Currently offering: rent-free co-op housing in upper and middle canopy condos, 150-230 ft. above reality, with suspended sidewalks winding between 500/600/700-year-old Doug fir and hemlock trees. * from a poster by Red Cloud Thunder, a group protesting the Clark Timber Sale near Eugene, Ore. It’s amazing what gets done in treetops these days. Julia Butterfly, […]
Books
Posted inSeptember 27, 1999: The Millworker and the Forest
A gem of a park
Great Basin National Park is a modest gem. Set in Nevada, within a stone’s throw of Utah, deep in the stillness of the Great Basin, the park was formed out of other public land in 1986. Like many parks, it was the child of compromise: Cattle were permitted to continue to graze the alpine meadows […]
Posted inSeptember 27, 1999: The Millworker and the Forest
Environmental Protection and Growth Management in the West – 1999
Everyone from planners to community activists and lawyers is welcome at a continuing education program workshop, Environmental Protection and Growth Management in the West – 1999. The Oct. 29-30 gathering will focus on what works to protect open spaces and what doesn’t. To register, write to the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute at the University […]
Posted inSeptember 27, 1999: The Millworker and the Forest
Endangered boreal toads
Colorado hikers will find “WANTED” posters at trailheads this fall. The state Division of Wildlife, which posted the signs, is not looking for fugitives, but endangered boreal toads. The toads are often confused with chorus frogs or Woodhouse toads and biologists are trying to track legitimate sightings. They hope hikers will help with pictures, postcards, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Continental Divide Trail
People who like to work hard in high places are needed to help maintain the Continental Divide Trail. Winding for 3,100 miles from Montana to New Mexico, the trail traces the rugged backbone of the Rocky Mountains. Volunteers, who will monitor and maintain 3- to 25-mile segments, can contact the Continental Divide Trail Alliance, P.O. […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Twenty-five Years of Self-Determination and Economic Development
Native American nation-building is the topic of a Tucson, Ariz., conference, Twenty-five Years of Self-Determination and Economic Development: What Have We Learned? The Nov. 11-13 conference will look at problems Indian communities confront, including joblessness, touchy tribal-state-federal relationships, and how to manage natural resources. Contact the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, the University […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
1999 Congress on Recreation and Resource Capacity
The 1999 Congress on Recreation and Resource Capacity is bringing the public and private sectors together to discuss the future of recreation on the nation’s public lands. The congress will meet Nov. 29-Dec. 2 in Aspen, Colo. Sponsors include the Bureau of Land Management, Blue Ribbon Coalition and National Parks and Conservation Association. For details, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
New Millennium First People’s World’s Fair and Pow Wow
Organizers of the “New Millennium First People’s World’s Fair and Pow Wow” say representatives of more than 100 tribal nations will be present to help bring in the year 2000. It all happens at Rillito Raceway Park in Tucson, Ariz., Dec. 31-Jan. 9. For details, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to American Indians World Fair, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
The Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space
The title of a report from the Trust for Public Land says it all: The Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space: How Land Conservation Helps Communities Grow Smart and Protect the Bottom Line. As cities create parks, city economies usually improve and property values go up, say report authors Steve Lerner and William Poole. […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Pillar of Sand
Yes, we are in the post-industrial age, and the production of autos, houses, airliners and other “goods’ can be taken for granted. But Sandra Postel in Pillar of Sand warns that there is no such thing as a “post-agricultural age.” Because irrigated agriculture provides 40 percent of the globe’s food today, and because in the […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Fur and loafing
Cartoonist Phil Frank, creator of the San Francisco Chronicle’s cartoon strip, “Farley,” has devoted a lot of ink since 1986 to the political travails of Yosemite National Park in California. This is a park so loved – and so roaded – it is visited by more than 3 million people each year. In hilarious fashion, […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Medicine Bow National Forest
In Wyoming, the Friends of the Bow, Biodiversity Associates and the Snowy Range Group Sierra Club are leading a hike to unprotected wilderness in the Medicine Bow National Forest on Sept. 18. To join this outing in the Rock Creek roadless area near Arlington, Wyo., call 307/742-7978. This article appeared in the print edition of […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Indian Land Consolidation Symposium
-Taking a Stand on Indian Land” is the motto for this year’s Indian Land Consolidation Symposium, sponsored by The Indian Land Working Group. Workshops will focus on the group’s legislation aimed at consolidating ownership of land on Indian reservations, and the newly introduced tribal computer database called TAAMS. The symposium will be held in Palm […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
The Northwest Environmental Defense Center
The Northwest Environmental Defense Center holds its annual retreat on the Oregon coast at Westwind YMCA, Sept. 24-26. Keynote speaker is Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. For more than 25 years, the center has been a student conservation law organization, located at the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
MINExpo International 2000
MINExpo INTERNATIONAL 2000 is billed as the largest mining exposition in the Western Hemisphere. It happens in Las Vegas, Nev., Oct. 9-12. For details, contact Kim Boscia, MINExpo coordinator, 1130 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036 (202/463-9799); e-mail: kboscia@nma.org or check out www.minexpo.com. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Wilderness Act Handbook
A 68-page handbook helps decipher the nuances of the 1964 Wilderness Act. The Wilderness Act Handbook, published by the Wilderness Society, includes the entire language of the act with a section-by-section interpretation of the legalese. For a revised copy, send $5 to the Wilderness Society, 900 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20006 (202/833-2300), or buy […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
In the new West, we’re all tourists
In Wyoming, they say, “We don’t want to become like Jackson.” In Colorado, “We don’t want to become like Aspen.” In Utah, more fervently, “We don’t want to become another Moab.” Yet these same people never say, “I don’t want to be a Julia Roberts or Brad Pitt.” Hal K. Rothman, who is a history […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Making the land pay
Farmers and ranchers can supplement their incomes by putting tourists to work as “hands’ and allowing camping and hiking. That’s a way to make land pay and stave off selling out to developers, according to a new report about protecting wildlife habitat around Yellowstone National Park. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Environmental Defense Fund and […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Dams must go
Can salmon be saved? A free, 15-page report, Returning Salmon by Restoring Rivers: The Case for Partially Removing Four Dams on the Lower Snake River, says yes. Prepared by the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, which includes 230 conservation groups, Indian tribes and others, the report says breaching the dams is the best way to […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
The river rules a hidden canyon
Day 2 “Then the sound of motors. “Baloney boats,” says John. We look upstream and see a huge silver-gray rubber raft come charging around the bend, bearing down on us. Swarming with people, it looks like a floating anthill. John pulls our dory aside to let it pass. Waves and shouts. At full throttle the […]