Messages from Frank’s Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way, by Charles Wilkinson. Illustrated with maps by Diane Sylvain and black-and-white photographs. University of Washington Press, 2000. Hardcover: $22.50. 128 pages. The dust has long settled from the Northwest’s fishing wars of the late 1960s and ’70s – wars which set Indian […]
Books
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Mapping a vision
Although local environmental groups often know their immediate surroundings in detail, there’s a bigger picture available. The State of the Southern Rockies Ecosystem, a report released by the Nederland, Colo.-based Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project, inventories much of three states – Colorado, northern New Mexico and southern Wyoming – that compose an ecoregion, an area with […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Birds break boundaries
The Colorado state office of The Nature Conservancy has worked for years to preserve chunks of the state’s shortgrass prairie, breeding grounds for birds such as mountain plovers, burrowing owls and long-billed curlews. But staffers always knew their efforts in Colorado could provide only part-time protection, since most of these species travel south during the […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Pilot finds a soft spot for a hard land
Under the Sun: A Sonoran Desert Odyssey, by Adriel Heisey. Treasure Chest Books, P.O. Box 5250, Tucson, AZ 85703 (520/623-9558). Hardcover: $40. 114 pages. Flying his ultralight airplane high above the Sonoran Desert, Adriel Heisey found an appreciation for an alien landscape. A former commercial pilot, Heisey moved to Tucson on a whim, and at […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
‘biles get the boot
A final winter use plan for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks takes a hard line on snowmobiles. If approved, the plan will allow van-like snowcoaches on park roads, but will ban snowmobiles completely by the winter of 2003-2004. It’s a marked change from the draft plan, released last winter, that would have allowed snowmobiles […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Where cultures collide
Travelers on Route I-84 may speed past Ontario, Ore., with nary a glance. But the decision not to stop at this agricultural center is their loss, because the town houses one of the best historical and cultural centers in the West. The Four Rivers Cultural Center celebrates the confluence of cultures in the Western Treasure […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Click for conservation
Maybe there is still no such thing as a free lunch, but a new Web site called EcologyFund.com lets users conserve land at no cost. Each time a visitor to the site clicks on a corporate sponsor’s advertisement, the sponsor donates half a cent to one of six land-trust projects. The pennies add up: In […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
A tricky tale of the past and the future
Salt Dreams, text by William deBuys and photographs by Joan Myers, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1999. Hardcover: $35. 307 pages. There is only one Western story. It is the story of a mad rush to “settle” and exploit. This single story consisted always of the destruction and displacement of native people, followed by […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
A call to heed the wild
Environmentalists have long depended on photos of endangered landscapes to spur us into protecting wild places. The photographers hope that if they show us the wonder of these places, we will fight like mad to save them. Tupper Ansel Blake and Madeleine Graham Blake, the photographers of Balancing Water: Restoring the Klamath Basin, want their […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Yellowstone’s bison get a time limit
Yellowstone National Park’s long-awaited plan for managing its wandering bison herds hasn’t made everyone happy. The park’s final environmental impact statement, released in early September, tries to satisfy both bison advocates and the Montana Department of Livestock, which kills bison it fears could spread brucellosis to cattle. The park’s preferred alternative would allow a bigger […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
From cumbersome to collaborative
The National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the federal government to assess the environmental impacts of its actions, has become synonymous with contentious public hearings and cumbersome environmental impact statements. But it shouldn’t be, argues Daniel Kemmis, director of the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Missoula, Mont. “(NEPA) represents a national recognition […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Society for Ecological Restoration
The Society for Ecological Restoration’s Northwest Chapter is calling for paper abstracts before Sept. 29 for its spring conference, “Restoration and Recovery: Beyond Good Intentions.” Go to www.halcyon.com/sernw for more information about the conference, scheduled for April 2-6 in Bellevue, Wash. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Society […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Taos Art Association
The Taos Art Association is raffling off 40 acres of piûon and juniper-studded meadows. Tickets cost $50, and the winner of the Jan. 1, 2001, drawing will have the choice of either the land, located in Lindrith, N.M., or $10,000. The event raises money to reopen the association’s community auditorium. Call 505/758-2052 or visit www.taosnet.com/taa/raffle. […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Indian Land Consolidation Symposium
Reclaiming tribal lands is the topic of the 10th annual Indian Land Consolidation Symposium, Oct. 16-20 in Pendleton, Ore. The symposium, hosted by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, offers workshops, including “Public Lands: Impacting Changes and Transfers,” and “Land Use Planning.” Call the Indian Land Working Group at 541/276-3873. This article appeared in the […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Earth First!
Oregon-based Earth First! celebrates 20 years of the Earth First! Journal with a commemorative issue in late October. The special issue will highlight eco-radicals and their doings. Contact the EF! Journal at P.O. Box 1415, Eugene, OR 97440 (541/344-8004) or at www.earthfirstjournal.org. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Salmon Corps
In the Northwest, where thousands of people have rallied to save salmon, the salmon are helping young, at-risk Native Americans. The Salmon Corps – a partnership of five tribes, the federal Americorps, the city of Portland, government agencies and several corporations – trains Native Americans, aged 18 to 25, in stream restoration work, while they […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
A whir of wings
Just before sunlight hits New Mexico’s Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in November, visitors can hear the squawking of ducks, geese and cranes. In a roar of wings, thousands of these birds take flight at dawn – an event most viewers consider a highlight of the annual Festival of the Cranes. “Then, during the […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
ORVs named one of top threats
Off-road vehicle use is one of the most serious threats to wild places, according to a Wilderness Society report outlining the 15 most endangered wild lands in the United States. Jerry Greenberg of The Wilderness Society says that although mining and oil drilling industries can’t be ignored, soil erosion and pollution from ORVs are fast-growing […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Farm Bureau not for farmers
Washington, D.C.-based Defenders of Wildlife wants to expose the American Farm Bureau Federation. In its 98-page report, Amber Waves of Gain: How the Farm Bureau is reaping profits at the expense of America’s family farmers, taxpayers and the environment, Defenders accuses the Farm Bureau of bowing to conglomerates, carrying an anti-wildlife agenda and aligning itself […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Finding fresh flora
A month ago, Scott Sundberg added another plant to his growing list of Oregon flora – kudzu, an exotic vine usually found in the South. With this discovery, the Oregon Flora Project tallies 4,430 species, subspecies and varieties of plants identified in the state. The project was started by Sundberg, a professor at Oregon State […]