Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Tony Davis’ story on desert sprawl (HCN, 1/18/99), with figures proving the city of Tucson has more than doubled in size in 40 years, and that an acre of the Sonoran Desert disappears every two hours, seems absurdly unbelievable. It is preposterous that people can destroy the saguaro, prickly pear cacti, and ironwood […]

Dear HCN, Woody Beardsley’s review of “Varmints,” shown in Boulder, Colo. (HCN, 1/18/99), depicts Rocky Mountain Animal Defense (RMAD) as antagonistic to the filmmakers in particular and prairie dog conservationists in general. This could not be further from the truth. This misrepresentation is not Beardsley’s fault; RMAD’s views were simply poorly represented at the film […]

Dear HCN, I read with interest your Tucson sprawl article, but saw no solution (HCN, 1/18/99). Here in rural King County, thanks to Seattle politicians, we have all the downzoning that accompanied this state’s 1990 Growth Management Act (GMA). That act was the result of newcomers’ I’m-here-pull-up-the-gangplank mentality. The GMA called for a pristine countryside […]

Dear HCN, In Ted Williams’ original commentary on Nevada land exchanges, as it appeared in Fly Rod and Reel magazine, Williams wrote that the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics had an “obligation” to report on the Office of Inspector General investigation (HCN, 12/21/98). We agree. That’s why we did. It may also interest your […]

Dear HCN, I found it ironic that three of the four folks opposing sprawl that Tony Davis chose to highlight in his sidebars in the Desert Sprawl article are, in fact, “sprawlers’ themselves. Whether they moved to the Catalina Foothills in 1946, watched the east side of Tucson expand from their home in the Tucson […]

Dear HCN, As an eighth-grade science teacher, I empathize with “Asta Bowen’s discouragement (HCN, 1/18/99). At times, just one negative interaction with a student or parent can cast a pall over your whole day and cause you to wonder about your choice of occupation. Ours is a profession where the results often do not surface […]

Dear HCN, James Souby’s letter in the Dec. 21 edition concerning the Western Governors’ Association “Enlibra” program is contradictory. On the one hand, Souby lauds the Oregon Salmon Plan as a “good example” of “environmental management strategies that incorporate balance and stewardship” while on the other he asserts “skepticism” that Enlibra-style “solutions’ would work “where […]

Dear HCN, The following is a note I sent to Al and Betty Schneider upon reading of their efforts to get control of junk mail in my first issue of a new subscription to High Country News (a newspaper I’ve wanted to get for years but have just now gotten as a gift subscription). Al […]

Dear HCN, Many of us who follow the Yellowstone grizzly summer after summer know one thing for certain about the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee: It is an intensely political organization (HCN, 11/9/98). Like a political party, most of its deliberations are in secret and many of its pronouncements are in the form of propaganda. Propaganda […]

Dear HCN, Thanks for providing an open and honest forum so that we can discuss the myriad issues, such as hunting, that affect the West. In recent issues I’ve read Stephen Gies’ whiny diatribe about the “macabre act of hunting” and Marc Gaede’s bizarre but hilarious evaluation of the human male. I fit their stereotype. […]

Dear HCN, Whether one supports wilderness for the Colorado River corridor in Grand Canyon or not, to inextricably link it with access for private boaters is wrong and very misleading (HCN, 12/21/98). Part of the reason that there is such a long wait for private boaters to get to the river is that the current […]

Dear HCN, I was disturbed and dismayed by your recent article about retired forest supervisor Jim Nelson (HCN, 12/21/98). I have never met Mr. Nelson and know him only by his reputation. I believe him to be a man of courage and vision, with a land ethic fully the equal of that possessed by two […]

Dear HCN, Your title “Fallen Forester” in the December 21 issue is unfortunate. It leads one to conclude that Jim Nelson is in some way tainted goods. To the contrary, he is a model of the passion, intellect and gumption the Forest Service needs to cultivate to accomplish its difficult mission. More fitting titles would […]

Dear HCN, The opinion expressed by Ted Williams on a “Fallen Forester” (HCN, 12/21/98) is not shared by those who are familiar with federal land exchanges in Nevada. What Mr. Williams didn’t say was, while Jim Nelson was “hustling around the countryside cutting land deals, adding 100,000 acres to the forest,” the taxpayers were losing […]

Dear HCN, About 15 years ago, I heard poet and anti-war activist Father Daniel Berrigan speak in Portland. Berrigan was a leader in the Plowshares movement, whose participants entered factories and government installations to physically damage nuclear weapons. After his speech, which was both passionate and supremely logical, Berrigan took questions from the audience. One […]

Dear HCN, I am unaware of any science that can demonstrate hunters are “subconsciously killing other male humans because of competition for females.” In my reading of the literature, killing and bringing in high-level protein packages in the shape of fish and game gets you more access to females, not less. More access means greater […]

Dear HCN, I resent Stephen Gies’ repeated references to manhood and the male ego, since I happen to be female and an avid hunter (HCN, 10/26/98). While condemning hunters as barbaric Neanderthals, Gies implies that hunting his way (with a self-fashioned stone knife or spear and wearing animal hides) would be OK. Who’s the Neanderthal […]

Dear HCN, I was pleased to read HCN’s Oct. 26 profile of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and the state’s efforts to restore habitat for coho salmon by involving environmentalists, landowners, timber companies and others in a consensus-based process. A sidebar article correctly notes that Gov. Kitzhaber’s Oregon Salmon Plan serves as a model for Enlibra, […]

Dear HCN, Todd Wilkinson’s sad but necessary account of grizzly bear politics (HCN, 11/9/98) is as much an indictment of human nature as it is of organizational and personal conflict. The early Protestants used to talk about “speaking truth to power,” and power burned them at the stake. Times haven’t changed much. Speaking truth to […]

Dear HCN, The attitude of the writer of “Three cheers for the arsonists at Vail” (HCN, 11/9/98), that the end justifies the means, is exactly the same as the attitude of those who cheered the death of the gay student in Wyoming, the attitude that led to the murder of the doctor in New York […]