Hunting season just closed here in Montana, and I oiled my rifle for its annual winter hibernation. After all, hunting regulations — and the law in general — are something I respect. It’s too bad that more community leaders out West fail to grasp that fundamental tenet of citizenship. In central Idaho last month, a […]
Communities
Posted inGoat
It’s not all lights and sirens
It wasn’t an abnormal day in most respects. No wreck-causing foul weather slicked the winding mountain roads. There hadn’t been an accident at any of the three underground coal mines just upvalley, where a steep canyon cradles the sinuous North Fork River. Even so, both of the ambulances that serve tiny Paonia, Colo. were out […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2010: Toxic Past, Toxic Present
A visit to a ghost town in San Francisco Bay
The course of time and tide
Posted inDecember 6, 2010: Toxic Past, Toxic Present
Room for everyone
On this sunny spring Saturday, everyone has the same idea — to soak in the hot pools at the edge of the Mojave. So when the hikers come around the bend, my heart goes out to them. I see their crests fall, their ultra-light packs get heavier. They stop and check their maps to see […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2010: Toxic Past, Toxic Present
Santa goat is coming to town!
The holidays are rolling around, so we’ll be hosting our annual Open House here in our western Colorado office on Wednesday, Dec. 15. Please join us at 119 Grand Ave., Paonia, for refreshments and conversation from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. POETS, BIKERS AND WINE-LOVERS COME TO CALLGeoff Wheeler stopped by our headquarters to visit […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2010: Toxic Past, Toxic Present
Seven months of solitude
Breaking into the BackcountrySteve Edwards192 pages, softcover: $16.95.University of Nebraska Press, 2010. “In the seven months I spent in the backcountry, in relative solitude, I rarely felt as alone as I do sitting at this table,” writes Steve Edwards, describing his return to the family dining room after a lengthy sojourn by Oregon’s Rogue River. […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2010: Toxic Past, Toxic Present
There’s always something in the water
Hal Walter’s recent Writers on the Range essay “There’s Something in the Water” (HCN, 11/8/10) highlights a concern shared by every water-quality professional in the Rocky Mountain West: the presumption of safety. As a member of the Colorado Water Quality Association Board of Directors and a certified water specialist, I can unequivocally state that few […]
Posted inWotr
The Great Plains is the latest new frontier
Local entrepeneurs could revive a dying region
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Housing keeps getting tighter all the time
Moab resident feels development squeeze
Posted inWotr
The EPA takes a small step toward curbing greenhouse gases
Let’s get one thing straight: The EPA’s plan to limit greenhouse-gas emissions from standing sources is nothing radical. States may sue, a bipartisan swarm of senators may politick to stop it, and energy lobbyists may fret about jobs and the economy, but no matter what the alarmists say, the rule won’t shut anyone down. It […]
Posted inBlog
Cobell, settled at last
Federal government finally accounts for money mismanagement of tribal nations.
Posted inWotr
Living with wolves takes some practice
I paddle to a favorite meadow with my friend, Solan. It’s late summer in southeast Alaska, when the tall grasses are turning yellow and the mountaintops are lost in clouds. Coming ashore, we step over dead salmon dragged from the stream by bears. Walking toward the stream, I talk about the time I watched a […]
Posted inWotr
Growing up political
The gray November morning was framed by the windows in my parents’ bedroom. They were still in bed — it must’ve been early — and they cut short my eager question: Did Daddy win? No. Daddy lost. People voted for the other guy — the Republican. I was 5 years old, shocked and crushed by […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Washington eco-saboteurs topple towers
Monkey-wrenching of radio station doesn’t last
Posted inWotr
The healthiest landscapes are hidden
The healthiest wild lands in the nation cannot be found on recreation maps. The bushes in these secret spots aren’t littered with old toilet paper or empty beer cans; there are no crowds, no loud music and no admission fees. No motels, camp sites, toilets, souvenirs or asphalt paths. No gas stations, no boat ramps, […]
Posted inWotr
The hunters called — they want their deer back
Maybe it was just a case of bad timing. First, we learn that mule deer have declined 60 percent on Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline between 2001 and 2009. That’s not much of a surprise. It’s been evident for some time that deer and deer hunters were going to be the biggest losers in this gas play. […]
Posted inWotr
Hunting and gathering in the modern era
He wakes before dawn, moves silently from his bed. He washes and shaves according to ritual, anoints himself with powders and lotions, some to mask scent, others to enhance it. He dresses in his hunting outfit, adjusts his shirt, brushes dust from his pants. He eats a light breakfast of fruit and cereal, not enough […]
Posted inBlog
Snoop Dogg Called To Wild
Can the power of celebrity bring more people of color into the National Parks? Yosemite Ranger Shelton Johnson thinks so, and now that he’s grabbed the attention of talk show host Oprah Winfrey, momentum is building to invite the rap star Snoop Dogg to go camping. A petition is being circulated in the hopes of […]
Posted inWotr
Mexican wolves, still strangers in a strange land
With the opening of their holding pens 12 years ago, wolves stepped into their historic home on the Southwestern desert for the first time in over 50 years. So began the reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf into southern Arizona and New Mexico. It was a culminating moment for the state and federal agencies that […]