Letter to the editor

The conservative fantasy that the federal government can’t own land in the states is based on an ability to ignore relevant parts of the U.S. and state constitutions (“Fact-checking Trump’s Antiquities Act order,” HCN, 5/15/17). For some reason, they think that Article 1 Section 8, which is written specifically about the District of Columbia, is […]

 While I might agree that the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and its treatment of its members, is not the usual subject to be discussed in HCN, I am glad it is (“Change comes to Short Creek,” HCN, 5/1/17). This is part of “our” West, and we should be aware of these […]

I guess as I slip into advanced stages of crusty ol’ farthood and fall from my state of grace formerly attained as a member of various enviro-spiritual organizations, e.g., Sierra Club and Greenpeace, I am developing a certain appreciation for those who oppose the relentless march of special designation of vast tracts of land, such […]

The erroneous claim that the Antiquities Act is another form of federal land grab is so often repeated but seldom challenged (“Fact-checking Trump’s Antiquities Act order,” HCN, 5/15/17). Switching management from one federal agency to another is not a federal land grab, certainly not in the sense that detractors claim: the federal government taking over […]

The article about the American Prairie Reserve and Phillips County ranchers and farmers ignores the role that federal farm subsidies play in helping to keep the ranchers on the land (“Montana refuge divides tribes and ranchers,” HCN, 5/29/17). According to the Environmental Working Group, from 1995 to 2014 U.S. taxpayers generously paid out $219 million […]

We just returned from our annual sojourn to southern Utah, visiting Canyonlands, a portion of the new Bears Ears National Monument and our beloved Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. And we couldn’t disagree more with Jim Stiles’ claims that national monument designation harms the land and nearby communities (“Help for Bears Ears?” HCN, 5/1/17). In the […]

“Change Comes to Short Creek” by Sarah Scoles illustrates why we need an impenetrable wall of separation between church and state (HCN, 5/1/17). If you ignore the religious blather of the leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and look at what they are actually doing, you can see that civil […]

In his editor’s note in the May 1 issue, (“Exploitation and the West”), Brian Calvert states a truth: “The same person who would eagerly exploit a human being will just as easily exploit a landscape.” This may seem obvious to younger readers, but for many decades the environmental movement did not get it; public-land activists […]

Your story about Anne Gorsuch Burford’s tenure at the Environmental Protection Agency brings back some bad memories, especially for those working in chemical industries in the early 1980s (“Scott Pruitt isn’t the first administrator hostile to the EPA’s mission,” HCN, 3/20/17). The chemical industry was quite successful in getting implementation of new and lower exposure […]

This is a thoughtful article, but I would like to advance a contrary view (“Shifting scales,” HCN, 5/1/17). Our basic theory of government is that Congress enacts the laws, the executive enforces the laws, and the courts decide the facts and the laws’ meaning.  Administrative agencies have been fit into this structure under the theory […]

Your “Recapture Canyon rules” update in the May 1 issue had this quote from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke: “For many persons with disabilities or for people who just don’t get around like they used to, our public lands aren’t accessible without motorized vehicles.” For folks with legitimate disabilities, I can see this in appropriate spots, […]

I wonder if under President Donald Trump we’ll go back to Congress deciding every policy detail and micromanaging federal agencies, creating massive stagnation in light of a Congress that views collaboration as capitulation to the enemy (“Shifting scales,” HCN, 5/1/17). I don’t have a legal background but I can’t see that the Chevron decision is […]

Many people have applauded the Outdoor Retailer Show companies moving their $10 million convention business out of Utah and said that they plan to take their personal outdoor recreation dollars elsewhere this year (“Outdoor rec industry defends public lands,” HCN, 2/20/17). However, our economic role as public-lands lovers is opposite that of the recreation retailers. […]

As a 55-year-old lifelong raptor enthusiast with 12 years of professional raptor work under my belt, I enjoyed seeing a ferruginous hawk on the cover (“Now you see her,” HCN, 3/6/17).  As a licensed falconer of over 30 years, though, I take exception to the author’s statement that “ferruginous hawks, however, are not popular pets […]

Regarding Anna V. Smith’s recent story about Oregon’s Valley of the Giants (“Growing pains,” HCN, 3/6/17), long, long ago my boss, Guy Higginson, supervised a group of BLM foresters. I was one of them. The Bureau of Land Management back in the 1970s was a timber-producing machine, and we O&C foresters pulled the levers. In […]

In “Overdosed” in the Feb. 20 issue, the author writes, “Federal regulations and the low cost of natural gas have combined to create the worst economic climate for coal in decades.” While this sentence is true, it is also misleading. The real economic issue for Craig is not just the decline in coal demand, but […]

I applaud and support key recreational industry leaders who have pulled out of the Outdoor Retailer shows in Salt Lake City (“Outdoor rec industry defends public lands,” HCN, 2/20/17). As an individual, I can also play a role in swaying the policy opinions of the Utah delegation regarding protection of public lands. And that role […]

Your article “Overdosed” in the Feb. 20 issue was accurate and well-researched, and it is a story that has played out across the nation. As a recently retired general practitioner in Palmer, Alaska, I had 41 years of practice to witness the formation of our addicted, chronic-pain and disability culture. More and more patients require […]

Being trained in plant ecology, I enjoy HCN’s well-balanced reporting of issues relating to that subject. The inclusion of Emma Marris’ review of Nathanael Johnson’s Unseen City in the Feb. 20 issue is an example. I agree that urban wildlife systems are ecosystems in their own right, and they contain many beautiful wonders, if we […]

Regarding the article “River of Healing” in the Feb. 6 issue, as a Forest Service smokejumper and wildland firefighter who runs a veterans’ hiring program, I can attest to the fact that many veterans thrive in pursuits that bring them close to nature and replicate aspects of their military careers, such as teamwork, shared goals […]