The December afternoon was dry and warm as I eased my car along a remote, rock-studded road on Canyons of the Ancients National Monument near Cortez, Colo. I hadn’t seen another soul, so it was a surprise when I came around a curve at 5 mph and spied a Ford pickup parked facing me in […]
Essays
Posted inWotr
Why the growth apologists are wrong
There are two arguments defending sprawl in the West that never seem to end, and I hope I can convince you that both are flawed. The first argument is that current residents must not try to “shut the door” on growth because they have no right to deny others what they enjoy. Forget for a […]
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There are perils in cowboy diplomacy
If there is one thing President George Bush has figured out, it’s the importance of a 10-gallon hat to the American electorate. We adore the cowboy politician, no matter if it’s a pose. No one cares that he was educated at Phillips and Yale, is the grandson of a patrician senator from Connecticut, and summered […]
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Reporters need to play a better numbers game
For nearly a decade, proposals to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have been at the heart of a political debate that touches on a wide range of potent issues: the moral and military implications of America’s dependence on foreign energy supplies, the proper balance between stewardship and exploitation of natural resources, […]
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Dreams for sale in Leadville, Colorado
The latest team of economic-development consultants to visit Leadville, Colo., recently presented its cure for this former mining town’s chronic economic ills. According to these experts, Leadville could create jobs, attract new businesses and people and rebuild its tax base by constructing an industrial park and expanding its local airport to handle 737-type jets. My […]
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Come in, Krispy Kreme
Idaho may have gained the dubious distinction of leading the West in regressive economic innovations. In the small town of Blackfoot, local police will soon show off the first of their three new police cruisers, all free to the taxpayer. Well, not exactly free. The patrol cars will cost a buck, and there is a […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
The son of immigrants has a change of heart
It is an urban legend, but I believe it. A traveling salesman wrote to a hotel, complaining that he’d been bitten by bedbugs. He got a lengthy letter of apology back, saying that bedbugs had never been seen on the premises or even within blocks of the hotel. Inside the envelope, he also found a […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Living on the sharp edge of diversity
Blake told us about the killings when we returned from vacation. As we pulled away from Denver International Airport’s glowing tent terminal, he said, “There was a shooting in Rifle. Four people got killed at the City Market. It looks like the guy was going after Mexicans.” I glanced at Anjula, my wife. She stared […]
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The West’s cities should trump agriculture
On New Year’s Eve, the normally placid pumping station of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California at Lake Havasu felt tense. Armed security guards on the scene since 9/11 seemed grim, and tourists seeking bird-watching information were turned away. It recalled those old black-and-white pictures from when Owens Valley farmers blew up the original […]
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Lewis and Clark: Their footprints are gone
Not long ago I was assigned a story for an outdoor magazine. The idea was to find a small portion of the Lewis and Clark trail that remains relatively unchanged since their storied journey, to go there and immerse myself for a couple of days, following their footsteps, and report on the experience. No problem, […]
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Compromise can take more courage than taking a stand
Sometimes it takes more courage to compromise than to take a stand. That has become true for many of the ranchers, environmentalists and local officials fighting over the last wild places left in the West. The people whose lives are most tied to the scenic landscapes of the region have been asked to take sides […]
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The bedbug letter, as it applies to overpopulation
It is an urban legend, but I believe it. A travelling salesman complained to a hotel that he’d been bitten by bedbugs. He got a lengthy apology back saying that bedbugs had never been seen on the premises or even within blocks of the hotel. Inside the envelope he also found a note: “Send the […]
Posted inWotr
The origin of names
As a child, I was fascinated by surnames. Was someone named King descended from royalty? How did Carl come to have so many sons? Then I moved to a small town, where the issue is not so theoretical. Among my friends, for example, are Dave and Sue The Writers and Tom The Guy Who Does […]
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The message of trees marked in blue
In late December, just after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated protection for all of the roadless national forests we have left in the West, I walked up Deadwood Ridge in southern Idaho to see what we’d saved. The trail climbs through a ponderosa pine forest that continues to evade logging. Back in 1996, […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
A winter drive into oblivion
Sometimes it can’t be helped, that long drive across the West, rolling the odometer like a slot machine that promises to pay off with just one more spin. The gas gauge hovers around half and it looks like you’ll get there without stopping again in the middle of who knows where. Home is all you […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
High tea in the wilderness and a toast to thelight
Solstice means “sun standing still.” Today is the darkest day, but tonight the moon will be full. Temperatures hover below freezing, and a skiff of snow hints at winter, although the colors are end-of-fall browns: brown bunchgrass, brown pine, elderly ponderosas. In western Montana, we are living the driest December on record, drier than the […]
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Who are we?
I spend a lot of time alone. Most writers, if they are lucky, do. I’ve been fine-tuning a memoir, facing into truths about myself I would rather forget. As I turn to national newspapers and magazines in the deluded effort to unwind after too much time in my own company, I find myself wondering who […]
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On the road with Edward Abbey, chaos as usual
(Editor’s note: Renowned Western writer Edward Abbey, who died in 1989, would have celebrated his 76th birthday this Jan. 29, 2003.) About this time of year, almost 30 years ago, the writer Ed Abbey and I were laboring through the exurbs of Ajo, in the south of Arizona. We were driving on a miserable backcountry […]
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A timber mill’s demise shakes everybody up
I recently had the privilege of listening to the business manager of a lumber mill in Seeley, Mont., talk frankly about what to do when a small town’s major employer pulls the plug. Comptroller Loren Rose of Pyramid Lumber was invited to Libby, Mont., because that’s where Stimson Lumber had just laid off 300 workers. […]
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There’s a wilderness niche for mountain biking
I’m a mountain bicyclist. The pleasure of my life is pedaling through wild places, experiencing the views, the changing colors and textures of the plant life, the occasional animal sightings. On the trail, I’m renewed, and my commitment to public-land preservation is strengthened. I think that’s the way most mountain bikers feel, and historically, we’ve […]