When it was established in 1922, South Dakota’s Fossil Cycad National Monument possessed the world’s most significant beds of fossilized, Cretaceous Age cycads, large, fern-like plants. But management was left to local ranchers, and paleontologists working the site received limited federal support. By the time the state historical society offered to take over in 1955, […]
Infographic
Posted inSeptember 5, 2011: For the love of hummers
PG&E conservation lands
PG&E made 140,000 acres of watershed lands available for conservation as part of a bankruptcy settlement with the state of California, which bailed the utility company out. The nonprofit Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council is disposing of the parcels, shown here in grey.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2011: For the love of hummers
Flight risks: Cities reduce hazards for migrating birds
What do you picture when you think about migratory birds? Chattering snow geese dropping in a feathery cloud to the surface of a reservoir? Or a sunlit marsh filled with amorous sandhill cranes, twirling and prancing for prospective mates? What you probably don’t envision is a metal-and-glass metropolis teeming with cars, people and pets. But […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2011: For the love of hummers
Citizen scientists gather data on wildlife
The wildlife species about which we have little or no information far outnumber those that are thoroughly studied and documented. Basic population trends are missing for even some of the best-known species, such as the Mexican spotted owl and the northern leopard frog. Better coordination between state and federal agencies could ensure that researchers collect […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2011: Looking for Balance in Navajoland
Toads on high: tracking and photographing boreal toads
On a warm July morning, two biologists and three volunteers scramble up an alpine valley on the Williams Fork of the Colorado River, high in the Colorado Rockies. Their boots, scrubbed with disinfectant at 6 a.m., have become mud-sicles squelching through sucking, oily-sheened bogs. Hordes of mosquitoes pursue with zen-like focus. It’s not exactly Club […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2011: Looking for Balance in Navajoland
Down and out in the West
With all this talk of a possible double-dip recession, it’s disheartening to note that Western unemployment rates are still sky-high from the last economic crisis. Nevada leads the country for the 14th straight month, due to its almost complete reliance on the still-pretty-dilapidated housing, gaming and tourism industries.“Construction was a larger share of our economy […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2011: Ganjanomics
Biochar makeover for abandoned mines?
Abandoned mines — about 31,000 of them — linger like ghosts on the West’s public lands. It’s harder to find exact numbers for old mines on private land, but Colorado, for example, has about 14,000, compared to 3,299 public-land sites. In the San Juan Mountains, water from snowmelt and rainfall picks up mining remnants like […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2011: Ganjanomics
Settlements prompt federal decisions on hundreds of endangered species
Updated 8/8/2011 The Arctic grayling, found only in the Missouri River Basin’s upper reaches, became an endangered species candidate in 1994, meaning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that it deserved federal protection but did not list it because other species took priority. The grayling has languished there ever since, along with more than […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2011: The Global West
Global Players in the West’s Extraction Economy
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Posted inJuly 25, 2011: The Global West
Can YOU carry a concealed weapon in Wyoming? A guide
When President Obama took office, state lawmakers started loosening firearms restrictions, fearing the administration would try to toughen gun laws. It hasn’t, but states continue to relax their own. On July 1, Wyoming became one of four states to allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. (Arizona, Alaska and Vermont are the others.) […]
Posted inArticles
The growth of newspapers across the U.S.: 1690-2011
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Posted inJune 27, 2011: Hydrofracked?
Significant — and nutty — quotable moments in the state legislatures
Closing budget gaps and cutting spending — often steeply and painfully — dominated most Western legislative sessions, except in Wyoming, which is bolstered by oil, gas and mineral taxes. Colorado merged its parks and wildlife agencies; Nevada’s new public employees won’t enjoy health insurance in retirement; and Washington universities will hike tuition by more than […]
Posted inJune 27, 2011: Hydrofracked?
Wildfires burn big in Arizona and New Mexico
In the Southwest, this summer’s fire season looks like the worst since 2002. Years of severe drought and fire suppression have left Arizona and New Mexico forests loaded with fuel and drier than diner toast, and this winter’s La Niña weather pattern parched them even more. The massive Wallow Fire has surpassed the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski […]
Posted inJune 13, 2011: Under the Flight Path
Locked boxes
Post offices were among the first institutions in many frontier towns. Now, as Western outposts shrink, losing grocery stores and then gas stations, they’re among the last to leave, says Postal Service spokesman David Rupert. In 1900, there were about 77,000 post offices in the U.S.; today, there are just 27,000. The USPS is funded […]
Posted inJune 13, 2011: Under the Flight Path
State trust lands at a glance
Among publicly owned lands, state trust lands are an anomaly. Granted at statehood by the federal government, they run in patchwork patterns across the West, from the red Utah desert to the dense forests of Oregon. Their arrangement on the landscape is utterly arbitrary — generally, two square-mile sections, numbered 16 and 36 in every […]
