The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Forest Service give motorized trail projects the go-ahead without scrutiny, according to The Montana State Trails Program: Motorizing Montana’s National Forest Trails, a 13-page report by the Predator Project in Bozeman. Widening trails significantly damages habitat, but agencies dismiss it as “repair and maintenance,” […]
Books
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Utah Wilderness Coalition
The Utah Wilderness Coalition of 155 conservation groups is taking its show on the road. Open houses explaining its re-inventory of potential wilderness on Bureau of Land Management lands will be held in Ogden, July 1, and Salt Lake City, July 8, both at 7 p.m. Later meetings are scheduled for San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks
Winter recreation is a hot topic at Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks as well as at the five-mile John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway that connects them. To involve the public in an upcoming environmental impact statement, open houses have begun in Idaho, with more meetings set for Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota and Washington, […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Wisdom of the West: Designing our Future Together
The Wisdom of the West: Designing our Future Together, a conference in Wenatchee, Wash., sponsored by the Planning Association of Washington and others, and to be held July 29-31, invites those interested in Western planning to participate in dozens of programs such as “Ethics for the everyday planner & commissioner” and “Stream corridor management – […]
Posted inJune 22, 1998: Western water: Why it's dirty and in short supply
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies
The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies hosts a summer of naturalist-guided programs for kids and adults. Participants can choose from activities such as exploring beaver ponds at sunset or riding a gondola to the summit of Aspen mountain. Call 970/925-5756 or visit the Web site at http://www.aspen.com/aces. This article appeared in the print edition of […]
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
A lively memoir out of the National Park Service
For a variety of reasons, I have been reading about the National Park Service – reports, histories, and bilious (but also far-seeing) polemics like Alston Chase’s Playing God in Yellowstone. They’re useful but tend to be lifeless. Now we have a restorative potion to go with the reports and histories: a book that breathes life […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
1998 Earle A. Chiles Award
The High Desert Museum gives its 1998 Earle A. Chiles Award to people who have enriched the cultural and natural wealth of the high desert. Past winners include photographer and writer Stephen Trimble and biologist Jack Ward Thomas, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Send nominations to the High Desert Museum, 59800 S. Highway […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Montana Wilderness: More Than Just a Pretty Place
With maps and histories, the free 18-page Montana Wilderness: More Than Just A Pretty Place, by the Montana Wilderness Association, makes the case for protecting public wildlands, from semi-arid river breaks to alpine peaks. Contact the Montana Wilderness Association, P.O. Box 635, Helena, MT 59624 (406/443-7350) or e-mail MWA at mwa@desktop.org. This article appeared in […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Capulin Volcano National Monument
How should a “recent extinct volcano” greet visitors in the future? The National Park Service invites the public to help plan the management of Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeast New Mexico. To comment or to receive a newsletter, contact the National Park Service, Capulin Volcano National Monument, P.O. Box 40, Capulin, NM 88414 (505/278-2201 […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Lagged not logged
Climbed Delodo Tree. Had a bad feeling, so dry and hot. Storm last night brought plenty of lightning, little rain. Spotted smoke to south, blowing northeast and picking up … Caught hobbled mare and saddled up. Rode to Little Nelson Lake Tree, saw smoke again. Looks like a big fire … May need extra folks […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Bringing a ghost town to life
By 1935, recurring flash floods had washed everyone out of Grafton, Utah, except vandals and an occasional Hollywood producer. Then this April, those living near the ghost town staged a fund raiser to repair the combined school and church that dates from the town’s Mormon settlement 139 years ago. “The buildings are in advanced stages […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Defending the dunes
Shifting sand dunes might be the fastest-moving thing in the coastal town of Florence, Ore., population 6,200, and some residents would like to see it stay that way. But as the area’s timber and fishing industries die off, a new kind of development is moving in to take their place. In the spring of 1997, […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Smaller and smaller forests
Humans are cutting Colorado and Wyoming forest into an increasing number of isolated stands that threaten forest health, according to three new videos highlighting a conference devoted to forest fragmentation in the central Rocky Mountains. “Everybody who lives in these states has an opinion about forested public land, but most impressions seem to be based […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
A family preserves the West
If not for Tom Wetherill’s deathbed wish, paper wasps might still be nesting in the century-old photo albums collected by his grandfather, one of five brothers who made the modern discoveries of Mesa Verde and other Indian ruins in the Southwest. Though later archaeologists ignored the Wetherills, maligning their work as insufficiently rigorous, the family […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
9th Annual South Platte Forum
The 9th Annual South Platte Forum requests abstracts proposing posters for a conference examining the competition for water in the South Platte Basin of Colorado’s Front Range. Send abstracts by Aug. 1 to Laurie Schmidt, Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, 410N University Services Center, Fort Collins, CO 80523-2018 (970/226-0533). This article appeared in the print […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Wild Rockies Rendezvous
Alliance for the Wild Rockies invites conservationists to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the Wild Rockies Rendezvous at the Teller Wildlife Refuge in Corvallis, Mont., Sept. 18-20. Speakers include Peter Kostmayer, executive director of Zero Population Growth, and Michael Frome, author of The Battle for the Wilderness. To register, contact Jamie Lennox, P.O. Box 8731, […]