In his inaugural address to the nation Barak Obama said: “We will restore science to its rightful place.” This is a reference to pledges made during the campaign which were directed primarily toward the environmental community. Environmentalists have been outraged by Bush Administration interference in endangered species, clean air and clean water decisions. These Bush […]
Politics
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
The West goes to Washington
Obama draws from “flyover country” for cabinet
Posted inGoat
Budget crisis stalls conservation
If you squinted hard at the brief and fuzzy “State of the State” address California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered Thursday morning you might have detected a glimmer of good news for environmentalists: A controversial water conveyance project the governor has been pushing for – a canal that would suck water from the Sacramento River to […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
Notes from the (water) underground
Gordon Grant’s pioneering work on the northwest’s hydrologic sponge
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
“Stop the madness”
I am tired of people like Patty Limerick, chair of the Center of the American West, University of Colorado-Boulder, making uninformed statements about environmentalists (HCN, 12/22/08). Criticizing environmentalists with a broad brush by saying “the whole-line-in-the-sand, Alamo type-of-thing again” when referring to environmental issues is just plain wrong. If anything, environmentalists should be praised for […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
A mean lean — to the left
As one of your Republican subscribers, I must take issue with your Dec. 22 cover illustration and the strong general tone of the editorial content therein (HCN, 12/22/08). If broader reach and credibility are your goals, you need to curb your frothing hatred of George W. Bush, which sometimes gets in the way of straightforward, […]
Posted inGoat
Water activists want paradigm shift from Obama
Over 100 U.S. water activists put their heads together in Fall 2008 and published a hefty, ambitious report called “A Blueprint for Clean Water.” The Waterkeeper Alliance report is directed at the incoming Obama administration, and proposes a whopping 58 reforms ranging from desalination to global warming. Curling up with a cup of coffee and […]
Posted inGoat
Obama should pick Kemmis to help run Interior or Ag
Up front: I know Dan Kemmis. I’ve interviewed him, hung out with him at events, read his books and other writings. I like Dan for his careful manner and his visionary, out-of-the-box thinking about the West. I also like how he’s grounded in the real world. So add my voice to the back-channel chorus calling […]
Posted inGoat
Ex-HCN board member named Idaho lt. guv
Brad Little is a widely respected third-generation Idaho rancher, working livestock and crops. He’s taken a leadership role in many ag and business groups. He’s also a longtime Republican legislator, now serving as a state senator and Majority Caucus Chairman. He’s involved in efforts to resolve livestock grazing and timber management controversies on public lands, […]
Posted inGoat
Another Colorado senate race
We just finished one U.S. Senate race in Colorado, and now we face another. In the 2008 election, Democrat Mark Udall handily defeated Republican Bob Schaffer by a 52-43 margin to replace retiring Republican Wayne Allard. But on Dec. 17, president-elect Barack Obama named Colorado’s other U.S. senator, Ken Salazar, as his choice for secretary […]
Posted inWotr
Obama picks a moderate
It’s not surprising that Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity and Jon Marvel of the Western Watersheds Project are disappointed in Barack Obama’s choice for Interior secretary, Colorado Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar. The two activists have tapped the federal courts for the last two decades in their efforts to stop overgrazing, logging and […]
Posted inWotr
Forest Service morale sinks to a new low
When Dave Iverson first came to the U.S. Forest Service’s regional office in Ogden, Utah, in 1980, he was drawn by a love for the outdoors and a desire to do good work on the public lands. But after spending almost three decades on planning and policy, he quit last year just shy of retirement. […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Change we could believe in
The federal deficit is already gigantic, and there’s serious talk of making it even bigger in order to stimulate the plummeting economy. But times of crisis are also times of opportunity. This is the perfect chance for the Obama administration to improve the way the federal lands are managed. At the moment, increased budgets for […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
As Interior Turns
An eight-year soap opera in which federal officials screwed the environment, the taxpayers, and each other.
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Trashing the earth, and the truth
This is the last time I will ever tell this story. For an environmental reporter, the past eight years have produced a jungle of topics to explore at will, but the lessons learned there could not have been more unpleasant. This is the story of one of those lessons. In April of 2004, Field and […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
(Un)clearing the air
Westerners will breathe the legacy of Bush’s BLM
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Fighting for forests
Arthur Carhart: Wilderness ProphetTom Wolf294 pages, hardcover: $34.95.University Press of Colorado, 2008. A fiery conservationist who came of age in the late 1910s, Arthur Carhart had a penchant for highlighting the contradictions in the environmental movement, not to mention the conflicts of interest at the U.S. Forest Service, which employed him at a young age. […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Western wish list for Obama
The hopes and worries of 11 key Westerners