After lagging for decades, solar power is booming; its growth rate of 16 percent per year from 1990-1997 ranks it as the world’s second fastest-growing energy source after wind power. Worldwatch Institute attributes the boom to declining manufacturing costs and subsidies. Japan, Europe and the United States, for example, have instituted programs to encourage use […]
Books
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Mining: There’s a reform-blocking rider
It’s not easy fighting mines. Under the 1872 General Mining Law, mining is the “highest and best use” of federal public lands, and every anti-mine effort is an uphill battle. But buried in the Bureau of Land Management code of regulations is a glimmer of good news for activists: a directive to the secretary of […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Doing dirty work for free
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado is looking for people to do their dirty work – shoveling, that is, and hoeing, digging, planting and hammering. Since 1984, Outdoor Colorado has been enlisting individuals, families, children and adults to plant gardens and mend trails on Colorado’s public lands. The group hosts 10 to 12 projects throughout the year, […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
High desert pronghorn
In the northern reaches of the Great Basin, a herd of more than 6,000 pronghorn antelope roams across a high desert range. Two islands of this vast desert are protected by federal refuges, but thousands of acres that straddle the Oregon-Nevada border separate them. A coalition of environmental groups led by the Oregon Natural Desert […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Zero Circles
ZERO CIRCLES Daniel Dancer’s “Zero Circles Project” sets out to end logging in the West’s public forests by illustrating the history of logging on these lands, as well as illuminating the wonders of the native forests that remain. He has trekked across forests of the West, forming circles of fire, people or wood – then […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Elk: Pursuing the hunt and preserving the species
For author, hunter, woodsman and “hard-core, out-and-amongst-’em … serious wildlife watcher” David Petersen, elk are more than just a hobby, topic or even a passion; they are a religion. If books had to have subtitles that reflected their deeper messages, Petersen’s newest book, Elkheart: A Personal Tribute to Wapiti and Their World, might be A […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Prisoners for hire
A new magazine called ColorLines, with editorial offices in Oakland, Calif., takes a harsh look at what it calls the “prison-industrial complex.” It finds an unsavory relationship between corporations that improve their bottom line thanks to cheap prison labor, and our society’s desire to lock up people we’ve given up trying to socialize or educate. […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Irrigators speak a volume
After a federal water commission published Water in the West: The Challenge for the Next Century (HCN, 6/22/98), a 250-member industry group known as the Family Farm Alliance went to work on a report of its own. Irrigated agriculture has gotten the blame for the West’s water woes, members say, and they want to clear […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Let’s talk about salmon
Wana Chinook Tymoo means “salmon stories’ in Sahaptin, a language shared by the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes. It is also the name of a free magazine published quarterly since 1991 by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The group brings together members of the four tribes to help fight for the […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Speaking of eating: There is no meat I would rather eat
Speaking of eating: There is no meat I would rather eat, and none I eat more of, than wild meat got with my own bloody hands as an ethical predatory omnivore. To the contrary, I go sick at the thought of swallowing “alternative livestock” flesh butchered from the bones of captive-raised wild animals. Magazines running […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Wildlands Grassroots Rendezvous
Conservation biologist Michael Soulé and activist Dave Foreman are featured speakers when the Wildlands Project holds its Wildlands Grassroots Rendezvous: Science and the Conservation of Nature, Oct. 8-11, in Estes Park, Colo. Contact The Wildlands Project, 1955 W. Grant Road, Suite 148, Tucson, AZ 85745 (520/884-0875) or e-mail: wildland@earthlink.net. This article appeared in the print […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Large-Scale Hog Farming in Colorado
Corporate hog farms have targeted Colorado, and an Oct. 20 conference, “Large-Scale Hog Farming in Colorado: Sooey or Sue Me?” will discuss regulatory options. Contact the Natural Resources Law Center of the University of Colorado School of Law at 303/492-1272 or Campus Box 401, Boulder, CO 80309-0401. This article appeared in the print edition of […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Colorado Trails Symposium
All kinds of trail managers – volunteers and professionals who maintain trails for everyone from hikers to ATV riders – will come together at the Colorado Trails Symposium, Oct. 8-11 in Grand Junction, Colo. For information contact: 1998 Colorado Trails Symposium, c/o Colorado State Parks, 1313 Sherman St., Rm. 618, Denver, CO 80203 (303/866-3203 ext. […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Tour the underground
It’s probably not the first place you might think of for a family vacation, but coal mines and electricity-generating plants in North Dakota have packaged a tour of their facilities as the “Energy Trail.” Hitting the trail offers more than authentic coal soot. If you time it right, Thursday at the Freedom Mine in Mercer […]
Posted inSeptember 28, 1998: A senator for the New West in the race of his life
Glacier takes a stand
A draft plan for managing Glacier National Park in Montana for the next 20 years would avoid problems plaguing other national parks by proposing bold moves: banning personal watercraft use and barring commercial air tours. The proposal would also protect historic lodges, gradually improve Going-to-the-Sun Road, increase services for visitors during the winter season, and […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Gateways to good growth
A new breed of Western city is sprouting in scenic areas, and the resulting population booms call for new planning methods, say Jim Howe, Ed McMahon and Luther Propst in Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities. In tourist towns like Pigeon Forge, Tenn., low-paying seasonal businesses have overshadowed historical and natural attractions, driving residents […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Researching the big picture
The National Park Service is doing something different at New Mexico’s El Malpais National Monument. This fall, at the 10th anniversary resource stewardship symposium, the agency will plan the future course of scientific research in the monument. “We’re bringing together the people who actually do the research, and asking what they feel is important and […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Snowmobilers see red
Reacting to a ten-fold increase in snowmobile use since the early 1990s, Lolo National Forest wants to ban snowmobiles on 140,000 roadless acres of the Bitterroot Crest straddling the Idaho-Montana border. Applauding the move is John Gatchell, director of the Montana Wilderness Association. He says supervisor Chuck Wildes is finally moving to end a longstanding […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Wilderness Horizons: An Interdisciplinary Wilderness Conference
The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute will celebrate what would be its conservationist namesake’s100th birthday with Wilderness Horizons: An Interdisciplinary Wilderness Conference, Sept. 24-26, 1999, in Ashland, Wis. The Institute is calling now for papers and presentations ranging from the philosophical foundations of wilderness and original wilderness prose, to new ways of managing wilderness. Contact Clayton […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
The Oregon Natural Desert Association
The Oregon Natural Desert Association holds its annual meeting Sept. 26-27 at the Hancock Field Station near Fossil, Ore. Activities include a slide show by photographer Larry Olson, fossil excavation, a canoe trip and early-morning birding. Contact Gilly at 503/525-0193 or write ONDA, 16 NW Kansas Ave., Bend, OR 97701. This article appeared in the […]