Hoping to galvanize the environmental movement in the United States, one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in the world began five years ago to give money directly to the country’s best and brightest conservationists. It’s the Pew Charitable Trust’s Pew Scholars Program, which so far has doled out 50 grants of $150,000 to people from […]
Communities
Posted inMarch 20, 1995: The fight for Reclamation
Gambling with small towns
In three Colorado mountain towns where gambling has been allowed since 1990, four out of 10 residents would now like to move out, according to a study by the University of Colorado. Knocking on every door, researchers found that residents want to take flight because of the rapid and drastic changes in their communities. Although […]
Posted inMarch 20, 1995: The fight for Reclamation
Tales from the West
The in-laws are a steady, insistent, increasingly frantic chorus of disapproval over her plans. But, Mary! How can you expect to go to college and take good care of a husband and a baby? Finally, We’re going to put our foot down! She knows that somehow she has got to extricate herself from these sappy […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 1995: No more ignoring the obvious: Idaho sucks itself dry
Jackson voters say yes to planning
At a time when the nation’s electorate has turned decidedly anti-government, Jackson, Wyo., voters said yes to an extensive set of new zoning and land-use regulations. The new laws, which curb commercial, lodging and residential growth in town, won with 55 percent of the ballots in a Jan. 31 special election. Eight hundred and fifty […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 1995: No more ignoring the obvious: Idaho sucks itself dry
Wheel Your Way through Winter
WHEEL YOUR WAY THROUGH WINTER There is more to winter driving than turning on the heater full blast, buckling up and stepping on the gas. According to a 15-minute instructional video out of Wyoming, the most important winter driving factor is your choice of tires. People from warm climates often come to the inland West […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 1995: No more ignoring the obvious: Idaho sucks itself dry
Salmon campaign fractures over how to include people
SALMON, Idaho – Environmentalists ignited a firestorm in central Idaho by requesting a blanket injunction on all logging, mining and grazing on six national forests to protect endangered salmon habitat. U.S. District Judge Daniel Ezra of Honolulu, filling in for a sick Idaho judge, granted the injunction on Jan. 12, lighting the fuse. Within a […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 1995: No more ignoring the obvious: Idaho sucks itself dry
Waaaaaaaaaaaahh! The West refuses to be weaned
RESERVE, N.M. – Ah, the West, where the spaces are wide open and the skies are big, where they know when to hold “em and when to fold “em, where the handclasp is a little stronger and the smile dwells a little longer and where, above all, men are men. Not really. In fact, the […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
Airports show difference between Denver and Utah
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, The West sings the Denver airport blues. It’ll be far more expensive for airlines to operate at Denver’s new airport than at other airports in the West – which puts the Denver hub at a new disadvantage. To recoup the higher charges, airlines are […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
Ambition becomes a megamess
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, The West sings the Denver airport blues. “To our despair, (megaprojects) often develop lives of their own, and their lives sometimes defy control by us mere mortals.” – An unnamed Exxon engineer, quoted in the Rand Corp. study, Understanding the Outcomes of Megaprojects When […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
Plucky ‘Batman and Robin’ make an airport their case
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, The West sings the Denver airport blues. Excerpts from a free-ranging interview with two of the most effective critics of Denver International Airport. PAUL EARLE: We have to keep buying new file drawers, shifting them around to make room for more. We’ve got more […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
An ersatz democracy gets what it deserves
In the late 1980s, the city and county of Denver chose to look away from a deteriorating public school system, dirty air, traffic jams and inadequate public transportation, to pour $10 billion into 53 square miles of prairie out toward Kansas. As this special issue shows, the decision to build Denver International Airport was made […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
Developer paralyzes Jackson’s new plan
JACKSON, Wyo. – Jackson officials thought they were in the clear when they adopted the town’s new zoning master plan in November. They had spent an agonizing three years writing and revising the document. A small army of consultants and lawyers finally sanctioned it. Thousands of hours of public hearings had been logged. At the […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 1995: What a long strange trip it's been
The West sings the Denver airport blues
It was billed as a black-tie gala: Denver’s finest coming together to celebrate the grand opening of the city’s new international airport. Nearly 4,000 people were trying to breathe life into the cathedral-like terminal building, where banquet tables had been set on a granite floor meant for the footsteps of millions of air travelers. A […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Looter nabbed in Utah
The man who once bragged he could outsmart anybody and never get caught has been indicted again for allegedly plundering an ancient Indian ruin. BLM agents caught Earl Shumway, 37, and his accomplice, Peter Verchick, 24, digging up an Anasazi alcove in southeastern Utah in mid-October, reports AP. A search warrant later turned up other […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Arizonan gets crosswise with neighbors
A call from the Lord to erect a 70-foot Celtic cross and 30-foot statue of the Madonna has not gone over well with some people in the southern Arizona town of Sierra Vista. Jerry and Pat Chouinard plan a $500,000 project that includes a chapel and a 10-car parking lot – as well as the […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Don’t dump on tourists
Those who blame tourism for dissolving ties in small towns and increasing living costs are on the wrong track, say some planning experts. It’s “the real estate community that is corrupting towns,” said Myles Rademan, public affairs director for Park City, Utah, at a Telluride, Colo., summer travel symposium. Other panelists also targeted escalating real […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
We can’t save the land without first saving the West
Once a month I spend several hours with what I affectionately call my “wise-use” group. It’s not really a wise-use group but at first glance it resembles one. Members include the six county commissioners from Delta and Montrose counties here in western Colorado, a rancher, a timber mill employee, a coal miner, a banker, and […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
Land-use plan is disemboweled
Kalispell, Mont. – Over the breakfast special at the Outlaw Inn, Steve Herbaly reflected on the joys of his job as director of planning for Flathead County. Only the night before, he and his staff had been called socialists, communists and general purveyors of the demise of America at a public hearing over the county’s […]
Posted inDecember 26, 1994: Albuquerque learns it really is a desert town
What to do when opposition to planning turns ugly
Note: this article is a sidebar to a news article titled “Land-use plan is disemboweled.” When the numerous and vocal opponents of the Flathead plan suddenly came out of the woodwork last summer, it was a shock to many people. But it was probably no accident. “That’s a typical strategy,” says Tarso Ramos of the […]
Posted inDecember 12, 1994: Shrink to fit
Noose threatens planning supporter
Ellen Gray locks her office door when she’s at work. Since she was threatened during a public meeting in Everett, Wash., this month, her job as director of the Pilchuck Audubon Society’s SmartGrowth Campaign seems a high-risk occupation. Gray had just testified about a proposed land-use ordinance at a Snohomish County Council hearing when a […]