Letter to the editor

I’m having a hard time getting too enthused about wind energy (HCN, 5/02/05: The Winds of Change). The idea of solving our energy woes by harnessing wind sounds wonderful, but the reality is less appealing. The California Energy Commission lists wind power as 1.5 percent of its total electricity production for 2003. The sprawl of […]

The inherent variability of wind energy makes it hard to integrate into the grid (HCN, 5/02/05: The Winds of Change). Coal, gas, nuclear, biomass, geothermal and hydro plants can all be dialed up or down to meet the constantly fluctuating electricity loads. With wind, you get what you get. At 1 percent of production, as […]

I am writing to congratulate Ray Ring on his analysis of the Libby disaster and how it relates to the environmental movement (HCN, 2/21/05: Where were the environmentalists when Libby needed them most?). He has unearthed the arrogance and elitism that are so pervasive in the “environmental activist” movement. It’s easy to fight “evil” corporations […]

I am writing in response to your coverage of Dave Foreman’s essay (HCN, 4/18/05: Dear Friends). Although I respect what Dave Foreman means to the environmental movement, the tactics of his finger-pointing are destructive, shortsighted, ill-timed and wrong. It is critical for the environmental movement to build bridges, re-think strategies, and appeal to the younger […]

Editor’s Note: Mr. Rosenthal had a lengthy response to our story, Write-Off on the Range. In the interest of allowing him to fully express his thoughts, we include below a letter from Mr. Rosenthal and the edits that Mr. Rosenthal would have made to the story if he were the editor. High Country News stands […]

Jennie Lay’s very nice piece on gas drilling near the 1969 Rulison Plowshare nuclear blast shows a slightly misplaced concern of local residents that radioactive materials might be released by the new drilling (HCN, 3/7/05: Drilling could wake a sleeping giant). Their bigger concern should be contamination of groundwater by the nasty stuff put in […]

Drifter Smith is correct that interest in floating the Grand Canyon has increased dramatically in the last three decades (HCN, 2/21/05: Let’s not ram more boats through the Grand Canyon). There are many reasons for this. Rafting equipment has become safer, more reliable and less expensive. Opportunities to learn boating skills, low-impact camping skills, and […]

Shara Rutberg’s article “Do you want fries with that mustang?” does not provide a workable solution to preventing long-term damage to the rangeland ecosystem from wild horse overgrazing (HCN, 4/04/05: Do you want fries with that mustang?). The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act protects wild horses so there will always be a place for […]

I’m a rancher and grazing permittee in Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin. Our family ranch has used adjacent BLM and USFS permits since the early 1900s, and I found “The Big Buyout” quite interesting (HCN, 4/04/05: The Big Buyout). I’d add a few comments for your consideration: Mary Flitner This article appeared in the print edition of […]

I was surprised to learn in Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson’s response to High Country News that I am not a citizen because I am involved in environmental advocacy groups (HCN, 2/21/05: HCN has it wrong on Bush). Watson writes, “Furthermore, the term, ‘citizen-proposed wilderness’ belies the very kind of truth to which you attach […]

The April Fool’s page was delicious (HCN: 4/4/05: The last happy agency biologist — and other April Foolery). Just sneaky enough that it took a couple of minutes to feel my leg being pulled. Bill Kent Moab, Utah This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A little leg-pulling.

Thank you for covering the recent controversy over the potential devastation of Oak Flats, a popular bouldering and camping area just outside of Phoenix (HCN, 4/4/05: Rock jocks fight a mining company). But I am increasingly frustrated with High Country News and its staff for portraying climbers in a condescending manner. This is the third […]

I was disappointed to read the advisory that we keep our eyes peeled for yellow snow on the ski slopes because the Coconino National Forest has approved the use of treated wastewater for snowmaking at the Arizona Snowbowl ski area (HCN, 3/21/05: Arizona returns to the desert). Statements like these perpetuate misunderstandings about reclaimed water. […]

Regarding “You want fries with that mustang?” (HCN, 4/4/05: You want fries with that mustang?): I’ve worked in the Mojave Desert of California and in eastern Oregon, and in both areas, one could find “wild” horses, “wild” burros and cattle. What these animals all have in common are the following: 1) They are not native, […]

Thank you for the recent story and comments on grazing buyouts. We were especially taken by Executive Director Paul Larmer’s evocative description of the seasonality of grazing in the Paonia area, with its blend of low-elevation private lands, where cows have their calves, and its high-elevation public lands, where cows summer. Paul’s delightful soliloquy of […]

The wind farm issue is far less simplistic than Joshua Zaffos would have us believe (HCN, 3/7/05: Easterners tilt at windmills while Westerners joust with a real foe). Yes, there are wealthy people on Nantucket just as there are wealthy people in the West, but they are not the majority. The greater number of people […]

The essay on the Eastern wind farm clearly belongs to the Real Westerners vs. Effete Easterners genre (HCN, 3/7/05: Easterners tilt at windmills while Westerners joust with a real foe). The fact that wind power has many positive features does not mean that wind turbines should be sited wherever winds are particularly favorable. Easterners like […]

Jim Stiles’ stereotyping is nothing less than ignorance in its purest form (HCN, 3/21/05: A look at the West, in the funhouse mirror). Mr. Stiles, as a journalist, you should know better. It takes but one person to make a change in the world. One woman chose to ride at the front of the bus, […]

I smiled at Jim Stiles’ essay (HCN, 3/21/05: A look at the West, in the funhouse mirror). In the late 1950s, my mother ripped my sister and me out of New York City and moved us to Wyoming. My mother was tenacious and proud of her “Western” life, but despite over 30 years of living […]

Perhaps most HCN staff and readers will recognize themselves in Stiles’ essay (HCN, 3/21/05: A look at the West, in the funhouse mirror). I did not recognize myself or my neighbors. We are the Old Urban West. I am a fourth-generation Northwesterner living in the urban neighborhood where I was born, a neighborhood as strained […]