You can unplug from the electrical grid, writes home-builder and author Michael Potts in The Independent Home: Living Well with Power from the Sun, Wind and Water. Potts’ exploration of both the philosophy and technology of energy independence makes an excellent primer for people wanting to design and build a house, or to minimize power […]
Books
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Guide for green loggers
The Forest Trust, a non-profit group in Santa Fe, says logging doesn’t have to flatten forests. In a new publication, the group describes the work of more than 30 groups that both provide jobs and conserve resources in rural communities. Forest-Based Rural Development Practitioners features mainly non-profit groups in California, New Mexico and eastern states, […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
A new Navajo newspaper
The Navajo Nation newspaper market already has three major papers competing for readers among the reservation’s 200,000 residents. But Deswood Tome, publisher of a new monthly newspaper, Dinéh Tribune, says there’s still room for one more. “We want to be a newspaper that provides more in-depth news. We want to be the news source for […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Renewable energy festival
Democracy will be celebrated, but energy independence is the main theme of the first annual Freedom Festival July 3 in Glenwood Springs, Colo. The event features an array of renewable and sustainable energy products. Reggae music, alternative health care and craft booths will also share Two Rivers Park on the shores of the Roaring Fork […]
Posted inJune 13, 1994: A doomed species?
Millions for furniture
Between 1990 and 1992, the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon spent $5.4 million intended for reforestation on staff salaries, new furniture and remodeling buildings, a federal audit reports. Eventually, this misallocation could cost taxpayers up to $200 million from lost timber harvests. The 21-page report also found that since 1990 the Oregon BLM has […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Learn the limits
The University of Colorado will host a three-day conference on “Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits?,” June 13-15. The get-together features Larry MacDonnell of the Natural Resources Law Center; Lois Schiffer from the Department of Justice; Mark Squillace, law professor at the University of Wyoming, and John Echeverria, attorney with the National […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Colorado Central
Those who can’t get enough of writer Ed Quillen in his Denver Post columns and occasional articles in High Country News (Ed most recently wrote about landfills in the March 7, 1994, HCN) can now subscribe to his Colorado Central, a monthly, very non-slick magazine. The paper’s beat is the central Rocky Mountain towns between […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
ADC must go
In the summer of 1992, Ruth Shea, an Idaho Fish and Game Department employee, was riding in the Caribou National Forest when she looked down and saw steel-jawed traps buried in the trail. Then she came upon the trapped and decayed bodies of two coyotes and a badger. “These traps appeared to have been set […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Wind in the West
New wind turbines that produce electricity almost as cheaply as new coal- or natural gas-fired plants have spurred four wind power projects in the West. San Francisco-based Kenetech, the nation’s largest developer of wind energy, proposes three projects featuring turbines that adjust to wind speeds while still creating energy at a uniform rate. Two of […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Our West
Perhaps the best way to understand the West is to live it. That’s the guiding philosophy behind the “Our West: Loving the Land” conference hosted by Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, June 19-25. Conference participants will live on a ranch and explore the Wind River Mountains with local environmentalists. There will also be […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Changing the law of the river
The Bureau of Rec-lamation has released a draft plan to change the way the Colorado River is managed within Nevada, Arizona and California (HCN, 2/21/94). “The lower Colorado River needs to meet the water needs of more people,” says commissioner Dan Beard. “In the past, we have managed the river primarily to serve agricultural and […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Sharing the land
The Jackson Hole Alliance for Responsible Planning and the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative will host a conference on preserving biological diversity surrounding Jackson Hole June 3-5. “Sharing the land: Preserving Jackson Whole,” at Snow King Resort, features field trips, lectures, roundtable discussions and workshops offered by writers and educators. Speakers include wildlife researchers Tim Clark […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
All eyes on cows
Every Bureau of Land Management district in the West will hold simultaneous public hearings June 8 on Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s Rangeland Reform “94 proposal. Most hearings will start with a workshop to explain the new grazing plan, then open for public testimony. The BLM wants to hear comments on two documents: proposed grazing regulations […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Endangered waters
The Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone is the most endangered river in North America, reports the environmental group American Rivers. The wild and scenic river, which runs through Montana and Wyoming, is threatened by a proposed gold mine two-and-a-half miles from Yellowstone National Park. The project includes a 90-foot dam designed to hold millions of […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Saving the remnants
Of the 17 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming, 16 million acres have been developed and a “paltry 240,000 acres recommended for wilderness,” says Liz Howell, staffer in the Sierra Club’s Northern Plains office. Because these wild lands are being lost to dirt biking, oil and gas development and mining, […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Techno-weenie resources
Grass-roots environmental activists and community organizers who have to deal with nuclear issues are often accused of compensating for lack of scientific knowledge with emotion. Now the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research has put a physicist at the disposal of groups that work in the shadows of the nuclear complex. Its president, […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
For rangeland reformers
The Western Legislative Conference is hosting a conference on “Rangeland Reform and Watershed Management in the West” June 24-25 in Denver. The event will profile collaborative efforts among federal and state government officials and ranchers and environmentalists to restore rangeland and watersheds in Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Washington and Arizona. Speakers include Mike Penfold, an Interior […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Is “natural regulation’ leading to unnatural results?
Karl Hess Jr., in Rocky Times in Rocky Mountain National Park – An Unnatural History, raises ethical questions about the future of Rocky Mountain National Park, “a unique, irreplaceable wonder, a shimmering blue strip of hope on the prairie horizon.” Combining eloquence and detailed research, Hess calls for drastic changes to ensure that good stewardship […]
Posted inMay 30, 1994: Can mining come clean?
Environmental group reaches out
The Colorado Environmental Coalition, a Denver-based non-profit group, recently opened a new office on the Continental Divide’s Western Slope. Norm Mullen, the group’s public-lands coordinator and manager of the new Grand Junction office, will work on wilderness, oil and gas development, wild and scenic rivers, and serve as a link between environmental groups on both […]
Posted inApril 18, 1994: The salmon win one
A leaking public lands fund
The Clinton administration recently proposed spending $254 million of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The amount – less than anything proposed by the Bush administration – shocked some environmentalists. They hoped Clinton would tap more of the $900 million that flows each year into the fund, primarily from offshore oil drilling royalties. Environmentalists calculate […]