Efforts to restore an ecosystem are bold but controversial
Growth & Sustainability
Posted inFebruary 17, 2003: Wyoming at a crossroads
Conservation pays off in a desert town
A plan to purchase state land could save open space — and make money for schools
Posted inWotr
Talking trash in a national monument
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 […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Road warriors back on the offensive
Christmas Eve announcement reignites controversy over roads in wilderness areas, parks and monuments
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
New lands boss takes the reins
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Project mixes suburbs with nature preserve.” SANTA FE, New Mexico — Last month, Pat Lyons was fighting two-foot snowdrifts and looking for a hired man to replace him on his 15,000-acre ranch near Cuervo, on New Mexico’s […]
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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 […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Ranching conference secrets revealed!
Ever wonder what transpires at a ranch and reform conference, but lacked the chance to see for yourself? Now, you can: “Ranching West of the 100th Meridian,” a landmark conference held at Colorado State University, is available on four 50-minute videos. For three days in spring 2000, conferees chewed the cud about ranching in the […]
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Public servants may go the way of the dodo
President Bush wants to privatize 425,000 federal jobs, one-quarter of the nation’s positions that are product or service-oriented in nature. Workers who exercise discretion, set policies and budgets, or perform other duties that are “inherently governmental” are immune from the process, for the time being. Does this sound good for private enterprise? Sure, for some […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Outside the agency, it’s a cold, cruel world
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “The push is on to privatize federal jobs.” Displaced federal workers will likely enter a brave new world when they step outside their agencies. The life of a contract forest crew, for example, is a far cry […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Cow-free crowd ignores science, sprawl
The West is tiny when pitted against our imagining of it. We imagined the buffalo would never be extinguished and the beaver would never be trapped out. We imagined big trees would always stand over the next ridge. But in a short time, the mountain men and buffalo hunters and loggers rolled over this alleged […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Ranching advocates lack a rural vision
In the summer of 2000, in the midst of one of the most intense droughts in the Southwest in decades, I was radicalized by fire. During an 11-day backpack across the Gila Wilderness, my companion and I came across one of the rarest events in the cow-burnt landscapes of the West – a gentle fire, […]
Posted inWotr
Ranchers in the West should call it quits
In the summer of 2000, in the midst of one of the most intense droughts in the Southwest in decades, I was radicalized by fire. During an 11-day backpack across the Gila Wilderness, my companion and I came across one of the rarest events in the cow-burnt landscapes of the West — a gentle fire, […]
Posted inNovember 25, 2002: Planning's poster child grows up
Report slams BLM’s land-exchange process
For years, watchdog groups have said the Bureau of Land Management underestimates the value of the land it trades away to states and private landowners, effectively giving away chunks of the public domain worth billions of dollars (HCN, 2/18/02: Groundswell for a monument?). A new report, released in mid-October, adds credence to those claims and […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2002: Behind the gate
Land swap too hot to handle
WYOMING Taxpayers may have a fire on their hands if a land-swap proposal goes through. In the trade, the Bureau of Land Management would give the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co. 2,045 acres in Sheridan County, Wyo., believed to hold about 107 million tons of coal. In exchange, the BLM would receive 5,923 acres […]
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We care for our public lands more than we know
Hear the debate rage. As someone once said, academics get so angry at each other because the stakes are so small. “The author does not seem to understand, and thus misrepresents, many of the concepts he wants scrutinized,” asserts one scientist. “I focus on what appears to be the source of his snappishness,” says another. […]
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Fee demo on our public lands is a rip-off
If there’s a basic flaw in the government’s Recreation Fee Demonstration Program, or “fee demo,” it’s that it represents a form of regressive taxes, or double taxation. We, the people, already pay taxes for the management of public lands, and now, under fee demo, we are required to pay again for their use. That strikes […]
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A railroad through Wyoming and South Dakota grasslands is a stab to the heart
If the legal appeals don’t work, two of the nation’s three largest grasslands will become home to the biggest railroad project since Abraham Lincoln was president. Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad plans to build a 260-mile line through Buffalo Gap National Grassland in South Dakota and Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming. The line would […]
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If it’s good for Florida, it’s good for Montana and the West, too
If Florida Gov. Jeb Bush were governor of Montana, would the Rocky Mountain Front get highest-level protection from future oil and gas development? You bet it would. This May President Bush announced that he intended to buy back more than $200 million worth of oil and gas leases off the Florida coast and in the […]
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Ranchers are down, but don’t count us out
How are ranchers and farmers faring through this terrible drought? Will we quit farming and ranching voluntarily? Not on your life. For some, unfortunately, it will be their last year. Reading the advertisements for livestock auctions tells the story: “Selling due to the drought.” Ranchers almost never sell herds of mother cows, just a few […]
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A river, a bird and a flock of untruths
Geez, all those punches must sting. In Nebraska and its neighboring Plains states, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and other employees are again taking shots right and left from critics. It would be one thing if those blows were legitimate – almost all of them, however, hit below the belt. A recent Fish and […]