Letter to the editor

There’s an active debate among fire ecologists over whether wildfire intensities have indeed increased to “unnatural” levels following a century of fire suppression, as many are now claiming, and if so what should be done about it. This debate and the complex evidence surrounding it were shortchanged in Ray Ring’s article “A Losing Battle,” which […]

At last! I can finally read High Country News when traveling (often the only time I have available) without incurring the wrath of everyone sitting near me. The “old” format was so hard to manage — noisy folding, bashing people in the face or having a loose section fall under the seat in front, etc. […]

The timeworn “A Paper for People who Care About the West” apparently has been sent to the T-shirt. Alas. I care about the West. I am not alone. That is why I read you. Do not abandon your roots. At least take the new moniker “Independent Journalism for the American West” and put it somewhere […]

Regarding your fire article (HCN, 5/26/03: A losing battle): To ask taxpayers to compensate homeowners for losses incurred from living in fire-prone areas is irresponsible, and to ask firefighters to put their lives on the line to defend these homes is just plain wrong. I live in Seattle, an earthquake-prone area. To protect ourselves from […]

Your informative article on fire in forests (HCN, 5/26/03: A losing battle) downplayed one perspective that is crucial for future environmental planning. As a result of fire suppression over the past century, standing fuel loads in many Western forests are unprecedented. Preindustrial inhabitants lacked the technology to fight lightning fires successfully, and recent research by […]

Ray Ring’s HCN article on fire is one of the best pieces on the topic I’ve read anywhere (HCN, 5/26/03: A losing battle). By promoting an understanding that today’s superfires result from a combination of human insults to the environment and natural climate cycles enhanced by global warming, we can begin to look at the […]

Responding to fellow soldier Martin Murie’ s proposal to restore the natural (wilderness) balance of the World War II Camp Hale military site (HCN, 3/31/03: A citizen soldier looks beyond war), I can clearly remember two years of great mountain military training there prior to our commitment to the Italian theatre in 1944. I certainly […]

I realize that it’s slightly odd to respond to another letter, but Wayne A. Gilbert’s observations in the April 28 edition moved me. He said, “I realized my weariness was really sorrow and loss and longing. My loss of faith in public acts wasn’t some moral failing; it was a symptom of my grief.” I […]

Thanks so much for the recent cover article on native vs. exotic plant species (HCN, 5/12/03: Planting time). The author effectively described ways that invasive grasses damage ecosystems — very well explained for the lay reader. And I love the positive side that the article focused on. I didn’t realize how many of the exotics […]

Just received my May 26th issue. The “New Look.” Awesome, dude! Well done. Kudos. Your farsighted reporting is much easier to read for this nearsighted person who now wears reading glasses!  Keep up the great work. I have always looked forward to each issue … now, more than ever. Karole Lee Clancy, Montana This article appeared in […]

Yee ha. I picked up the new HCN and began making little inarticulate whimpers of sheer pleasure. The new design is wonderful, classy, befitting the amazing writers who grace its pages. Mary Sojourner Flagstaff, Arizona This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Happy Sounds in Arizona.

So Ray Ring wants us to stand back and let the forests burn (HCN, 5/26/03: A losing battle)? Get real, dude. Even if fires of the past were truly catastrophic, huge, epic or whatever, and are therefore ecologically desirable today (I disagree), the fact remains that there is a modern civilization now in place in […]

The old debate over the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is fascinating (HCN, 4/14/03: Change comes slowly to Escalante country), but you missed the larger story: the emerging threats to the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS). This system has the potential to dramatically reshape conservation in the West. Established to encompass the crown jewels of the […]

The time has come to let all the little Tilley-hat-wearing granolas give their heads a shake. Mountain bikes are the best form of transportation ever invented and have less impact on the environment than hiking boots (HCN, 3/3/03: Let bikers in, and we’ll stand behind wilderness). They also have less impact than horses and hunters […]

As a former wilderness manager for the feds, I’d like to speak to the issue of bikes in wilderness areas (HCN, 3/3/03: Get off and walk — wilderness is for wildlife). Bicycles were never permitted in the National Wilderness Preservation System by the 1964 Wilderness Act or any subsequent designation legislation. It’s understandable, however, why […]

I am out walking, enjoying the peace and quiet, the beauty of the land around me, when all of a sudden I hear, “On your left!” and one or more bikers huff and puff their way around me, leaving the stink of their sweating bodies behind. My sense of peace is ruined by people too […]

Regarding your editorial, “Republicans wave guns, but where’s the butter?” (HCN, 4/14/03: Republicans wave guns, but where’s the butter?): This editorial emotionally bemoans “BLM and Forest Service lands being hammered by gas drilling,” “environmental laws being weakened,” “national monuments being squeezed” and “land that BLM and Forest Service are supposed to manage is being destroyed.” […]

In your photo gallery, you picture a llama guarding sheep (HCN, 3/31/03: Springtime on the ranch). I have to offer an alternative suggestion! All you cowmen and especially sheepmen, facing losses from coyotes, consider placing a solitary burro in your flock or herd. Burros cost about one-tenth the price of a llama, if you were […]

Dear HCN, Sorry, but this is one of the most ridiculous debates I know of (HCN, 3/3/03: Get off and walk — wilderness is for wildlife) (HCN, 3/3/03: Let bikers in, and we’ll atand behind wilderness). Mountain bikers in the wilderness? I am a llama packer. Our worst problem is people who bring poorly behaved […]

Dear HCN, I am writing in response to a letter from Nathan Sayre, wherein he reiterated the often-heard claim from ranchers that the preservation of public-lands ranching will prevent sprawl, (HCN, 3/17/03: Ranching is preventing sprawl). I would like to respond to Mr. Sayre’s conclusion that, “Even under mediocre management, I’ll take one cow every […]