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 […]
Books
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 inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Snow geese have become too plentiful
Because snow geese have become too successful for their own good, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking for a wholesale hunt. The conversion of pastures to fields of grain has provided a bountiful harvest for the birds, causing the population to soar over the last three decades. Now, say agency biologists, snow geese […]
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Seaside dinosaurs
Theropods – meat-eating dinosaurs that walked on their hind legs – once preyed on small animals near Wyoming’s prehistoric Sundance Sea. To his surprise, geologist Erik Kvale found the dinosaur tracks preserved in fossilized mud along the BLM’s Red Gulch/Alkali National Back Country Byway near Shell, Wyo. While exploring the rippled sandstones last summer, Kvale’s […]
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Survey says: Go wild!
Most supporters of wilderness are just espresso-sipping urbanites, right? Not so, according to a survey of 500 Colorado voters, released in April by a coalition of environmental groups. “We’re talking about four out of five Coloradans,” says Elise Jones of the League of Conservation Voters’ Boulder office. “These are pretty bomb-proof numbers.” The poll, conducted […]
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Hot and beautiful
Clean energy can emerge from deep beneath the earth’s surface, but will it interfere with the natural beauty of the volcanoes, hot springs and geysers that make it possible? That’s a question asked in Tapping the Earth’s Natural Heat, a 63-page report produced by Wendell Duffield for the U.S. Geological Survey. Compared to other sources […]
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Glen Canyon Institute’s expanded Web site
The free-flowing past – and future – of the Colorado River is explored at the Glen Canyon Institute’s expanded Web site, www.glencanyon.org. The Salt Lake-based nonprofit group, dedicated to the restoration of Glen Canyon, has added an online bookstore featuring water issues in the desert Southwest. Also available are “Restore Glen Canyon” bumper stickers, and […]
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Star Valley Historical Society
Wyoming’s Star Valley Historical Society hosts a “summer trek” June 26-28 for state Historical Society members. Walking tours near the Idaho border will lead to museums, emigration trails, geysers and historic factories for everything from guns to cheese. Registration forms appear in the May Wyoming History News and can also be obtained from the Star […]
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig
Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, both Republicans, aren’t happy about the Colorado BLM’s recent reinventory of potential wilderness areas, and they’ll be in Grand Junction, Colo., June 6 to talk about it. Their public meeting will be held at the Avalon Theater from 8-11 a.m.; on the night before, the nonprofit […]
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Natural Resource Laws and Public Lands Protection Conference
If the law of the land confuses you, look for answers at the Natural Resource Laws and Public Lands Protection Conference in Bozeman, Mont., June 12-13. The conference, sponsored by American Wildlands and the Law Fund, will discuss laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Freedom of Information […]
Posted inMay 25, 1998: Tackling tamarisk
Summer Fishtrap Gathering and Workshops
Eastern Oregon’s 11th annual Summer Fishtrap Gathering and Workshops July 6-12 will explore the nature of work in an age of increasing automation and the ways that people write about it. Stephanie Coontz, award-winning author of The Social Origins of Private Life: A History of American Families, will deliver a keynote; for more information write […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation likes to recognize young people, educators, the occasional legislator and others who contribute significantly to protecting the natural world. The process is not complicated; contact the group’s Communications Dept. at 8925 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA 22184-0001 (703/790-4085). The deadline for nominations is July 10. This article appeared in the print edition […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Green and Gold
The University of California at Santa Cruz will host Green and Gold, July 31-Aug. 2, a conference to commemorate both the 150th anniversary of the 1848 discovery of gold and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. For information call Carolyn Merchant at 510/642-0326, or check the conference Web site at www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/. This article […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Philosophy, History and Ethics of the Hunt
Orion: The Hunter’s Institute and Montana State University will host a Philosophy, History and Ethics of the Hunt conference July 25-Aug. 1 in Bozeman, Mont. Writers Mary Stange and Ted Kerasote are among those who will lead workshops on the role of hunters and hunting in the modern conservation movement. For more information, call 406/994-6683. […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Smart Growth
Smart Growth Regional Partnerships, a new grant and assistance program in Colorado, gives grants of up to $75,000 to towns and counties to help address a host of growth-related issues, including rural and urban sprawl, and loss of open space, agricultural land and habitat for wildlife. To apply, write Smart Growth Regional Partnerships Program, 1313 […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
1998 National Wilderness Conference
Over 80 conservation groups are sending representatives to the 1998 National Wilderness Conference in Seattle, Wash., May 29-31, where David Brower is the featured speaker and Walkin” Jim Stoltz the balladeer of lands prowled by grizzlies and wolves. Contact the National Wilderness Conference, 12730 9th Avenue NW, Seattle, WA 98177 or e-mail wildcon@twsnw.org. This article […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Buffering buffalo
BUFFERING BUFFALO Don’t expect brucellosis to disappear from the Yellowstone area anytime soon, says a draft report issued by the National Academy of Sciences. The disease, common among bison and elk, led the state of Montana to shoot or slaughter nearly one-third of the Yellowstone bison herd last winter when the animals moved outside park […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
New in the watershed
When the nonprofit Western Ancient Forest Campaign (WAFC) sent Brian Vincent to California to set up a new office, he had a lot of terrain to choose from. He settled on Nevada City, Calif., one evening during a Watershed Council meeting, impressed by the sight of local Sierra Club and Earth First! members coming together […]
Posted inMay 11, 1998: The working West: grassroots groups and their newsletters
Program gets a C
When the 1993 Northwest Forest Plan reduced timber production in California, Washington and Oregon, the Clinton administration began the “Jobs in the Woods’ program to retrain timber workers. It sounded like a great idea: Former loggers would work with the Forest Service and other agencies to close abandoned roads and restore streams for native fish, […]