Hikers and trail activists will converge on Vail, Colo., Sept. 6-7 for a Continental Divide Trail Alliance conference, Trailfest 1997. There will be workshops and outdoor demonstrations about the 3,100-mile trail, which was designated a National Scenic Trail nearly 20 years ago, but which still needs work to connect trekkers from Canada to southern New […]
Books
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
Montana Environmental Information Center
Members and friends of the Montana Environmental Information Center will rendezvous in the Bitterroot Valley Saturday, Sept. 13, to exchange stories and revitalize. The gathering at the Teller Wildlife Refuge near Corvallis, Mont., will include workshops on transportation, weeds and the proposed gold mine near Lincoln. All are welcome. For information, call 406/443-2520. This article […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
Waterton-Glacier International Writers Workshop
For people interested in writing about nature and conservation, the Waterton-Glacier International Writers Workshop Sept. 25-27 features workshops and speakers such as John Rimel, publisher at Missoula’s Mountain Press, The Nature Conservancy’s Jim Mepham and many Canadian writers, including Candace Savage. There will also be backcountry hikes, lake cruises and trips to area ranches, watersheds […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
You don’t have to be old or a broad to attend the Great Old Broads for Wilderness Annual Broadwalk and Conference Sept. 29-Oct. 5, but it helps to be feisty. The Boulder, Colo.-based environmental nonprofit, started by women over 45, is meeting in southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument this year. After a five-day “Broadwalk,” […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
Connections
The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative has a mission: to connect 18,000 miles of wildlife corridors and protect biodiversity for an area that is larger than most states. The Connections conference, from Oct. 2-5 in Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park, includes speakers Dave Foreman, current chairman of the Wildlands Project, and Colleen McCrory, a director […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 1997: Radioactive waste from Hanford is seeping toward the Columbia
American Birding Association
To encourage young people interested in wildlife and conservation, the American Birding Association is sponsoring the Young Birder of the Year Competition, with lots of prizes, beginning at the end of September. In this year-long contest, kids 10 to 18 years old will be asked to write two essays, and keep a field notebook of […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Working ranches
The Sonoran Institute, a Tucson, Ariz.-based nonprofit, wants to help ranchers save agricultural lands. Its new illustrated handbook, Preserving Working Ranches in the West, says every four minutes, an acre of working land in Colorado is lost to development. Sonoran Institute spokesman Jon Shepard says ranchers in Arizona’s San Rafael Valley are finding economically viable […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
5.7, 5.7, 5.7 …
The rallying cry “5.7 million acres’ has become well known in Utah as the amount of wilderness pushed by a coalition of environmental groups. But because the proposal for wilderness preservation on Bureau of Land Management land was created 10 years ago, says Kevin Walker, a staffer with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a fresh […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Don’t blame women
Northwest Environment Watch in Seattle, Wash., isn’t very big at 1,400 members and five staffers, but its reach is ambitious. In less than four years it has published five reports, including The Car in the City, Stuff, and the latest and perhaps most provocative, Misplaced Blame: The Real Roots of Population Growth, by Alan Durning, […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Cold weather crowds
Winter is becoming like summer in the greater Yellowstone area, at least if you’re talking about crowds. The past two decades have seen a rising tide of winter visitors, especially snowmobilers and skiers, and with them new concerns for agency managers. This flood of visitors threatens both the health of the wilderness areas and the […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Celebrate Mono Lake
As water returns to California’s Mono Basin, the nonprofit Mono Lake Committee is getting ready for a Restoration Days celebration, Aug. 29-Sept. 1. The four-day event is a chance for visitors to explore, discover, and help preserve the basin, says Kay Ogden, committee spokeswoman. The documentary film The Battle for Mono Lake. premieres Aug. 29, […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
The Quivira Coalition
Southern New Mexico is best known as a battleground between environmentalists and wise users. Now, two conservationists and a rancher have founded a coalition to show a third way. The group is based in Santa Fe, but its example is Jim Winder’s Double Lightning Ranch near Nutt, N.M. The coalition’s first 16-page newsletter, The Quivira […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
Bear myths
-Human sexual activity,” claims a Forest Service brochure titled Backpacking, “attracts bears.” “I’ve never found any studies on the topic,” counters Alaskan author Dave Smith in his new paperback book, Backcountry Bear Basics: The Definitive Guide to Avoiding Unpleasant Encounters. “If you think about it, we’re often told to make noise to avoid surprising bears; […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
A Colville Valley homecoming
In the early 1800s, when Europeans first made their way into the Northwest, Washington’s Colville Valley turned into a melting pot. Canadian, Iroquois and Cree trappers joined the Salish, followed by Jesuit missionaries, Hawaiians and Scottish, Irish and French-Canadian fur traders in peaceful settlements along the Columbia River. To explore the blending of cultures in […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Water Partnerships
As the West’s demands on water increase, so does the need for cooperation among agricultural, city and recreational interests. Collaboration, an idea with increasing popularity in the West, will be addressed July 30-Aug. 1 at the 22nd annual Colorado Water Workshop in Gunnison, Colo. Water Partnerships: Can Competing Users Cooperate to Manage a Vital Resource […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
The Bear Essential
Attention writers: The free magazine, The Bear Essential, is holding its first annual Edward Abbey short fiction contest, deadline Sept. 2. Editor Tom Webb tells us judges want unpublished “quality work with a Western environmental aspect” and that winners receive $100 to $500. For more information, write The Bear Essential, P.O. Box 10342, Portland, OR […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Ecological Consultants for the Public Interest
The nonprofit Ecological Consultants for the Public Interest, founded five months ago by Boulder, Colo., lawyer Randall Weiner, has already made headlines. On behalf of a Denver neighborhood exposed to a hydrogen-chloride spill, the environmental consulting firm sued Vulcan Chemical Co., which had failed to provide adequate warnings and information to residents. The neighborhood has […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
The government’s planning team for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is seeking ideas. The team, which includes the BLM and Utah’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology, wants proposals for papers on the geology, paleontology, biology and archaeology of the new monument. Scientists and planners at a symposium in November will assess the papers and […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Bolting blues
The Access Fund, an advocacy group of over 7,000 rock climbers, says a proposed federal rule could kill climbing in BLM wilderness areas. The proposal prohibits “physical alteration or defacement of a natural rock surface in wilderness.” Sally Moser, executive director of the Access Fund in Boulder, Colo., says without bolts or nylon webbing and […]
Posted inJuly 7, 1997: While the New West booms, Wyoming mines, drills ... and languishes
Not for aggies only
Those who think the phrase “agricultural press’ is an oxymoron should take a look at Oregon’s Capital Press, which covers ag issues in the Northwest with intelligence, perspective and a minimum of hysteria. While the weekly is definitely not an environmental publication, it covers much the same ground in a calm and informative way. Its […]