Congress gives the highest protection to the area — to avoid an even-larger national monument.
Idaho
Posted inArticles
How a long-sought Idaho wilderness bill defies the odds
The threat of a national monument gets Boulder-White Clouds the highest protection.
Posted inArticles
Idaho mining dispute raises questions about the future of wilderness
A grandfathered mining claim has opened the doors to development.
Posted inArticles
Hundreds of lapsed permits found on Forest Service land
Expired water permit for Nestlé draws attention to flawed federal supervision.
Posted inArticles
Idaho’s Panther Creek comes back from the dead
Two decades after restoration began, life returns to a stream sterilized by mining.
Posted inArticles
A wilderness bill for both sides of the aisle
U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson tries another Boulder-White Clouds bill in Idaho.
Posted inArticles
In Idaho, new worries over nuclear shipments
With governor set to offer DOE waiver, nuclear waste fears return.
Posted inArticles
Livin’ on the dredge: Army Corps mucks out the Snake
Do the benefits of barge traffic outweigh the cost of dams?
Posted inArticles
Salmon ground is holy ground
As bishop of the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, my territory is home to the Columbia River, one of the great rivers of our continent. Whenever I have time and the Spirit allows, I travel throughout this region learning about its history and cultures, and studying its blessings and gifts. In Christian […]
Posted inArticles
The most important wildlife management plans you’ve never heard of
Western states scramble to prepare Wildlife Action Plans, due in 2015.
Posted inArticles
Water use is lower than it’s been in 45 years
U.S. population has grown by 105 million people since 1970, yet we somehow shrank our water footprint.
Posted inGoat
Closure of federal sheep facility would be a victory for grizzlies
On the last day of August, 2012, a collared grizzly bear dubbed 726 by federal wildlife biologists vanished into the rugged Centennial Mountains on the Idaho-Montana border. A few weeks later, they recovered his collar near an established campsite. It appeared to have been cut, stoking suspicions that hunters may have shot the bear, a […]
Posted inAugust 4, 2014: Idaho's Sewer System
Idaho’s sewer system is the Snake River
As Big Ag flourishes, this massive waterway suffers.
Posted inJune 9, 2014: Border Out of Control
When a parent dies, do we let the house fall?
Every generation must decide what to do with the lives that preceded theirs.
Posted inJune 9, 2014: Border Out of Control
Snowmobiling for science in Idaho
Scientists and snowmobilers team up for smarter wolverine management.
Posted inJune 9, 2014: Border Out of Control
The first college degree in drones, a baby born in Walmart parking lot and more
IDAHOIn the TV studio, the faces of the journalists questioning the four Republican would-be candidates for Idaho governor sometimes registered dismay, other times wonder. They simply could not believe what they were hearing, when Walt Bayes declared his “main loyalty” was to God and against vile affections and wickedness, when motorcyclist Harley Brown boasted that […]
Posted inGoat
The suburbs didn’t die — just short-circuited
Wasn’t it just a few months ago that we were all celebrating the death of the suburbs? Both Millennials and Boomers, and perhaps many of those in between, were headed for the walkable, vibrant urban core. We would bulldoze no more desert for McMansions; sunflowers would invade exurban golf courses; and the expressways built to […]
Posted inGoat
Discovery: Good ol’ tallgrass was formed by good ol’ bacteria
It’s always tempting to reflect on how wonderful the West used to be. You know what I mean: Conservationists and Natives lament that the first invasions by white settlers wrecked everything, and ranchers and loggers long for a return to the era before 750-page environmental-impact statements. Who among us hasn’t conjured up wistful images of […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
Can rocks and paintballs help humans and mountain goats coexist?
An alternative approach to wildlife management in the Olympic National Forest.
Posted inOctober 14, 2013: The New Geronimo?
Is this heaven? No, it’s Idaho
Godforsaken Idaho: StoriesShawn Vestal,209 pages, softcover:$15.95.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Shawn Vestal sets the stories in his focused yet far-reaching debut collection among regular Mormon folks who live in Idaho, touching on their lives in the past, the present and even the afterworld. Most of his characters have fallen away from their faith or are struggling […]