But not all conservation groups think the gains are worth the losses.
Military
Posted inArticles
Mission Ready for Climate Change
Five things the West can learn from the military about climate adaptation.
Posted inDecember 23, 2013: Beauty or Beast
The Latest: Southern Colorado protected from proposed Army base expansion
BackstoryWhen Fort Carson proposed expanding its Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in 2003, nearby ranchers worried. The 235,000-acre training ground, in southeastern Colorado, was slated to grow to more than 650,000 acres, and though the U.S. Army promised to work with “willing sellers,” locals feared land seizure through eminent domain, as happened in the 1980s when […]
Posted inMay 24, 2010: Accidental Wilderness
Accidental Wilderness
Hanford, White Sands and other ‘wastelands’ are good for bombs—and biodiversity.
Posted inMarch 31, 2008: My Crazy Brother
3:10 to Baghdad
To prepare for combat halfway around the world, the military looks to Yuma’s desert laboratory
Posted inMarch 31, 2008: My Crazy Brother
The legacy of the 10th Mountain men
South of Vail, Colo., in a mountain meadow framed by 14,000-foot peaks, deep snow hides the ruined foundations of Camp Hale. In the winters of 1943 and 1944, 15,000 men equipped with rifles and skis swarmed the surrounding terrain, training for alpine combat in the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. When I drove by in February, […]
Posted inWotr
Bombing away in Socorro, New Mexico
Folks living in Socorro, in remote, central New Mexico, are regularly jolted by the sounds of car bombs and calculated cave-ins. It’s all cooked up by the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, a division of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, known here simply as “Tech.” “Energetic materials” refers to anything that […]
Posted inWotr
How many nuclear bombs do we need?
“When I became conscious, it was a dead city.” The college students in the room are silent as Shigeko Sasamori stands in front of them. It looks as though she wears light pink lipstick. Up close, the scars around her mouth, neck and hands are clearly visible. The morning American pilots dropped an atomic bomb […]
Posted inOctober 15, 2007: Cat Fight on the Border
Eminent domain’s poster children
Ranchers fight a military proposal to expand training ground in southeastern Colorado
Posted inJune 11, 2007: Brave New Hay
UnGuarded
National Guard suffers at home as equipment goes overseas
Posted inWotr
Commemorating the Vietnam War in northern New Mexico
This Memorial Day weekend, the population of northern New Mexico will swell by thousands of people. Many will come for more than the magnificent vistas of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and perfect weather. They visit because the area is home to the first-ever Vietnam Veterans Memorial, built back in 1971, when the war was […]
Posted inMay 29, 2006: 'Clinging Hopelessly to the Past'
Bomb test stirs up fear in Nevada desert
Proposed blast raises alarm over lingering radioactivity and talk of bombing Iran
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
A very brief conversation with a Jet Fighter
I used to walk the bombing ranges of southern Arizona. Sometimes I had permission, out doing field research in the deep Sonoran Desert. And sometimes I walked illegally, with no one knowing I was there, avoiding loud booms and bright flashes of light, camping in ragged canyons where nobody ever goes. Drumbeats of bombs sounded […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2005: Squeezing Water from a Stone
Western military bases still reporting for duty
New Mexico’s Cannon Air Force Base won’t be shut down — at least not for the next few years (HCN, 8/22/05: Leavin’ on a Jet Plane). It and four other Western military installations narrowly escaped the base-closure ax. The nine-member federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission finished its hearings on Aug. 26, voting against […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Leavin’ on a Jet Plane
As the Air Force prepares to fly away from New Mexico’s Cannon Air Force Base, the town it helped to build won’t let go
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Military Base Closures in the West
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane.” BASES ON CURRENT BRAC REALIGNMENT/CLOSURE LIST 1. Cannon Air Force Base, Clovis, NM 2. Naval Base, Coronado, CA 3. Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA 4. Navy Broadway Complex, San Diego, CA 5. Naval Support Activity, Corona, CA 6. […]
Posted inJune 13, 2005: Owning a Piece of Paradise
Pueblo happily hangs on to mustard gas
While most states are eager to see hazardous materials head for the nearest border, Colorado has decided to cling to the aging chemical weapons stored at the Army’s Pueblo Chemical Depot. Federal legislation passed May 12 will keep Pueblo’s 780,000 Cold War-era mustard gas shells on site for destruction, after a tense period when the […]
Posted inWotr
A little-known clause can be a killer
Few people know about Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act, but it can be a killer. Known as the Military Recruitment Clause, it requires public schools to give information about students to military recruiters. Schools, of course, are eager to perform this service to the armed forces since failure to comply carries […]
Posted inMarch 29, 2004: Who Will Take Over the Ranch?
California scores a goal for perchlorate cleanup
But will the public or the defense industry come out ahead?
Posted inApril 28, 2003: Indian Power
Perchlorate: It’s not just for rocket fuel anymore
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Cold War toxin seeps into Western water.” Ammonium perchlorate shows up in hundreds of military munitions, from signal smoke (orange, green, violet and beyond) to hand grenades and anti-tank rockets, and on military bases from California to […]