Well, so much for the great land-use greening of 2000. Colorado and Arizona’s bold citizen initiatives to toughen their states’ growth-management rules both went down in flames. Colorado’s Amendment 24 rode high all summer, but support for the proposed constitutional amendment to require towns to map future growth and obtain voter approval for changes fell […]
Communities
Posted inNovember 20, 2000: Water pressure
In Arizona’s growth fight, advertising defined reality
The television ad showed a truck unloading a port-a-potty in the desert, while a family of four stood by with forlorn faces. A voice-over warned that if Arizona’s growth-control initiative passed, a family wouldn’t be able to get water or sewer for a new home outside the boundaries. As a youth walked into the port-a-potty, […]
Posted inNovember 6, 2000: 'Re-inhabitation' revisited
Sprawl will be televised
ARIZONA, COLORADO It seemed obvious. The media love controversy, and in Arizona and Colorado, growth-control initiatives on the Nov. 7 ballot have been extremely controversial (HCN, 10/23/00: Arizona’s 202 takes aim at sprawl). So of course the public-minded, public-broadcast stations would want to air Subdivide and Conquer, a film about sprawl. Yet the film has […]
Posted inNovember 6, 2000: 'Re-inhabitation' revisited
‘Re-inhabitation’ revisited
The new invasion of the rural Northwest
Posted inNovember 6, 2000: 'Re-inhabitation' revisited
Heard around the West
Is this a tale for Ripley’s Believe It or Not? A moose in Whitefish, Mont., threw itself at a car driven by a woman who loves moose so much her license plates read moosie1 and moosie2. The suicidal moose, probably a victim of raging hormones during the rutting season, “really shook up the driver,” reports […]
Posted inNovember 6, 2000: 'Re-inhabitation' revisited
Outlaws on an upscale road
When I moved to Teton County, Wyo., two decades ago, I lived in a sagging, second-hand pup tent for the summer. The tipi I moved into that winter felt palatial by comparison. Almost everyone I knew then lived in wall tents, tipis, yurts, or cabins with no plumbing. Even when the temperature fell past 30 […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Where cultures collide
Travelers on Route I-84 may speed past Ontario, Ore., with nary a glance. But the decision not to stop at this agricultural center is their loss, because the town houses one of the best historical and cultural centers in the West. The Four Rivers Cultural Center celebrates the confluence of cultures in the Western Treasure […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Arizona’s 202 takes aim at sprawl
Note: a sidebar article, “Colorado’s growth amendment rouses voters,” accompanies this story. ORACLE, Ariz. – On a Pinal County cattle ranch about 30 miles northwest of Tucson, El Salvadoran-born real estate broker and developer Alex Argueta envisions thousands of homes, as well as shopping centers, high-tech parks, vineyards and several resorts and golf courses. He […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Colorado’s growth amendment rouses voters
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Landscape photographer John Fielder is a household name in Colorado, but he hasn’t had time to document the changing aspen leaves this fall. He’s too busy championing Colorado’s proposed Amendment 24. “From now until Nov. 7, the camera’s packed away, until we […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Heard around the West
The Seattle-Post Intelligencer tries to be conscientious during election season, interviewing by its count more than 100 candidates. Perhaps surreptitiously, the staff of the daily also write down the silliest comments from would-be public servants. Among the paper’s top 10: I was born into leadership – period. Give the Indians Food Stamps to buy salmon. […]
Posted inOctober 11, 2004: The First Family of Western Conservation
Heard Around the West
MONTANA For 30 years, says biologist Charles Jonkel, he’s tried to educate people about grizzlies and black bears. He started an International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Mont., 28 years ago to spread the word that ethical standards were needed for making films about the animals. Nonetheless, he says, thrill-seeking has gained ever-wider prominence, with […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Illegal immigrants take jobs from Americans
I am a native-born New Mexico Hispanic. I often write letters to newspapers on a subject which those without an Hispanic last name dare not write: the urgent need for immigration reform. This nation’s immigration policy, begun in 1965, is a disaster. It hurts minorities, the poor, the environment – as we see dramatically here […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
The hunters and the hunted
The Arizona-Mexico borderturns into the 21st century frontier
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
New Mexico’s secret sport
Cockfighting in the land ofenchantment
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Border lures the young
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. “I’ve been crossing the border more than 20 times. But never was it hard like it is right now.” The bearded man in the black T-shirt has the kind of intelligent face that convinces me that someday he will be a real estate mogul, […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
A sympathetic landowner
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. “I’m not sure why people are mad at ’em,” says Jerry Bohmfalk. “I think they’re mad at ’em because they’re poor.” Jerry Bohmfalk looks like the Marlboro Man but talks like the well-traveled corporate consultant that he became after earning his Ph.D. in integrated […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Sanctuary movement revives
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Cochise County is nothing if not a place of extremes. The county’s small towns are bastions of the black-helicopter set, but the old copper-mining burg of Bisbee was taken over by artists, hippies and long-haired drug runners in the 1970s. Today, even Bisbee is […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Does the “death tax’ protect open space?
The federal estate tax affects only the wealthiest 2 percent of the U.S. population. So why should most Westerners care about the current Republican push to repeal it? One reason is that part of that wealth isn’t cash. It’s undeveloped land. And in some cases, the threat of estate taxes keeps it permanently undeveloped. Here’s […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
‘Snooty’ garages banned
In keeping with Portland’s pedestrian-friendly building codes, city council commissioners have been waging a war on oversized garages. The Portland City Council unanimously concluded that “snout houses’ – the tract homes dominated by garages thrusting toward the street – lack community spirit and make pedestrians feel less safe. “These houses don’t (just) turn their backs […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Taos Art Association
The Taos Art Association is raffling off 40 acres of piûon and juniper-studded meadows. Tickets cost $50, and the winner of the Jan. 1, 2001, drawing will have the choice of either the land, located in Lindrith, N.M., or $10,000. The event raises money to reopen the association’s community auditorium. Call 505/758-2052 or visit www.taosnet.com/taa/raffle. […]