In my family, we talk about hunting like it’s religion. My mom bemoans the fact that none of us have the kind of faith in God that “seems to hold other families together,” but at least, she sighs, there’s Hunting. Opening day’s the occasion we all come home for, more than Thanksgiving or Easter, more […]
Essays
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Third-party votes count for plenty
Political conversations this fall often include the observation that “We need a third party.” In the Mountain West, the most reliably Republican part of America, the reply is often “Third party? Wouldn’t it make more sense to start by having a second party?” Soon comes a practical admonition that unless you cast a ballot for […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
When ‘hunting’ becomes staggeringly stupid
“Canned hunting” is the term critics use when referring to the “sport” of paying thousands of dollars for the privilege of executing “wild” animals trapped in escape-proof enclosures on “game ranches.” The term is overtly derogatory, but hardly derogatory enough. “Pay-per-kill” or “execution by contract” are more apt, as there’s no hunting involved, canned or […]
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 inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Clean fuel, dirty neighbors
We should be a little grateful this time around. The West’s last energy boom threatened the region with mountains of spent oil shale, huge pits from which the rock had been taken, air pollution from coal gasification plants, and large ditches carrying Columbia River water into the Colorado River Basin. This latest energy boom is […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
The hope of a freshly planted field
Growing up, I often despised the cornfields surrounding my parents’ house outside of Bozeman, Mont. By the end of July, the plants rose to the sky, blocking our view and trapping their own musty sweat. When I pulled on patched jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, my eyes heavy at 6 a.m., the fields meant hard […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Of bison, the French and our faux wild
There’s an inside joke in these parts that Yellowstone bison have a thing for French photographers. It’s a weird twist on dwarf tossing, this propensity of theirs to spear and fling men with names like Jacques and Pierre. Now, this is not a hard and fast rule. The most recent casualty was an elderly Australian […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Truth-telling needs a home in the West
Brothers is a store and a highway rest stop 43 miles east of the New West boomtown of Bend in central Oregon. It is also home to some of the most shocking roadside markers we saw in 3,600 miles of Western travel this summer. After days of reading highway signs that painted the surrounding area […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Down the Rio Grande, one piece at a time
Ernie Atencio’s cover story about Questa, N.M., and the story on page 3 about the silvery minnow are the latest installments in our series on the Rio Grande. We kicked off the series, funded by the McCune Foundation, last fall with a special issue titled, “Imagine a River” (HCN, 10/11/99: Imagine a river). Most series […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
Squishy-soft processes – hard results
In Nye, Mont., and in Paonia, Colo., two difficult disputes were recently resolved by people sitting together at a table. In Montana, the fight was about hardrock mining and 1,000 jobs. In Colorado, it was about coal mining and several hundred jobs. Each dispute involved tens of millions of dollars in investment capital, public land […]
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
The latest salmon plan heads toward a train wreck
Federal officials released on July 27 their long-awaited plan for saving 12 stocks of endangered salmon in the Snake and Columbia rivers. As expected, they stopped short of recommending to Congress what the majority of scientists say may be necessary to prevent Snake River salmon from going extinct – breaching four federal dams in eastern […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Native American wannabes: Beware the Weasel Spirit
I once stayed at an upscale spa that had a Native American theme. We padded around on Navajo rugs, awoke to morning drumming and disrobed in locker rooms referred to as kivas. At night, instead of finding a chocolate on my pillow, there was a woven dream catcher. This failed to soothe my Spirit Self. […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
The next great adventure: Stay home
The cover of a recent issue of National Geographic Adventure proclaims “America’s Best! The Adventure 100.” Topping the “adrenaline trip” list are the Colorado River and the White Rim Trail in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. In the “Letter from the Editor,” John Rasmus muses: “We need vacations! We all need to decompress from the rigors […]
Posted inJuly 3, 2000: A river resurrected
Los Alamos fire offers a lesson in humility
The Cerro Grande fire in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico blackened 42,869 acres, destroyed the homes of 400 families, and penetrated the security of Los Alamos National Laboratories more effectively than any Cold War enemy. In much the same way that the Cerro Grande restarted ecological succession on the scorched slopes above Los […]
Posted inJuly 3, 2000: A river resurrected
Fires illuminate our illusions in the Southwest
Air, earth, water and fire. In the dry Southwest, the ancient fundamentals emerge clearly, and act upon each other in plain sight. When the wind moves rapidly above the earth after water has been scarce, little fires become big fires, and big lessons. For a few days after the fire at Los Alamos, the usual […]
Posted inMay 30, 2005: Write-off on the Range
Starry Eyes
Recently, at mid-afternoon on a rainy day, I looked up at the cloud-burdened sky and missed the stars. Truly missed them. I felt the kind of wistful pangs that you might feel when remembering a long-gone but beloved grandparent, or a teenage sweetheart who once misunderstood you. I knew they were up there — the […]
Posted inMay 22, 2000: Save Our Sagebrush
‘Los Alamos is burning’
Los Alamos is burning. My wife stands in front of the TV in our home in Lewiston, Idaho, watching CNN with her hands to her face, tears in her eyes. She is whispering softly, a litany of actions from deep in her memory. “They have to pack their things. They have to take the family […]
Posted inMay 22, 2000: Save Our Sagebrush
Yelling fire in a crowded West
I was in Jackson, Wyo., in fall 1988, right after Yellowstone National Park burned to the ground. School children were contributing nickels and dimes to build it back up, and there was a lynch-mob attitude in the town toward the National Park Service and other federal agencies (HCN, 9/26/88). Today, the Yellowstone fires are celebrated […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Restoring our future
Note: This essay appears in the print edition of this issue as a sidebar to a feature story. Moments of affirmation are rare in Washington, D.C. So I was pleased to run into a friend, living now in Los Angeles, whom I last saw in college, and to hear her excitement about the Forest Service’s […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Why I ride the bus
Only one other passenger waits to catch the 6:47 a.m. commuter bus from Pullman to Moscow, Idaho. She is pleasant looking, well dressed, with Walkman headphones snaking up out of her sweater. Because I ride this bus regularly, I’ve learned some details of this woman’s life. Whitney Houston is her favorite singer. The woman has […]