Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, I am the author of the Sierra magazine article cited as being “guilty” of “misinformation about wildlife” (HCN, 5/10/99). The story concerned the research Charlie Russell and Maureen Enns are doing with grizzly bears in Kamchatka. HCN quotes Chuck Bartlebaugh of the Center for Wildlife Information as saying that “the story is full […]

Dear HCN, If Susan Ewing’s soul is at rest on her 20-acre ranchette outside of Bozeman, as she claims, why did she feel the need to stage such an elaborate Twinkie-defense of living there (-My Beautiful Ranchette,” HCN, 5/10/99)? Ewing’s justification is her craving for space, her appreciation for wildlife, and her desire to “settle […]

Dear HCN, There is nothing “weird” about Death Valley (HCN, 5/24/99). What is weird is High Country News’ attitude about any expanse of land that does not have a bunch of trees on it. Maybe what we need is a publication called Low Country News, which will have a positive attitude regarding the deserts and […]

Dear HCN, Andy Wiessner needs no defense from me or any other conservationist to support his environmental credentials over many years. However, I do want to correct the erroneous and libelous comments in Ben Twight’s letter (HCN, 5/24/99) about the Mountaineers and my role in the Forest Service-Plum Creek land exchange. I have been a […]

Dear HCN, People whose livelihoods depend on creating and extending controversy about the Crown Jewel Mine have suggested that Battle Mountain did not litigate the federal denial of its plan of operations because the company had concerns about the merits of its case (HCN, 5/24/99). In fact, just the opposite is true. Battle Mountain was […]

Dear HCN, Your cover article pronouncing the death of trapping was premature (HCN, 4/12/99). Here in Minnesota, voters last November passed a measure to amend the state constitution to guarantee the right of Minnesota residents to hunt, fish and trap. The measure passed by a lopsided 77 percent to 23 percent, despite editorials against the […]

Dear HCN, I received a great deal of satisfaction from reading Dan Flores’ and Susan Ewing’s articles on Western subdivisions (HCN, 5/10/99). Here are two essays that aren’t the usual blinders-on, cheerleading drivel. As a prelude, I should add that I disagree with the authors on many points. As a range ecologist living in the […]

Dear HCN, Thanks to HCN for doing the article on trapping (HCN, 4/12/99). Many people think trapping went out with the advent of the 20th century … even in Nevada. The Nevada Division of Wildlife has been recalcitrant, as have most fish and game agencies, seeing any restriction on trapping as a move on our […]

Dear HCN, Your article, “Greens not welcome in Escalante” reminded me why I left my home state (HCN, 5/24/99). Southern Utahns have long regarded nature as an enemy to conquer, dating back to the days when Brigham Young sent them to colonize a howling wilderness. Considering the local belief that the Earth is a mere […]

Dear HCN, How crazy have we become? Brent Israelsen writes in the May 24th HCN about ranchers wanting a new $8 million dam on the Escalante River to supply water to raise cattle feed in arid southern Utah. With a surplus of meat in the United States, it is time for livestock producers to look […]

Dear HCN, After reading Tom Reed’s article on purposeful wildlife trapping and accidental pet dog trapping, all I can say to your headline, “Is trapping doomed?” is – not soon enough (HCN, 4/12/99). It is directly due to the activities of trappers that we now have species in trouble, like the wolf, bear, cougar, lynx, […]

Thank you for the marvelous huge feature on Tucson development (HCN, 1/18/99). However, I was chagrined to see the quote from Supervisor Mike Boyd, who has been opposed for years to anti-growth measures, and only under great pressure did indeed advocate the Sonoran Desert Protection Plan. During his last election cycle, Boyd came to our […]

Dear HCN, I read with dismay Tony Davis’ article, “Plans for a new park in Arizona” (HCN, 3/29/99) on the movement to create a “Sonoran Desert National Park,” by combining Organ Pipe National Monument, Cabeza-Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. This proposal looks to me like another grandiose scheme […]

Dear HCN, Susan Ewing’s essay on the sins of owning a ranchette in Bozeman, Mont., is typical of the self-serving confessionals I’ve grown to expect from baby boomers who lack the integrity to live up to the principles they espouse (HCN, 5/10/99). For environmentalists like Ewing, the movement isn’t about protecting ecological systems, it’s about […]

Dear HCN, Thanks for your feature on ecological restoration (-Working the Land Back to Health,” HCN, 3/1/99). However, as an ardent conservationist and a small business owner, I was annoyed by Ed Marston’s introduction. “In a time of tight public money,” he writes, “restoration depends on creating economies that can produce healthy land and profits, […]

Dear HCN, I want to thank writer Lynne Bama for her story on land trades, and particularly for showing the connection between 19th-century land grabs and the present-day subsidization of corporations through exchanges (HCN, 3/29/99). Lynne called me a “one-woman truth squad,” which I took as a compliment, but which belies the efforts of scores […]

Dear HCN, John Wesley Powell was undoubtedly a giant in the exploration of, and proposals for, Western lands. The essay by William deBuys tells us that if we’d have listened to Powell, we might not have clear-cut forests and disenfranchised local communities (HCN, 4/12/99). In fact, we would have no national forests, and what forests […]

Dear HCN, While Andy Wiessner did many environmentally heroic deeds in the past when he was counsel for the House Interior Committee, such as making sure that the California Wilderness Bill included many key lands in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, he seems to have let the big money his consulting work brings in color his […]

Dear HCN, Readers of Andy Wiessner’s letter about land exchanges (HCN, 5/10/99) might have been better able to evaluate his criticisms of Janine Blaeloch and the Western Land Exchange Project had he acknowledged that he was a consultant to Plum Creek Timber Co. on the Interstate 90 exchange. Yes, the I-90 exchange will result in […]

Dear HCN, Is trapping doomed? (HCN, 4/12/99). Of course it is. When decent people like Liz Kehr and Kevin Feist are forced to haggle over how many days animals should remain in traps before they are bludgeoned to death or whether trappers should post signs to warn the public of their dangerous and cowardly practices, […]