Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, I was glad to see your coverage of the crisis at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque (HCN, 10/25/99). While in New Mexico three years ago, I spent a day exploring that monument. With its eloquent, ageless images, it impressed me as a treasure of transcendent value, affording civilization a new and better way […]

Dear HCN, I was astounded to read Bob Hartley’s letter, which seems to declare that the issue of prairie dogs is not “of true significance to citizens of the U.S. West” (HCN, 9/13/99). Where has he been living? I greatly appreciated your article, as many communities which I have lived in over the past couple […]

Dear HCN, The author of “Battered Borderlands’ (HCN, 9/27/99) went to extra lengths to unfairly portray the Border Patrol as being totally oblivious of, and uncaring toward, the environmental impact of our activities in the desert. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been working diligently to comply with NEPA, and at 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.” […]

Dear HCN, Having lived and worked with illegal Mexican laborers for over 20 years from the Mexican border to South Dakota, I disagree with Jack McGarvey’s essay and description of the U.S. Border Patrol as irritating and oppressive (HCN, 10/11/99). From this same perspective I laugh at his reference to the “affectionate” employers who employ […]

Dear HCN, In a recent essay (-All our backs are a bit wet,” HCN, 10/11/99), Jack McGarvey suggests that U.S. immigration and border enforcement policies are racially motivated and that U.S. immigration policies give preferential treatment to Canadians over Mexicans. When examined in the light of U.S. Census data, however, this race card is soundly […]

Dear HCN, I read with interest James Bishop’s “Bones of Contention.” I was struck by the comment of Kurt Dongoske: “What he has demonstrated is that people were hacked apart, their bones dismembered. He presents no evidence of ingestion.” Mr. Dongoske is angered by Mr. Turner’s assertion that the Anasazi, particularly at Chaco Canyon, practiced […]

Dear HCN, After reading Craig Childs’ article, I no longer feel guilty concerning my choice of employment for the past 12 years. I’m currently employed by the world’s largest printer (lots of dead wood there), and before that, I was a boiler operator at a sawmill. I have always cared about my impact on our […]

Dear HCN, Cathy Robbins’ article on the hideous situation at Petroglyph is right on target (HCN, 10/25/99). As a former NPS staffer there (I was chief of Interpretation and Cultural Resources from 1994-1998) who fled in terror under Judith Cordova’s reign, I can elaborate on several points in the article. Ms. Cordova did indeed make […]

Dear HCN, On behalf of the National Parks and Conservation Association, I want to publicly apologize both to Petroglyph Superintendent Judith Cordova and to your readers for the personal remarks made by NPCA Southwest Regional Director Dave Simon that appeared in a sidebar to your Oct. 25 “Monumental chaos’ feature. His comments were inappropriate and […]

Dear HCN, Many thanks to Cathy Robbins for writing about the abuse of the Petroglyph National Monument just outside of Albuquerque, N.M. (HCN, 10/25/99). I am not ashamed to admit the article brought tears to my eyes. While the plight of the petroglyphs is of grave concern, the article brought out the larger issue of […]

Dear HCN, Your recent article on Petroglyph National Monument left out a great deal of information about actions the park is taking to deal with some of the issues raised by your coverage (HCN, 10/25/99). Cultural and natural resource protection in the park has greatly increased since it became a unit of the National Park […]

There you go again, raising the non-issue of cell phones in the backcountry (-Heard around the West,” 10/25/99). As a frequent backcountry traveler, I simply haven’t encountered the problem. In any event, it seems the phones could easily be avoided by those who are offended. Perhaps you should report instead on the increasingly unavoidable backcountry […]

Dear HCN, While Thomas Powers’ analysis of the economic value of the Western environment is powerful and persuasive, I wish he could make his point without denigrating other places (HCN, 8/2/99). Those of us who live in large urban areas – New York City, for example – are well aware of the negatives Power lists: […]

Dear HCN, The recent debate between Ed Marston and Thomas Power (HCN, 8/2/99) over low wages and living standards touches on one of the biggest issues facing the West today: i.e., Why has the rural West become so reactionary, and what can be done about it? My wife and I recently cancelled our plans to […]

Dear HCN, The story about the remarkable concentrations of migrating hummingbirds at Jesse Hendrix’s home outside Nogales, Ariz., has piqued a great deal of interest in attracting and feeding these living jewels (Heard around the West, HCN, 9/13/99). The Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory offers the following recommendations for making hummingbirds feel at home in your […]

Dear HCN, Now that you have turned the bulk of an issue over to defending the prairie dog, and presumably you have it out of your system (HCN, 8/16/99), as a subscriber I can only hope that you will get back to the business of journalism and work on issues of true significance to the […]

Dear HCN, Stephen Lyons’ article on the Aryan marchers in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was terribly misleading and distorted against Idaho (HCN, 8/16/99). When I moved to this area in 1977, I had no idea about the Aryans. It wasn’t long before I learned of them firsthand. We would all like Butler and his group to […]

Dear HCN, Regarding Stephen Lyon’s essay “An ugly message marches down an Idaho street” (HCN, 8/16/99): The rise to power of the Nazi Party in 1933 was both surprising and rapid. Few people then anticipated the process or magnitude of events to come. Just shortly before, Germany had been a refuge from the wave of […]

Dear HCN, Steve Lyons rips on the Aryan Nations as a pack of dimwits (HCN, 8/16/99). Fine, I’m with him there, but it seems Lyons is so blinded by his own politically correct views that he didn’t catch himself perpetrating yet more stereotypes. As an expatriate Montanan, I resented the “Ford-with-Montana-plates’ sound bite. Since when […]