tackle this myth. Defending […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Untangling Washington
UNTANGLING WASHINGTON When the 1994 Congress cut funding for its research groups, the Environmental and Energy Study Conference didn’t die, it reorganized as the for-profit Congressional Green Sheets. As a part of Congress, the conference had provided information about House and Senate actions on environmental issues. With the same staff and its new name, Green […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Helping hand isn’t
Helping hand isn’t The best way to help wildlife live through a bitter winter is to leave them alone, says the Montana-based Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Free food can accustom deer and elk to human hand-outs and erode instincts that protect the animals, says the group. If the ration suddenly disappears, the animals may descend […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
The Snake runs through it
THE SNAKE RUNS THROUGH IT Lewiston and Idaho Falls stand like bookends at either end of the Snake River’s path through Idaho. Those two ends will converge Nov. 28-29 in Boise, Idaho, at Snake: the River Between Us, a conference about the future of Idaho’s largest river. The meeting grows out of a series of […]
Posted inNovember 13, 1995: Seeing the forest and the trees
Yearning for balance
YEARNING FOR BALANCE Americans find simplicity complicated. According to a recent survey conducted for the Merck Family Fund, a foundation that promotes environmental sustainability, the majority of people questioned said they want to simplify their lives, spend more time with loved ones and consume less. But they have found it’s easier said than done. Although […]