Closing budget gaps and cutting spending — often steeply and painfully — dominated most Western legislative sessions, except in Wyoming, which is bolstered by oil, gas and mineral taxes. Colorado merged its parks and wildlife agencies; Nevada’s new public employees won’t enjoy health insurance in retirement; and Washington universities will hike tuition by more than […]
Politics
Posted inJune 27, 2011: Hydrofracked?
Wildfires burn big in Arizona and New Mexico
In the Southwest, this summer’s fire season looks like the worst since 2002. Years of severe drought and fire suppression have left Arizona and New Mexico forests loaded with fuel and drier than diner toast, and this winter’s La Niña weather pattern parched them even more. The massive Wallow Fire has surpassed the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski […]
Posted inGoat
Subsidized crop insurance: the next ag boondoggle?
Over the past few weeks, the House of Representatives has been hacking away at the budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The dollars cut and kept in these negotiations set a baseline for the spending in the 2012 Farm Bill debate, and since the farm bill is the primary way agriculture policy is determined […]
Posted inJune 13, 2011: Under the Flight Path
Western papers drop D.C. reporters
The Washington, D.C., office of the Salt Lake Tribune‘s Thomas Burr and Matt Canham resembles most newsrooms. A few pieces of art cling haphazardly to the walls; piles of paper spill from one reporter’s cubicle. It feels busy, even if it’s not nearly as lively as it was a few years ago, when 14 correspondents […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Not as bad as it seems
IDAHO Whiny, weak and what you might call wussy are adjectives that characterize too many people in Idaho today, complains the Idaho Mountain Express, and even some elected officials admit they’re living in fear. What fills folks with such anxiety? Wolves — which, according to one legislator, are loitering at the mailbox, holding innocent women […]
Posted inGoat
Here comes Huntsman
Updated 6-21-11 Courtesy Twitter and the Huffington Post, we’d already heard former Utah governor, ambassador to China, fluent Mandarin speaker, businessman, climate change moderate and Mormon extraordinaire Jon Huntsman Jr. was going to throw his hat in the Republican presidential ring. And on Tuesday he did just that. Slate has the story on how the […]
Posted inJune 13, 2011: Under the Flight Path
Fire fight: Forest Service explores chemical retardant hazards
What’s worse for the forest: wildfires or the chemicals dropped from planes to stop them? The U.S. Forest Service tackles this question in its 370-page study of fire-retardants’ ecological impacts, released May 13. It’s a dilemma: Retardants kill fish, contaminate aquifers and fertilize noxious weeds, but unchecked fires destroy homes, wreck some habitats, ruin views […]
Posted inRange
Are Indians and Westerners halfway to a lost decade?
Last week I wrote about how this economic crisis will impact Indian Country through the loss of government-funded jobs. Indeed, readers reacted to my commentary with two basic responses. One group said it’s time for Native Americans to get off the dole; another asked why tribes aren’t solving this problem on their own? But Indian […]
Posted inGoat
Why Babbitt’s advice to Obama doesn’t quite hit the mark
It was constructed as some advice for President Obama, a call to action for the executive branch, “the best, and likely only hope for meaningful progress” on the environment. But former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s speech to the National Press Club on June 8 seemed to serve a higher purpose: To educate the press and […]
Posted inArticles
It’s time for Maximum Trashing Utilization
The West could become a greener place with the help of a policy I call Maximum Trashing Utilization, or MTU. Its fundamental concept is simple: Get the maximum benefit from every disturbance of the environment. If that requires changes in regulations, or perhaps some economic adjustments, let’s just do it. The more benefit we get […]
Posted inRange
Gold dredging conflict heats up
Back in April, HCN managing editor Jodi Peterson wrote about efforts by the State of California to come up with regulations governing suction dredge mining. The regulation rewrite is required by court order. The Karuk Tribe, Klamath Riverkeeper and others won the order by challenging whether the environmental impacts of vacuuming streambeds for gold had […]
Posted inGoat
A Westerner too reasonable for the White House?
Why would a two-term former governor of Utah, the third most conservative state in the Union, be viewed as too liberal for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination? In the state’s legislature, Republicans in the House outnumber Democrats 2-1. Its Senate is even more lopsided, with a 3-1 ratio. Yet despite former governor Jon Huntsman Jr.’s […]
Posted inRange
The kids are not all right (with climate change)
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House A few weeks ago, a band of juvenile activists made headlines around the country when they, with the help of some eager adults, filed lawsuits demanding our nation’s leaders do their part to reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Two 11-year-olds in Boulder signed onto the Colorado suit, […]
Posted inRange
Why Salazar backed down from Wild Lands
By Matthew H. Davis After strong opposition from several Western states and a pending lawsuit, Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is backing down from his controversial “Wild Lands” policy. “I am confirming today that the Bureau of Land Management will not designate land as ‘Wild Lands,’” Salazar said in a memo to Bob […]
Posted inMay 30, 2011: Wolf Whiplash
An interview with Carter Niemeyer, author of “Wolfer: A Memoir”
Carter Niemeyer is a wildlife biologist who started his career doing predator control and ended it working on wolf recovery in the northern Rockies. His new book, Wolfer: A Memoir, chronicles his years capturing, tracking, relocating and killing wolves for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Idaho Department of Game. The gray wolf’s […]
Posted inMay 30, 2011: Wolf Whiplash
Richard Reynolds, raptor man
The main cabin at Big Springs Field Station in northern Arizona’s Kaibab National Forest isn’t the prettiest; there’s paint chipping from the floors and mouse poop in the corners. But the decorations cost about $9 million and took 20 years to collect. Oversized graphs, tables, maps and aerial photos crowd each other for wall space. […]
Posted inMay 30, 2011: Wolf Whiplash
Respect for our (female) elders
Thanks for the article on the inspirational and tenacious Debbie Sease (HCN, 5/2/11). I work for The Wilderness Society and elders like Debbie, Johanna Wald of the Natural Resources Defense Council and volunteer Marge Sill with the Sierra Club in Reno are the inspiration for me and so many other women in the movement. While […]
Posted inMay 30, 2011: Wolf Whiplash
Indebted to Debbie
Kudos on your terrific article about Debbie Sease (HCN, 5/2/11). Those who have worked to protect land, water and wildlife with Debbie throughout her career know how talented she is and how much she has accomplished. All who love the West’s wild lands are indebted to Debbie.Johanna WaldSan Francisco, California This article appeared in the […]
Posted inRange
Utah goes for the gold
If you live in Utah, you can now pay your local bills or taxes with gold or silver coins, thanks to a law passed by the state legislature this year. The new Utah law directs the state treasurer to set the exchange rate (so many dollars for a given weight of gold or silver) and […]
Posted inGoat
Oil Industry Wins Subsidy Game, Again
Little more than a year after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, 4 dollar-a-gallon gas has prompted a bout of political amnesia. Despite various moratoriums on offshore drilling, the House of Representatives passed three separate bills last week that would hasten and expand domestic oil production. Then a Senate bill that had gained considerable momentum […]