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 […]
Books
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 […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
The Great Old Broads are taking on the Good Ol” Boys in Utah. Organized in 1989 for the 25th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the Great Old Broads for Wilderness is a group of over 70 women dedicated to preserving wild places. Their ninth Wilderness Conference will be held Oct. 10-11 in Grand Staircase-Escalante National […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Research and Resource Management of Parks and Public Lands
The George Wright Society, a nonprofit association of historians, biologists and public and private managers, is calling for papers for its 10th Research and Resource Management of Parks and Public Lands conference next spring. Abstracts are welcome before Oct. 15 on any topic related to research, resource management and education in protected areas such as […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Conference on Environmental Protection and Growth Management in the West
Ian L. McHarg, author of Design with Nature, will address the first annual Conference on Environmental Protection and Growth Management in the West, to be held Oct. 23 and 24 at the University of Denver. The conference will bring together environmental groups, activists, lawyers planners, and land-use professionals to talk about what is and is […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 1998: We are shaped by the sound of wind, the slant of sunlight
Forget the theories, and instead look at people’s faces
Charles Bowden knows exactly what we, and he, don’t want to see, and in Juarez: the Laboratory of our Future he makes it impossible to ignore. Here is the very worst of life after NAFTA, captured by a crew of street photographers who chase the violence of Ciudad Juarez and the border zone. The huge, […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Justice for All: Racial Equity and Environmental Well-Being
-Environmental concerns cannot stand apart from social arrangements of power and opportunity,” says the Center of the American West, introducing Justice for All: Racial Equity and Environmental Well-Being, a conference Sept. 11-12. Speakers will try to link environmentalists of color, who have done much in urban areas, to the larger conservation movement. Contact the center […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Colorado Environmental Education Conference & Expo
Educators in Colorado are invited to discover what’s new in environmental curricula, where to find speakers and ideas for classroom presentations, and how to share information to help build a statewide environmental education master plan. Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education hosts the Colorado Environmental Education Conference & Expo Sept. 26 at Red Rocks Community College […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Oregon Natural Desert Association
Desert rats in eastern Oregon will cavort near fossil beds, on the river and under the stars at the Oregon Natural Desert Association’s annual membership meeting, Sept. 25-27. Contact Gillian Lyons at 503/525-0193 or glyons@onda.org. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Oregon Natural Desert Association.
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Peaks to Prairies: A Conference on Watershed Stewardship
Case study workshops at Peaks to Prairies: A Conference on Watershed Stewardship, Sept. 27-30 in Rapid City, S.D., will test ideas about community and the environment to see if they hold water. Speakers include history professor Patricia Nelson Limerick; contact Thorne Ecological Institute, 5398 Manhattan Circle, Suite 120, Boulder, CO 80303-4239 (303/499-3647) or e-mail dir@thorneecoinst.org. […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Water for Fish vs. Water for People: A Real Conflict?
Western cities that drink water like a fish may actually compete with fish for water. The Western Regional Instream Flow Conference, Water for Fish vs. Water for People: A Real Conflict?, Oct. 8-9 at Copper Mountain Resort in Colorado, features speakers including Colorado Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs, and High Country News publisher Ed Marston. […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Westslope cutthroat trout
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has added 60 days to the comment period on the petition to list the Westslope cutthroat trout as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. See the petition at www.mcn.net/~amwild and send comments by Oct. 13 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Native Fishes Management, 4052 Bridger Canyon Rd., […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Department of Energy Web site
A redesigned Department of Energy Web site aims to be a clearinghouse for a variety of sustainability issues. Learn about land-use planning, “green” buildings, and join a dialogue at the Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development. The Web site address is www.sustainable.doe.gov. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
From croaks to chirps
I used to spend a lot of time chasing frogs. It would be easier to say that I quit doing this at age 12, like the other kids, but the truth is a little harder to explain. I would show up at work – I got paid for this – with a long-handled net and […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Tribes struggle for a free press
-On the banner of our paper it says, “The newspaper of the Navajo people.” We’re here first and foremost for them. Not for the government; not for the politicians; not for one single person or viewpoint.” * Tom Arviso Jr., editor of the Navajo Times, in From the Front Lines; Free Press Struggles in Native […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
Musings on the Big Sky
MUSINGS ON THE BIG SKY From several hundred miles away, Montana is a place of contradictions: occupied by people who deeply love the land and the rivers that run through it, except when they are voting by a lop-sided majority to turn those rivers into toxic, metal-laden sewers. Now comes John B. Wright with 10 […]
Posted inAugust 31, 1998: Excavating Ecotopia
How the Canyon Became Grand
Stephen Pyne, who is best known as an historian of fire, has written an audacious book which shows how, for a few wonderful decades in the 19th century, the Grand Canyon stood near the center of the intellectual development of the Western world. During those years, the Canyon was, all in one, the Hubble Telescope, […]