Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, John Dougherty’s examination of the circuitous events surrounding the University of Arizona’s Mount Graham International Observatory project (HCN, 7/24/95) was very informative. I was appalled, however, by the quote from Robin Silver (The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity) that administrators and researchers supporting this project are “whores.” Such malicious rhetoric is counterproductive to […]

Dear HCN, I appreciated the issue on recreational impacts, but have a question regarding Mindy Sandler’s essay on her experiences as a wilderness ranger (HCN, 9/4/95). Being a former backcountry ranger myself, and having noticed an increase in litter, fire rings, etc., in my wanderings this summer, I read her account with some interest. Sadly, […]

Dear HCN, I have been reading your latest issue and, as always, enjoying the heck out of it. I do have one request: You refer to your “1 million-square-mile beat.” So what would be the harm in a teensy addition? The California Sierras. They are (1) high; they are (2) West. Thank you in advance […]

Dear HCN, I am very disappointed that High Country News, just as many other newspapers, has fallen for the news releases of Rep. Jack Metcalf, R-Wash., regarding rock “painting” on national forest lands along Stevens Pass Scenic Byway, as portrayed in your Barb (HCN, 8/21/95). You need to check the facts. The rocks were to […]

Dear HCN, The controversy over livestock grazing on public lands is not merely a contest between ranchers and environmentalists. Any substantial changes in federal grazing policy affect us all. And that is why I’m afraid that our senior U.S. senator has misplaced his priorities in his Livestock Grazing Act (S. 852). I say this reluctantly […]

Dear HCN, During the last 15 years of my 27 years as a fish and wildlife biologist, I came to realize that good range conservationists in the Bureau of Land Management can do more for our public lands than all other disciplines combined. For reader-clarity sake: A “good” range con is one who constantly and […]

Dear HCN, I was saddened to read recently that one of your supporters, Kathleene Parker, dropped her subscription (HCN, 5/29/95). I share Ms. Parker’s concern about the impact of a growing population on our bounded world, and I respect her desire to put her finite resources where she feels they will have the most impact. […]

OUTSIDERS MUST NOW STAND UP FOR UTAH WILDERNESS Dear HCN, The recent defense of the Utah counties’ recommendations for Utah BLM wilderness by former Grand County Commissioner Paul Menard (HCN, 5/29/95) deserves a response. The Utah congressional delegation told Utah’s county commissioners they could decide how much Bureau of Land Management wilderness should be protected. […]

TOM HUERKAMP: REQUIRED READING Dear HCN, Paul Larmer’s skillful account of Tom Huerkamp’s magnificent struggle to hold prison expansion at bay in Delta County (HCN, 6/26/95) ought to be required reading for every county administrator in this country. If ever there was a classic example of how dumb untended markets can be, it has been […]

JUST A MOMENT! Dear HCN, Thanks to Ed Marston for critiquing both Gregg Easterbrook’s A Moment on the Earth (HCN, 5/29/95) and the gaffes of environmentalists. A friend from Philadelphia tells me that the leaf pictured on the book’s cover is a Norway maple – a weedy tree species currently wreaking havoc in Eastern woodlands. […]

AN IDIOT’S DIATRIBE CAN STILL BE USEFUL Dear HCN, Ed Marston was on the money with his review of Gregg Easterbrook’s A Moment on the Earth (HCN, 5/29/95). Curiously, Easterbrook appears to have done for liberalism what former Interior Secretary James Watt did for conservatives – sabotaging the cause of environmentalism in the name of […]

TIMBER THEFT AGENTS WEREN’T ANGELS Dear HCN, HCN appears to be quite concerned about the Forest Service’s Timber Theft Task Force, especially since it has been disbanded (HCN, 4/3/95). As you well know, there are corrupt people in all walks of life and disciplines, and the task force is no exception. Judging from my experience […]

THIS GRAZING BILL IS A DISASTER On May 25, New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici introduced the Livestock Grazing Act (HCN, 6/12/95). The bill would overturn Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s Rangeland Reform proposal. The following is a letter to Sen. Domenici from longtime Arizona activist Steve Johnson. Dear Sen. Domenici: I am completely sincere in my […]

Dear HCN, Dennis Brownridge brought up some interesting points in his article about the National Park Service’s “Proposed Action” of their Draft General Management Plan for Grand Canyon National Park (HCN, 4/3/95). Unfortunately, his treatment of the subject was, while not necessarily wrong, at least remarkably biased, and did not begin to offer the whole […]

Christa Sadler has repeated park officials’ claims about what the proposed plan would do. However, a careful reading of the entire document and unpublished supporting studies, and hard questioning of park staffers, reveals that the plan is “not as advertised.” Addressing some of Ms. Sadler’s specific interpretations: * The plan would not encourage people to […]

Dear HCN, Jeff Burgess rants and raves (HCN, 3/20/95) about the grazing fees for ranchers being too low (yawn). It always makes me laugh when I read this as federal land in no way compares to private grazing rentals. Lessees must develop water, cost share fencing and do a host of other things that are […]

Dear HCN, I very much enjoy your excellent paper, even if quite a few of the articles sadden me as they chronicle the transition of an honest working man’s West into a characterless, la-de-da, recreational theme-park West. But “The New West’s servant economy” truly shocks and depresses me (HCN, 4/17/95). That these ski resorts, catering, […]

Dear HCN, Thank you for publishing the edition covering the (endangered) Endangered Species Act, (HCN, 5/15/95). I work as a biologist, surveying and trying to mitigate detrimental effects to threatened, endangered, and sensitive species and their habitats. There is a great deal of misunderstanding concerning the effects of the act’s enforcement, with people continuing to […]

Dear HCN, Marc Reisner’s recent story explained that some things have changed dramatically at the Bureau of Reclamation. Commissioner Dan Beard has little in common with his dam-building predecessors such as Floyd Dominy. Reisner portrayed Beard – accurately, I think – as someone firmly committed to making Reclamation more responsible to the environment and the […]

Dear HCN, After years of subscribing to HCN, I have decided to drop my subscription and will instead give to population groups. The United States is the third most populous nation behind China and India and 13th fastest-growing nation on Earth. The West is growing as fast as the fastest-growing areas in the world. Yet, […]