Can a teetotaling Mormon from a busted mining town in Nevada lead Democrats to the Promised Land of national power? This much is certain: Democrats rallied behind Harry Reid in the hope that he can take them safely through purgatory — or is it hell? — as minority leader of the 44-member Democratic caucus in […]
Politics
Posted inWotr
A sleeping green giant may yet awake
Consider the matter of Row v. Wade, and no, that’s not a misspelling. We’re talking fishing here, and the never-ending debate over whether the best way to catch fish is from a boat or while walking through the water. What does this have to do with the re-election of President George W. Bush? As any […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2004: Where Do We Go From Here?
Taking the West Forward
Facing four more years with the Bush administration, it’s time to seek fresh paths through the terrain ahead
Posted inDecember 6, 2004: Where Do We Go From Here?
Transforming the Forest Service: Maverick bureaucrat Wendy Herrett
Since the frontier age, the West’s forests have been home to all kinds of rogues and rebels, from family logging operations to stubborn ranchers to hard-core eco-defenders. And for nearly as long, the U.S. Forest Service has been charged with keeping them all in balance. But sometimes, the Forest Service needs its own mavericks. For […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2004: Where Do We Go From Here?
Brace yourselves for the counterrevolution
Consider the matter of Row v. Wade. No, that’s not a misspelling. We’re talking fishing here, and the never-ending debate, raged with greatest fervor along rivers in the Rocky Mountain West, over whether the best way to catch fish is from a boat or while walking through the water. And just what does this have […]
Posted inWotr
Send the coyotes to Congress
At last, there are coyotes in the capital. The first confirmed sighting of a coyote in Washington, D.C., was reported in September, and rumors of new sightings have circulated briskly ever since. What a relief. All we Westerners have to do is get the critters elected. These adventuresome D.C. coyotes, first spotted in the relative […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Racetrack
ARIZONA Incumbent Rep. Rick Renzi, R, soundly defeated Democratic hopeful Paul Babbitt in a contest for the U.S. House seat representing the state’s largest — and predominantly Democratic — District 1 (HCN, 10/25/04: Dems stumble in Arizona race). Proposition 200, which passed with Hispanic support, prevents non-citizens from voting and requires proof of legal immigration […]
Posted inWotr
Go West, Democrats, in the path of Harry Reid
Can a teetotaling Mormon from a busted mining town in Nevada lead Democrats to the Promised Land of national power? This much is certain: Democrats rallied behind Harry Reid in the hope that he can take them through purgatory —or is it hell? — as minority leader of the 44-member Democratic caucus in the U.S. […]
Posted inWotr
The ecology and politics of fear
Here’s some good news: In Yellowstone National Park, the cottonwood groves are thriving. Cottonwoods are a key element in the Yellowstone ecosystem, but not so long ago it seemed that they were doomed by dense herds of elk that clustered along the park’s rivers and browsed the trees so heavily that no young saplings survived. […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Election Day surprises in the schizophrenic West
The Interior West goes for Bush while the Coast goes to Kerry, but on the ground, it’s more complicated than ‘red’ vs. ‘blue’
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
A New Dialogue for Idaho
Environmentalist Rick Johnson and Republican Congressman Mike Simpson are crafting a new language for wilderness protection, but not everyone wants to speak it.
Posted inWotr
Surprise! Colorado’s senate race focused on the issues
In Colorado, we just endured the most expensive U.S. Senate campaign in our state’s history, with about $15 million spent to determine who would replace retiring Republican Ben Campbell, who was first elected as a Democrat in 1992. He changed parties in 1995, and easily won re-election as a Republican in 1998. There was more […]
Posted inWotr
Surprise! Conservation united Montana voters
Montana voters smashed the trash-can lid on the “blame the environmentalists” rhetoric so in vogue with right-wing Republicans earlier this year. To no one’s surprise, Montana voters went solidly for President George Bush and overwhelmingly reelected their sole Republican congressman, Dennis Rehberg. But in that light, consider this: Brian Schweitzer will become Montana’s first Democratic […]
Posted inWotr
Revolt rattles Oregon’s famed planning regulations
Washington has apples. Colorado has football and hockey. Oregon? We have land-use laws. It’s what built our state’s reputation. Planning textbooks often feature a chapter on Oregon, and environmentalists and land-use planners throughout the West look longingly towards our state Legislature in Salem; it’s the place where smart people put a cap on sprawl. That […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2004: Keepers of the Flame
Saving wildlife, one animal at a time: Veterinarian Kathleen Ramsay
ESPAÑOLA, New Mexico — Kathleen Ramsay found her calling in a veterinary school lab, when a man brought in a golden eagle caught in a foothold trap. “He threw the trap and chain at me, with the eagle flapping in the trap,” she says. “(That’s when) I decided … to help animals that could no […]
Posted inWotr
The political science of salmon non-recovery, 101
If the 13 endangered salmon runs on the Columbia and Snake rivers go the way of the dodo on our watch, the responsibility for this denouement cannot be laid at the feet of the five Columbia River Indian tribes or their allies in the biological and aquatic sciences. For two decades, in courtrooms and at […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Racetrack
Environmental groups are worried that a proposition on California’s ballot may limit their ability to sue corporations that violate state or federal environmental laws. Proposition 64 would repeal a section of the state’s Unfair Competition Law that allows state or local attorneys or members of the public to sue a business for “unlawful, unfair and […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
‘Green elephants’ abandon Bush
Republican conservationists pine for the
days of Roosevelt and Goldwater
Posted inOctober 25, 2004: Window Shopping: Part-Time Paradise
Despair not one more day
“… My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.” — Adrienne Rich History shows that the proverbial rock can be rolled, if not to the top of the mountain, […]
Posted inWotr
Why the West gets mostly ignored in an election year
The other night we were channel-surfing and hit upon the Miss America pageant. “What year did women get the vote in the United States?” a contestant was asked. The answer, according to the pageant judges, was 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The correct answer is a little more complicated. […]