I say the writers of the Southwest, we are like horses that have gone out on the llano and eaten locoweed, and madness is what is unique to us. –Rudolfo Anaya It’s one thing to read the printed words of your favorite author; it’s quite another to actually hear his or her voice. Almost 10 […]
Books
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Calendar
Colorado Preservation, Inc., is holding its annual conference, Saving Places 2004: The Business of Preservation, Feb. 5-7 in Denver. The event will include workshops, educational sessions and a trade show. www.coloradopreservation.org/SP04program.pdf 303-893-4260 The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science will be in Seattle, Feb. 12-16. Seminars include those sponsored by […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2004: Two decades of hard work, plowed under
Warm-water native fish are left out in the cold
Little is being done to pull the Southwest’s native fish back from the brink of extinction, according to an independent team of biologists. The study of a dozen warm-water fish in Arizona’s Gila River Basin found that half the species no longer exist in wild populations, while five species occupy less than one-fifth of their […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Whose thousand words?
Print the Legend: Photography and the American West, is not another coffee-table gallery of black-and-white mountain vistas or solemn American Indian portraits. Rather, Martha Sandweiss’ book looks at how the new art of photography shaped the nation’s view of the West in the 19th century. Photos are not the accurate historical records they appear to […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Calendar
The annual Colorado Agricultural Forum for 2004, “Profits Outside the Box: Agri-Energy and Beyond,” will be held in Denver on Feb. 19. Speakers and breakout groups will discuss how Colorado agriculture can harness renewable energy and other innovations to stay profitable. www.coloradoagforum.com 303-477-0076 ext. 210 Where will you be when the sun rises? If it’s […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
More than just a city on a river
In New Mexico, history is never an abstraction. Whether you are seeking shelter in a thick-walled adobe home, listening to the lilt of a native New Mexican’s words, tracing the path of acequias or tasting posole, you can sense history there. And there are few writers better able to tell that history than Marc Simmons. […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
Log onto Democracy!
Want to keep a closer eye on your state and federal lawmakers? Looking to find out more information about a bill before Congress? Eager to browse the hot topics debated in your state legislature? Look no further than www.statedemocracy.com. Run by the nonprofit State Democracy Foundation, the Web site allows users to compare how different […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Calendar
The Algodones Dunes Photographic Tour is kicking off in early December in Twentynine Palms, Calif. The exhibit of photographs by Andrew Harvey — a benefit for the Center for Biological Diversity — will visit Los Angeles, Yuma, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Tucson. www.biologicaldiversity.org 520-623-5252 ext. 306 The Quivira Coalition’s third annual conference is […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Gas wells wash out habitat
The sheer volume of water that coalbed methane wells pour into streams could wipe out up to 30 aquatic species in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana. James Gore, an environmental scientist, presented these dire projections in November at the International Petroleum Environmental Conference in Houston, Texas. Each of the basin’s 15,000 wells […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
American Speedster
With its distinctive markings, an American pronghorn on the prairie range is about as inconspicuous as pepper in salt. But then again, when you can sprint at 60 miles per hour and sustain speeds of around 45 mph for mile after mile, stealth and camouflage aren’t that important. In Built for Speed, John Byers — […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Getting high in class
Taking off from the tiny airport in Glenwood Springs, Colo., with four high school students buckled into his Cessna’s back seats, Bruce Gordon interprets the panorama below: A plaid pattern of golf courses and cul-de-sacs abuts roadless mountains. From the vantage of 2,000 feet, Gordon hopes the students will see the contrast between the developed […]
Posted inNovember 24, 2003: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut
The BLM is blowing in the wind
It’s no secret that the Bush administration is pushing for increased oil and gas development across the West. But one often-overlooked recommendation of Bush’s National Energy Policy calls for greater reliance on sources of renewable energy, such as the sun and wind. In response, the Bureau of Land Management is studying the prospects for developing […]
Posted inNovember 24, 2003: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut
Calendar
The Idaho Conservation League will showcase eight professional photographers’ work in Images of Wild Idaho, Dec. 4 in Boise. The show is part of ICL’s effort to win wilderness protection for the Boulder-White Cloud and Pioneer Mountains and the Owyhee Canyonlands. www.wildidaho.org 208-345-6933 On Jan. 9 and 10, the second annual Wild and Scenic Environmental […]
Posted inNovember 24, 2003: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut
Road ripping
The 43,000 mile-long U.S. Interstate Highway System “has been called the largest public works program in the history of the world dwarfing … Egypt’s pyramids and the Great Wall of China,” writes David Havlick in No Place Distant: Roads and Motorized Recreation on American’s Public Lands. Roads across our national forests, parks, wildlife refuges and […]
Posted inNovember 24, 2003: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut
Six Modern Plagues and How We Are Causing Them
In recent years, we’ve watched droughts parch the West, heat waves claim lives, and tempests encroach on the nation’s capital. With the advent of plagues like West Nile and SARS, soothsayers have enough fodder to last until the apocalypse. But in Six Modern Plagues and How We are Causing Them, author Mark Jerome Walters takes […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2003: San Diego's Habitat Triage
Mucking around San Francisco Bay
Judging by its scenic photos of bridges, ships and seals, San Francisco Bay: Portrait of an Estuary is the kind of book a Bayside resident might keep on her coffee table as a reminder of why her ludicrous rent is worth it. But the book is more than a Bayside lovefest: It’s also a reckoning […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2003: San Diego's Habitat Triage
Calendar
The Great Old Broads for Wilderness just printed a new booklet for public lands lovers. “Dung to Dust: How cattle have grazed our public lands to death” includes tales from seven writers who have “camped in cow poop.” www.greatoldbroads.org 970-385-9577 The University of Colorado Natural Resources Law Center and the Colorado School of Mines are […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2003: San Diego's Habitat Triage
Bee kind, please redesign
If you dread mowing the lawn, maybe you should just give it up altogether next year. Native pollinator insects — bees, butterflies and others — are declining across the nation because of land-management practices that range from vast single-crop farm fields to manicured urban lawns. This is very bad news, because despite their tiny size, […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2003: San Diego's Habitat Triage
Agriculture’s wild side
It’s no coincidence that farming and ranching are at least partly responsible for a huge number of federal endangered species listings. When the goal of agriculture is to create monocultures of corn, soy, wheat, hogs or cattle, biodiversity loses. But that doesn’t mean modern agriculture has to be incompatible with healthy ecosystems. In his new […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2003: The Gear Biz
Snowmaking and drought: a bad combination
Researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder say that extended drought, coupled with mining pollution, could make for rocky winters at Colorado ski resorts. A recently released study published in the American Geophysical Union’s EOS Journal examines the Snake River Watershed in Summit County, Colo., where hotter weather threatens snow conditions at popular ski resorts […]