At the Arkansas River Basin Water Forum, A River of Dreams and Realities, in Caûon City, Colo., April 23-24, ranchers, Bureau of Reclamation managers, members of the U.S. Geological Survey and locals will try to find solutions for a resource too much in demand. For registration, contact Pat Clifford at CSU Cooperative Extension, 411 N. […]
Books
Posted inApril 12, 1999: Is trapping doomed?
Desert Conference
Desert wildlands activists discuss grazing reform in the Great Basin April 29-May 2 at the 21st annual Desert Conference in southeastern Oregon. Todd Wilkinson, author of Science Under Siege, is a speaker and lots of field trips are available. Write the Oregon Natural Desert Association, 16 NW Kansas, Bend, OR 97701, or call 503/525-0193. This […]
Posted inApril 12, 1999: Is trapping doomed?
Earle A. Chiles Award
The High Desert Museum is calling for nominations for the 1999 Earle A. Chiles Award, given to honor thoughtful management of natural and cultural resources of the High Desert. Nominations are due May 31. For details, contact Binnie Rowe, 59800 S. Highway 97, Bend, OR 97702-7963, (541/382-4754), browe@highdesert.org This article appeared in the print edition […]
Posted inApril 12, 1999: Is trapping doomed?
Wyoming Wildlife Federation
The Wyoming Wildlife Federation’s 53rd annual meeting in Story, Wyo., May 15-16, features an awards banquet, guided tours, a Raffle Extravaganza and dancing to Cajun/Latin music. Call 800/786-5434 or write the federation at P.O. Box 106, Cheyenne, WY 82003. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wyoming Wildlife Federation.
Posted inApril 12, 1999: Is trapping doomed?
Draining Lake Powell
Colorado College hosts a debate about one of the more contentious proposals today in the West – draining Lake Powell. Floyd Dominy, former Bureau of Reclamation commissioner, and Dave Wegner, who directed environmental studies in Glen Canyon, take up the question April 21 at 7 p.m. at the college’s Packard Hall in Colorado Springs. Contact […]
Posted inApril 12, 1999: Is trapping doomed?
Nothing is everything
THE SPACE CLOSEST TO OUR BODIES Imagine some tan grass and sage, monoliths and blow outs, flatness the feet cannot believe, distance the eye laughs at as it fumbles blindly with the ends of all time. Imagine everything here moves (even the cactus will come close to a sleeping man and the beetle will tunnel […]
Posted inApril 12, 1999: Is trapping doomed?
A history of how a grassroots rebellion won a water war
I made the mistake of reading Peter Carrels’ Uphill Against Water not long after I’d read David Remnick’s Lenin’s Tomb, his account of the fall of the Soviet Union, and at times had trouble remembering whether I was in South Dakota or in the old U.S.S.R. Of course, in South Dakota, political opponents were not […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Nebraska National Forest
The national forests of Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming need volunteers who are passionate about the outdoors and conservation. There are a variety of opportunities, from trail work to answering questions at visitor centers. Contact Nebraska National Forest, 125 N. Main St., Chadron, NE 69337, or www.fs.fed.us/r2/nebraska/volunteer/ index.htm. This article appeared in the print edition […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Cyanide Uncertainties: Observations on the Chemistry, Toxicity, and Analysis of Cyanide in Mining Related Waters
The Mineral Policy Center has published a 16-page pamphlet on the hazards of mining with cyanide. For a free copy of Cyanide Uncertainties: Observations on the Chemistry, Toxicity, and Analysis of Cyanide in Mining Related Waters, contact Mineral Policy Center, 1612 K St. NW, Suite 808, Washington, DC 20006, 202/887-1872, or email: mpc-us@msn.com. This article […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Dangers of exploring abandoned mines
A 24-page workbook about the dangers of exploring abandoned mines is available free to youth groups and educators. Mining Utah’s Heritage includes drawings, games and quizzes to get its message across. For a copy, call Jan Morse at 801/538-5305 or write the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program, P.O. Box 145801, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-5801. This […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Mormons on the land
-We cannot return to Eden. We know too much and we care too little about the complexities of our collective past. But perhaps we can find our way toward a new genesis, a wiser relationship toward Creation that is founded on the sacred principles of love and respect and empathy.” * Terry Tempest Williams, New […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Just go away
-So what’s the American Dream for the people out here?” I asked. “To be left alone,” Baker replied. “Just to be left alone?” I asked. “But that’s not possible, is it?” “Nope,” Baker said. “How do they react when they find it’s not possible?” I asked. “They get really mad,” and (she) broke up laughing. […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Green versus gold
California sometimes seems to play in its own league, its affairs completely separate from the rest of the West. But the lively new collection, Green Versus Gold: Sources in California’s Environmental History, shows how universal California’s lessons are. Editor Carolyn Merchant dips into every phase of California’s history, from before Europeans arrived, through Spanish colonization, […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Deciphering the ditches
It is widely acknowledged that conventional approaches to economic development in the rural West, based on mineral extraction, industrial relocation, and capital-intensive tourism, have met with dismal results. Jobs may be created, but the benefits are inequitably distributed; growth may or may not occur, but poverty and underdevelopment persist, and in the process, the community […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Help arrives for the ailing Alamosa
For years, locals have declared Colorado’s Alamosa River “dead,” killed by pollution from the notorious Summitville Mine. Now, a grassroots organization has teamed up with a national group to resurrect the river. The Capulin, Colo.-based Restore Our Alamosa River was selected from 130 applicants to join a national umbrella group, Water Keepers Alliance, that provides […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Adopt-a-ferret is under way
Once close to extinction, the black-footed ferret is making a comeback this year. Over the past decade, thousands of the critters have been raised in captivity by a federally funded breeding program. This year, scientists plan to release around 250 ferrets in five Western states, adding to the estimated 200 captive-bred ferrets already in the […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Are salmon bear essentials?
New research shows that the decline of salmon populations in the Northwest has drastically altered the diet of the region’s grizzly bears. Historically, say Charles Robbins of Washington State University and other researchers, salmon accounted for an average of two-thirds of a grizzly’s diet, and, at times, as much as 90 percent. The biologists examined […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
The big picture
-These photos are a stop-gap look at a point in time, a chance to see what the landscape looked like six or 10 years ago.” *Bill DuBois From the pilot’s seat of his 44-year-old Cessna 180 plane, F.E. Bill DuBois has been taking photos of every precious metal mine in Nevada for 24 years. What […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Wirth Chair for Environmental and Community Development Policy
The search is on. The Tim Wirth Chair awards directors are seeking nominations for Wirth Chair for Environmental and Community Development Policy awards, given to individuals, groups and media for work in sustainable development. Nominations are due by April 15. Contact Marshall Kaplan at 303/820-5605, Tom McCoy at 303/820-5628 or write 1445 Market Street, Suite […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
22nd International Film Festival
The 22nd International Film Festival in Missoula, Mont., showcases the world’s best wildlife films on April 17-24, beginning with the WildWalk parade, which hoots and howls through downtown Missoula. For more information, contact festival organizers at 27 Fort Missoula Rd. #2, Missoula, MT 59804-7200, 406/728-9380, iwff@wildlifefilms.org, http://www.wildlifefilms.org. This article appeared in the print edition of […]