Activists, scientists and politicians will gather at Headwater’s ninth annual Western Forest Activists Conference in Ashland, Ore., Feb. 3-6. The focus of this year’s conference: restoring and preserving forests as a major campaign issue for the 2000 elections. Call Chant Thomas at 541/899-1712, or e-mail chant@headwaters.org. This article appeared in the print edition of the […]
Books
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
Sierra Nevada Aquatic and Riparian Science Workshop
The Forest Service hosts a Sierra Nevada Aquatic & Riparian Science Workshop at Fresno State University, Feb. 11-12. The agency wants the public to help develop a final environmental impact statement for Sierra Nevada forests. Contact the Sierra Nevada Framework Project at 801 I St., Room 419, Sacramento, CA 95814 (916/492-7554), or visit www.r5.fs.fed.us. This […]
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
Winter Fishtrap: Living and Writing on the Edge
Personal tales of adventure and experiences in exotic places can translate into fascinating stories. Three presenters and 50 participants will come together for Winter Fishtrap: Living and Writing on the Edge, Feb. 25-27, a weekend of discussion, readings and recreation in Wallowa Lake, Ore. Write Fishtrap Inc., P.O. Box 38, Enterprise, OR 97828, or call […]
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
Silverton Avalanche School
Learn everything you need to know about avalanches, snow safety and rescue at the Silverton Avalanche School in Silverton, Colo. Two levels of training are available, both with field sessions, over three weekends in January and February. Call the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office at 970/387-5531 (only between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through […]
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
Family Farm Alliance
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., will talk to the Family Farm Alliance, a group interested in preserving irrigated agriculture, at its annual conference in Las Vegas, Nev., Feb. 28 and 29. The forum also includes speakers from the Bureau of Reclamation, National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Resources Defense Council. Contact Jody Brennan at 714/516-1311 […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Treasure Valley’s housing not so golden
Despite a strong economy and low interest rates, the nearly 20,000 Latinos in southwest Idaho have a hard time finding affordable housing. According to Wayne Hoffman, a reporter at the Idaho Press-Tribune, Latinos in Treasure Valley are 2.5 times more likely to be denied conventional home mortgages and home improvement loans than whites. Hoffman’s report, […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Barely there
After decades of searching, federal biologists haven’t found a single grizzly bear in Montana and Idaho’s Bitterroot/Selway ecosystem. But the Missoula-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies and seven other local environmental organizations say there may be a remnant population – one that people have overlooked. The groups recently launched a “Great Grizzly Search.” It involves […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Free, four-hour tour of his ranch
New Mexico rancher Jim Winder will lead a free, four-hour tour of his ranch Jan. 15, talking about cattle rotation, biodiversity, economics “and other cool stuff.” The tour is a project of the Quivira Coalition, which believes that “healthy ecosystems and healthy rural economies are not mutually exclusive.” The coalition’s mission is to find common […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Our Environment and Our Health
The fourth annual “Mission Possible” conference, Our Environment & Our Health, in El Paso, Texas, features Russell Chianelli, the chemist who headed the Exxon Valdez cleanup. Representatives from Mexico and the Southwest will also gather at the Jan. 22 event to share success stories about improving public health and the environment; Spanish translation is available. […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
A Hunter’s Voice
Hunters aren’t all the same, says former hunting guide George Wuerthner. He’s founded a new organization, A Hunter’s Voice, to speak for hunters who want more predators and fewer roads in American wildlands. Wuerthner says he is reacting to powerful anti-wilderness and sportsmen’s lobbies claiming to represent all hunters. For more information, write George Wuerthner, […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Gracias
-I was like everybody else,” says photographer Celia Roberts. “I’d go to the grocery store and get some broccoli and not think, “Might that last hand that touched it be the one that picked it?” “””Lest we also forget, Roberts is here to remind us. “Gracias,” her bilingual, year 2000 calendar, illuminates the lives of […]
Posted inDecember 20, 1999: Unleashing the Snake
Snow surfers with a mission
A Bozeman, Mont.-based snowboarder group wants to show everyone that clean snow – and water – are way cool. The “Mountain Surf” chapter of the Surfrider Foundation recently launched the Snowrider Project to promote water quality at ski areas. “With the increased popularity of winter sports, it’s really important that the (snowboarders) do no harm,” […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Water crusader wants allies
Perry R. Wilkes Jr. has been quietly working to change Albuquerque’s water policies for 25 years. An aeronautical engineer, Wilkes may lack formal training in water, but he reads, goes to meetings and in the last year, he’s gotten organized. He and his wife, Bette, founded the nonprofit Citizens for a Rational Water Policy. What […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
A trickle of hope
A thirsty system of dams, growing desert cities and irrigators may never allow the Colorado River delta to be the mecca of animal and plant diversity it once was. But Mexican and U.S. researchers working with the Environmental Defense Fund say the brackish and often polluted flow that does reach the delta could help revive […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Hard times in rural Idaho
Some portions of rural Idaho that suffered economically 15 years ago are doing well today. Formerly sleepy spots like the Teton Valley are faced with exploding populations, and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Spokane, Wash., are growing together along a corridor of development. But not all of Idaho is booming. The state’s third Profile of Rural […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Rivers among us
Even in the arid West, water wars aren’t inevitable, according to a new study by Reason Public Policy Institute in Los Angeles. Collaborative local planning efforts are an effective method of balancing water needs while protecting the environment, according to the 35-page study Rivers Among Us: Local Watershed Preservation and Resource Management in the Western […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Save land now
In 1948, the state of Montana bought a 67,000-acre ranch near the southern flank of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in order to protect land for wintering elk and deer. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks manages the tract, known as the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area, but private inholdings are increasingly susceptible to […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
Proulx shoots holes in mythic Wyoming
You won’t find a loving couple or a child nurturing a 4-H animal in Annie Proulx’s collection of short stories set in rural Wyoming. Her briskly selling Close Range: Wyoming Stories is populated mostly by lowlifes and losers who cobble together a living in a state that is synonymous these days with limited economic opportunities. […]
Posted inDecember 6, 1999: Peggy Godfrey's long, strange trip
An angry, compassionate memorial to a mysterious tragedy
A new book reconstructs and analyzes all that led up to the deadly firestorm on Storm King Mountain where 14 firefighters died.
Posted inNovember 22, 1999: Go tell it on the mountain
Risks multiply for land managers
Beatings, bombings, death threats and other acts of violence against Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management employees are on the rise. According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility), agency workers or buildings were attacked or threatened nearly 100 times in 1998 alone. One Forest […]