Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Lisa Jones’ cover article in the Jan. 31, 2000 High Country News essays the travails Lyle McNeal has encountered with his Churro sheep. While I can’t judge the accuracy of the whole article, the portion I have personal knowledge of is just plain wrong! The writer states that Dr. McNeal’s sheep were used […]

Dear HCN, In “Experiment takes the cut out of logging” (HCN, 1/17/00: Experiment takes the cut out of logging), Mark Matthews writes, “Some environmentalists who have followed the (Flathead Forestry Project) group fear that, like the Quincy Library Group in Northern California, stewardship contracts put land that is owned by every U.S. taxpayer in the […]

Dear HCN, I have some problems with Jon Margolis’ Washington Watch (HCN, 1/31/00: Protesters raised the right questions): Some anti-WTO demonstrators’ arguments might or might not have been “silly,” but one adjective does not constitute a counterargument. Some of the costumes were “silly’? We readers and the protesters in the street struggles deserve more than […]

Dear HCN, If many families elected to have eight children, as Lyle McNeal did (HCN, 1/31/00: Searching for pasture), there would be no space available to pasture his Churro sheep. In fact, it will be “Standing Room Only” for humans on our fragile planet. Lew VavraLaramie, Wyoming This article appeared in the print edition of […]

Dear HCN, I can’t quite figure why Peggy Godfrey’s story got front-page coverage (HCN, 12/6/99: Peggy Godfrey’s long, strange trip). While she is certainly an interesting person, her life and outlook are neither unique nor visionary. She appears to view the world through the same narrow slot common to many other ranchers. Her awareness and […]

Dear HCN, I was born and raised in Idaho near Sun Valley. The Wood River Valley was an incredible place in which to grow up; I was as carefree as Huck Finn. The fishing and hunting were fantastic, and it wasn’t considered politically incorrect then. Idaho’s scenery was beautiful and pristine, and the “undesignated wilderness’ […]

Dear HCN, Many thanks for Allen Best’s excellent feature story on the White River National Forest Plan (HCN, 1/17/00: STOP – A national forest tries to rein in recreation). On a related topic, a conference held in December in Snowmass, Colo., provided in-depth dialogue on many of the issues at play in the White River […]

Dear HCN, I almost needed earplugs to read your cover story, “STOP: A national forest tries to rein in recreation” (HCN, 1/17/00); seems that some folks thought their oxen would never get gored, and are now caterwauling as if flesh wounds were fatalities. It’s kind of entertaining, and long overdue. Recreation has become, with our […]

Dear HCN, It is with a saddened heart that I read the article about the lawsuit against Naropa University (HCN, 12/6/99). I am a recent graduate (1998), and Eagle Cruz taught Environmental Studies, which is the degree I received. I enrolled in every course Eagle taught, and he was one of my favorite professors. He […]

Dear HCN, In the 12/20/99 “Hotline” column, HCN reported that “… at a Flathead forest meeting in Kalispell, conservationists were shouted down.” While it is true that we were shouted at, booed, hissed and told to prepare to shed blood, we were not shouted down. Testimony by conservationists in favor of the Clinton roadless initiative […]

Dear HCN, The revised White River Forest Plan does not sound that different from the revised Targhee Forest Plan, so it is not all that precedent-setting (HCN, 1/17/00). The Targhee Forest Plan closed 93 percent of the forest to motorized use of any kind, including all summer cross-country ORV use, eliminated nine livestock allotments, set […]

Dear HCN, Karen Mockler’s article, “Counties grab for control of national forests’ (HCN, 12/20/99) alerted me to a pair of bills being debated in Congress. HR 2389, the “County Schools Funding Revitalization Act” already has passed the House of Representatives, and its companion piece with the brotherly name, “Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination […]

Dear HCN, Your romantic piece of fluff about ranching in the San Luis Valley (HCN, 12/6/99) does a disservice to all of us who are trying to envision a positive future for the West. I have come to expect a much higher standard of journalism from you. We must, I repeat MUST, move away from […]

Dear HCN, I applaud Annie Conner and the Clearwater National Forest in their efforts to erase roads and recreate some semblance of an ecologically viable system in north-central Idaho (HCN, 11/8/99). Although I, too, have used many a Forest Service road, I will gladly curtail my off-road driving time for the good of the system, […]

Dear HCN, I was interested in the views of William Cronon, and his defender, William R. Dickinson, that we need a new vision of wilderness that takes into account the effects humans had on the North American environment in the pre-Columbian period (HCN, 12/6/99). These views are also similar to those of Prof. Charles Kay […]

Dear HCN, We immediately found two errors on the front page of your article “Unleashing the Snake” (HCN, 12/20/99). Lower Granite Dam is not in Idaho – it is in Washington (see your map on page 11). And coho salmon are not also called king – they are called silver (the king is also called […]

Dear HCN, “Bulldozers Roll in Tucson” described the tragedy one can expect when wildlife gets in the way of children – and their parents. I learned this lesson at a middle school built in a piûon-juniper forest near Cedar City, Utah. The spring after the school opened, roaming students spotted a nearby great horned owl […]

Dear HCN, Your article on Washington County’s Habitat Conservation Plan in southern Utah (HCN, 8/30/99) failed to make it clear that the plan is already successfully protecting tortoises inside the 61,000-acre Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and that the county is working further to reduce impacts to tortoises. With the help of federal, state and local […]

Dear HCN, As one who lives on a dirt road, drives a lot of them, and was a volunteer emergency medical tech for 12 years, I can testify that driving 75 on the road driven by Peggy Godfrey, however straight, even in daytime, endangers the driver, wildlife, cattle, and anyone or anything else in the […]

Dear HCN, I think Todd Wilkinson should check his facts a bit more thoroughly next time he writes an article such as “Forest Service sets off into uncharted territory” (HCN, 11/8/99). He states that the BlueRibbon Coalition “receives significant funding from OHV manufacturers and timber companies.” I suppose this depends on your definition of “significant.” […]