When Congress established Petroglyph National Monument in 1990, on the edge of Albuquerque, N.M., its rationale was straightforward: “to protect the cultural and natural resources of the area from urbanization and vandalism.” Just a few years later another threat to the monument emerged. To accommodate the desire of developers, the New Mexico delegation backed a […]
Books
Posted inAugust 3, 1998: Tribes reclaim stolen lands
Blind Descent
I don’t even like it when the elevator door closes, but I like the feisty and fictional Anna Pigeon so much that I gritted my teeth and followed her down into Lechuguilla Cave. Nevada Barr’s newest mystery, Blind Descent, takes park ranger Anna Pigeon a thousand feet under southern New Mexico, into the deepest and, […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Waterton Glacier International Writers’ Workshop
At the third annual Waterton-Glacier International Writer’s Workshop in Glacier Park, Mont., Sept. 24-26, nature, environmental and travel writers come together with editors and publishers from both the United States and Canada. Writing and publishing workshops will be offered, with story opportunities emerging from field trips throughout the Glacier area. To register, contact Joan Baucus, […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Whitewater boating groups
Whitewater boating groups are invited to eddy out in July and apply for a $500 to $2,500 grant to promote river access or conservation projects. Nonprofit groups within the Rocky Mountain region may apply by July 15. Contact the Colorado Whitewater Association Grant Committee, c/o Jay P.K. Kenney, 1675 Larimer St., Suite 725, Denver, CO […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
When Will the Joy Ride End?
Remember the oil crisis? It’s only just begun, according to the petroleum primer When Will the Joy Ride End? published by an Aspen, Colo., nonprofit, the Community Office for Resource Efficiency. With catchy phrases, hard facts and many graphs, authors Randy Udall and Steve Andrews stress that when global oil production peaks, it may already […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
The illustrated adventures of bison
What weighs 4 pounds, boasts stunning watercolor illustrations of wildlife, and purports to regulate brucellosis in free-ranging bison? The new 400-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Interagency Bison Management Plan for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park, of course. The statement, a collaboration by the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
In the footsteps of Muir
Would John Muir recognize the Yosemite of today? What would he think of his beloved “hospitable, Godful wilderness,” where he roamed freely, built campfires anywhere he pleased and traveled with his unleashed dog, Carlo? To explore questions like that, writer Geraldine Vale and geographer Thomas Vale retraced the route that Muir described over a century […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Justice for the cutthroat
When it listed bulltrout as a threatened species recently (HCN, 6/22/98), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also announced that westslope cutthroat trout deserved study for possible protection. The move was pushed by six conservation groups – American Wildlands, Madison Gallatin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Idaho Watersheds Project, Montana Environmental Information Center, Clearwater Biodiversity Project […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Takings clarified
-If I tell my daughter that she cannot play with her ball in the house, she has lost something of value – the right to play with the ball in the house. I have regulated what she can do with the ball, but I haven’t “taken” it. She is still free to play with it […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Still on the hit list
When the Wilderness Society released a list of the 10 most endangered wild places in the U.S. last year, it hoped media attention would slow down the development threatening these unique areas. But this year’s list has been expanded to 15 sites, and only one area dropped off the list because of increased protection. The […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Colorado Water Workshop
The 23rd annual Colorado Water Workshop will be held July 29-31 at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., with Floyd Dominy, former commissioner and dam-builder of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the keynote speaker. This year’s theme: World Water Lessons for a Changing West. Registration is $225 before July 20. For more information, call 970/641-6215 […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Wild Mushrooms/Telluride
Bring your mushroom hat to Wild Mushrooms/Telluride Aug. 27-30 in Telluride, Colo., where, in addition to a mushroom costume parade, a conference features field excursions, a mushroom cook and taste party, and talks by Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing. Contact Fungophile, Inc., P.O. Box 480503, Denver, CO 80248-0503 (303/296-9359). Or check out the Website: […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
The San Pedro River
The San Pedro River in Arizona’s southeastern corner is famous for the diversity of its birdlife, but groundwater pumping by surrounding communities and the Fort Huachuca military base in Sierra Vista, Ariz., is draining the desert refuge. Now, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a Montreal-based group established by NAFTA, has released a report entitled “Sustaining […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Colorado curmudgeon defends the rural West
Review by Ken Wright Ed Quillen isn’t exactly a voice crying in the wilderness; he’s more like that guy with a beer and a Camel Straight in his hand, yelling from the sagging porch of the house down the street – the one with all the weeds and the 1975 Jeep Cherokee on blocks in […]
Posted inJuly 6, 1998: Riding the Wyoming 'brand'
Defining a scientific movement
Review by Michelle Nijhuis Janine Benyus’ Biomimicry is a book about science. One of its many unexpected pleasures, however, is that it is also about scientists. Benyus’ fondness and respect for researchers is evident in every chapter, even as she gently pokes fun at their peculiar obsessions. Here, for example, is her description of biochemist […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Alaska Wildlife Alliance
The Alaska Wildlife Alliance, an Anchorage-based nonprofit, is alert to wildlife protection issues throughout its enormous state. Since its start 20 years ago as part of Greenpeace Alaska, the alliance has voiced the opinions of the state’s non-hunters in its quarterly, The Spirit. “Protecting wildlife and their habitat is the bottom line for us. We […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Community Strategic Training Initiative
The eighth annual Community Strategic Training Initiative will be held July 30-Aug. 2 at Reed College in Portland, Ore., with over 50 workshops offered on community organizing. Workshops include Confronting the Anti-Indian Movement and Initiative Campaigns that Win. Registration deadline is July 10. Contact the Western States Center, P.O. Box 40305, Portland, Oregon 97240 (503/228-8866); […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Victory for the bull trout
Compelled by continuing litigation from environmentalists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed two populations of bull trout as threatened – one in Oregon’s Klamath River Basin and the other in the huge Columbia River Basin, reaching into Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The legal battle was waged by three nonprofit groups – Alliance for […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Leeches and cod liver oil
Ever wonder if you could have survived the measles epidemics and the streets that ran with sewage in the West’s early days? An exhibit of over 200 artifacts from the 1880s to World War II at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore., might test your imagination. The exhibit features an “aroma interactive” of Native […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
In search of Mount Rainier’s power
What is it like to become obsessed with a mountain? In The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier, Bruce Barcott describes how he circled the mountain on foot and interviewed mountaineers, climbing guides, priests, historians and scientists before he and his father attempted to scale the country’s highest volcano. Barcott, a […]