Letter to the editor

Paul Larmer responds: Tom Power may be correct in his assertion that the employment numbers I used – and cited by county officials – are exaggerated. I should have been more careful before using them. The economist who has worked on Kane County’s economic plan, Gil Miller, says Power’s information merits a closer look. But […]

Dear HCN, Paul Larmer’s story on the president’s new monument (HCN, 4/14/97) is a pretty unfortunate piece of work, reprinting the same tired and unsupported information that has been circulating around the Intermountain West for the past few months. Most of this folklore is, of course, lies created by the extractive industries and swallowed by […]

Dear HCN, The sidebar editorial by Louise Liston, “A proud and defiant native,” (HCN, 4/14/97) regarding the recent creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, was disturbing. It made me uncomfortable. It made me stop and think. Liston characterized an environmentalist’s love of the land as a “weekend love affair,” quite different from her deep […]

Dear HCN: Your cover story on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (HCN, 4/14/97) stated that the challenge facing the Bureau of Land Management in planning for the monument is “to protect the land and make it accessible.” Wrong. The comment incorrectly assumes the BLM is confronted with the same bedeviling mandate adopted by some national […]

Dear HCN, After 10 years of monitoring the Diné-Hopi land dispute (HCN, 3/31/97), I’ve never really faulted the Diné (Navajo) for their tactics, since I would probably do the same things if I were faced with losing my home (though I cringe at the rhetorical excess: Buying someone a $70,000 home in Flagstaff is not […]

Dear HCN, Your piece on the mountain goats in Olympic National Park perpetuates the myth that environmental groups should stick by Park Service propaganda (HCN, 3/3/97). Park officials continue to declare the goats were brought to the Olympic Peninsula by settlers in the 1920s. They were embarrassed, however, when the Fund for Animals unearthed an […]

Dear HCN, Thank goodness for Ted Williams – -Hunters Close Ranks, and Minds’ – he’s a national treasure (HCN, 3/3/97). I would like to point out to your readers that Orion-The Hunters Institute has recently initiated a project called “Winsor Dinners,” named after a Colorado hunter who first held a potluck at his home for […]

Dear HCN, I just finished skimming the Escalante article (HCN, 4/14/97) and while I found the stories interesting, it seemed that they were more of what has become common in High Country News – anecdotal reporting without investigation. On page 10, Roger Holland says that the Andalex coal company would only disturb “2.5 million tons […]

Dear HCN, Jon Margolis’ article on the Teaming With Wildlife initiative (HCN, 12/23/96) was accurate with only one slight error: The states would pay 25 cents, not 30 cents, to get the matching 75 cents of each dollar provided by the initiative. Since snowmobiles and ATVs are not on the list of recreational products to […]

Dear HCN, In your issue devoted to the sadly divisive but, I fear, century-old conflict between conservationists and environmentalists – preservationist John Muir couldn’t stand conservationist John Burroughs, and vice versa – Ted Williams quoted one of my cultural heroes, Roderick Haig-Brown, who described the faults of the outdoor press as timidity and conformity: “It […]

Dear HCN, I am writing in response to Jane Braxton Little’s article regarding the Quincy Library Group legislation (HCN, 3/31/97). Little incorrectly characterizes the struggle over the legislation as one between grassroots and national groups. That is not true. A host of grassroots groups, many of them based in the Sierra Nevada, have signed on […]

Dear HCN, I’m dismayed at the anti-gun propaganda in your recent issue on hunting (HCN, 3/3/97). Elizabeth Manning’s NRA-bashing diatribe was out of line. The ignorance of those extolling gun control is amazing; the matter of bullets capable of penetrating body armor is a non-issue; many hunting bullets are capable of this. No policeman has […]

Dear HCN: Many different voices have been raised in northern New Mexico of late. While Sam Hitt expressed his opinion in “Green Hate” (HCN, 2/3/97), typical of what we heard and received is the letter sent by Tim Mylet, who had earlier presented a petition with 250 signatures to us expressing frustration over firewood restrictions. […]

Dear HCN, When Jon Christensen writes about the new lord of the West who will replace the old lords of extraction (HCN, 12/23/96), it is clear what the name of this new lord is: Midas! Under the magic touch of the recreation industry, public lands will turn to gold. Nature as ATV commercials, ecosystems as […]

Dear HCN, It was with sadness that I read of our loss of Ruth Hutchins, one of the noblest of fighters for a sane Colorado water policy. My first contact with Ruth was a Sunday telephone call to me in my then capacity as a Colorado River Water Conservation District director. She talked at such […]

Dear HCN, Lynne Bama’s “Bringing Back the Bighorn” (HCN, 2/3/97) raises important questions about the wildlife management that private money (hunters’ money) can buy – and threaten – on public lands. However, I’d like to add a positive comment. The Oregon Hunters Association, with 4,500 members, has been a leader in protecting habitat for Rocky […]

Dear HCN, First, on behalf of the beekeeping industry, I want to thank the High Country News for running what is probably the most comprehensive look at Penncap-M since it was introduced in 1974 (HCN, 1/20/97). I would like to clarify two points, however. The first is that, contrary to their claims, Colorado state pesticide […]

Dear HCN, Sam Hitt may describe the Christmas candlelight demonstration as a protest against the Endangered Species Act (Green Hate in the land of enchantment, HCN, 2/3/97), but we were protesting the abuse of the act. It was not a wise-use protest. Organizers of the protest were small, community-based logging and grazing organizations. Indo-Hispano members […]

Dear HCN, Columnist Ellen Miller posits that U.S. Senate candidate Tom Strickland lost the support of western Colorado because he supported Clinton’s recent declaration of a new national monument for Utah and consequently lost the race to Wayne Allard (HCN, 11/25/96). Her reasoning is wrong. Strickland lost simply because there were 105,000 more registered Republicans […]

Dear HCN, Someone’s getting some wires crossed about the Teaming With Wildlife proposal. One letter writer (HCN, 1/20/97) interpreted your article to find opposition only from the far left and the wacky right, while claiming off-highway vehicle producers supported it. As far as we know, none of the off-highway vehicle manufacturers has taken a position […]