Letter to the editor

Andrew Gulliford opines that Theodore Roosevelt, if he came back today, would be flabbergasted by the Interior Department’s recent decision to jettison years of study on BLM wilderness areas (HCN, 10/13/03: Where’s Teddy when you need him?). I’m not so sure. Roosevelt certainly knew and respected John Muir, and supported his vision to preserve and […]

The deaths of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, ostensibly by grizzly mauling, were the stuff of sensational headlines, especially on the heels of the mauling of tiger-trainer Roy Horn in Las Vegas. It was predictable that the mainstream, corporate media would have a field day. We expected better of High Country News. We were disappointed. […]

As a sixth-generation Montanan, and longtime subscriber to High Country News, I usually just read your great paper and keep quiet. But this time I had to pick up my writin’ stick. Lisa Jones’ attempt at regional satire (HCN, 10/27/03: My sensitive man meets culture shock on the range) left me wonderin’ where on earth […]

I had to comment on Lisa Jones’ article “My Sensitive Man meets culture shock on the range” (HCN, 10/27/03: My Sensitive Man meets culture shock on the range). My immediate reaction when I read the article was to laugh. After I thought about the article, however, I realized that Ms. Jones’ rantings were exactly the […]

When I read Lisa Jones’ essay, I wasn’t sure whether I was more offended by what she wrote about the West, where I now live, or Vermont, where I used to live. The West she ridicules as callow, uncultured, easily excited to a frenzy by images of its violent past; Vermont she insults with false […]

Congratulations on a fine piece by Ray Ring, “The Big Story Written Small” (HCN, 10/13/03: The Big Story Written Small). I was a reporter in Arizona in the early ’80s who wrote extensively on environmental and development issues, and frequently found I had the field pretty much to myself. Over the past two decades, alas, […]

Ray Ring’s excellent piece on the shortcomings of Western newspapers (HCN, 10/13/03: The Big Story Written Small) brought back a lot of memories from my own daily reporting days. His story, and the recent report from the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources, reveal a dirty little secret: Too many of our newspapers are skewering […]

“The Big Story Written Small,” about the shortcomings of daily newspapers in the West was well- written and informative (HCN, 10/13/03: The Big Story Written Small). However, I was taken aback to read that my own hometown newspaper, the Arizona Daily Sun, was one of nine newspapers to be awarded the first Wallace Stegner Award […]

“Harvesting Poison,” (HCN, 9/29/03: Harvesting Poison) failed to mention or accurately report the efforts of the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) to protect farmworkers from pesticide exposure. WSDA places a high priority on farmworker protection. For more than a decade, WSDA’s Farmworker Education Program has provided Spanish-language pesticide safety training to agricultural workers and […]

I am compelled to respond to “Harvesting Poison” (HCN, 9/29/03: Harvesting Poison), as the article misrepresents what I said in my interview with the author. I did not say that every time I go out I see people spraying too close to unprotected workers. What I said was that every time I go out I […]

Overall, I stand behind my story, “Harvesting Poison” (HCN, 9/29/03: Harvesting Poison). While the Washington Department of Agriculture has done some work to address the safety of illegal farm workers, these people remain a largely invisible, and neglected, workforce. Reading Mr. Zamora’s letter, one might think the two of us were in different rooms when […]

A friend brought us her copy of the Sept. 1, 2003, edition of High Country News, knowing that I would be interested in the article on Carlsbad’s bid for the new pit facility. Never have I seen a clearer illustration of the aphorism that where you stand depends upon where you sit. My viewpoint may be […]

Is Carlsbad to become another Hanford, Wash., nuclear cleanup project (HCN, 9/1/03: Courting the bomb)? Hanford is now the largest U.S. government Superfund toxic site, requiring more engineers and technicians for cleanup than were ever used in its lifetime of producing plutonium. It took a large flow of water from the Columbia River to cool […]

Being in the county adjacent to Nye County, Nev., where Yucca Mountain may actually store nuclear waste one day, I am not at all comfortable knowing a mere 15 miles separates the counties. Even Carlsbad, N.M., seems too close for producing plutonium triggers for new bombs (HCN, 9/1/03: Courting the bomb). I propose an idea: […]

Gail Binkly’s memories of hiking in the “good old days” (for her, the 1980s) ring a lot of bells (HCN, 8/4/03: When did we become such gear-toting wimps?). But does she really prefer those heavy boots made of solid rock and worn jeans that stayed wet for three days after a downpour? How she got […]

After reading “Invasion of the Rock Jocks” (HCN, 7/7/03: Invasion of the Rock Jocks), one might conclude that rock climbing impacts the environment on the scale of coal mining or desert off-road races. The article does highlight some real issues, but the generalizations are a little too sweeping, the values and motivations of climbers are […]

Mike Ryan’s defense of rock climbing (HCN, 7/7/03: Invasion of the rock jocks) — that “climbers aren’t just dirtbags … it’s mainstream now” and that they now are “doctors and lawyers” (and such, I must add) who by God “drive SUVs and have credit cards” is telling: telling us it’s an elitist avaricious capitalism that […]

Your August 18 news story, “Energy bill will likely boost drilling in the Rockies,” characterizes last year’s (and now this year’s) Senate energy bill as good for fish and fish passage. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The article incorrectly says that the energy bill passed again by the Senate “would force hydropower companies to […]

Although I think it is useful to consider the environmental impacts of rock climbing (HCN, 7/7/03: Invasion of the rock jocks), I have to wonder about the story’s lack of context. Of course, there are fewer plants and animals on a cliff face that climbers frequent. That seems quite obvious. However, out of all the […]

Gail Binkly is one lucky girl to have survived camping for nearly 20 years in a $19.95 tent (HCN, 8/4/03: When did we become such gear-toting wimps?). She joins countless others having copious amounts of good luck who climb to the summits of the 14,000-foot mountains around us wearing shorts and a T-shirt and without […]