There are excellent reasons why paddling is not permitted in most streams in Yellowstone (“Forbidden waters,” HCN, 11/11/13). Many streams meander through large meadows replete with grazing bison and elk. Paddlers would not only disrupt wildlife feeding along the steams, but the visual pollution caused by a parade of boats would spoil the magnificent scenes visitors presently enjoy. As […]
Recreation
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Inside the BLM’s abrupt decision not to ban shooting in an Arizona national monument
Why guns, politics and saguaros don’t mix.
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Public land, locked up
In the Rocky Mountain West, more than 4 million acres of federal public land are rendered off-limits because there’s no way for the public to access them.
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Unmechanized wilderness
In his essay about racing his BMW on the track in eastern Colorado, Daniel Brigham reinforces the old myth that the wilderness is only for men, only for those with “a certain amount of grit,” and, worst, only for those with access to an expensive, powerful machine (“Mechanized wilderness,” HCN, 11/11/13). The sensations he describes […]
Posted inGoat
The Grand Canyon, temperature inversion and the worst parenting ever
I have two daughters, ages 12 and 14. They’ve lived in the Southwest for most of those years, and they’ve never seen the Grand Canyon. This, in my wife’s eyes at least, is a sin. My sin. “Why don’t you take them if it’s so important?” “Hey, you’re Mister Southwest guy. I took them to […]
Posted inGoat
Wilderness vandalism sparks legislation in Utah, plus a look at what makes a vandal good
Last month, two Utah Boy Scout leaders inadvertently became internet sensations after posting a video of themselves toppling one of the ancient rock formations that gives Goblin Valley State Park its name, then laughing and high-fiving each other. The men, David Hall and Glenn Taylor, said they acted out of concern for public safety, but […]
Posted inGoat
Public lands with no way in: New report details access problems
What do the Troublesome Wilderness Study Area in Colorado, the Sabinoso Wilderness and Cowboy Springs WSA in New Mexico, and the Fortification Creek WSA in Wyoming have in common? They’re all public lands – and none of them can be reached by the public. Western lands have long had a patchwork of owners: federal, state, […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
A group of paddlers works to make kayaking legal on Yellowstone’s rivers
Should all national park waters be opened to boaters?
Posted inWotr
We need younger hunters
Hunters are aging, and without new hunters to carry on conservation traditions, wild game and habitat will suffer.
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
Wilderness found in a BMW
I never feel more Western than when I slide through turns at High Plains Raceway.
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
The Latest: NPS creates new winter-use plan in Yellowstone
BackstoryFor years, there’s been fierce debate over snowmobile access to Yellowstone National Park. In the early ’90s, as many as 1,900 snowmobiles swarmed the park daily, boosting local businesses but angering environmentalists concerned about air pollution and disturbed wildlife. Under President Bill Clinton, the park began phasing out snowmobiles altogether. But it changed course under […]
Posted inGoat
“Idiot-proof” citizen science results in 16 new diatom species
Loren Bahls is not your typical retiree. After stepping down as head of water quality management for the state of Montana in 1996 – then retiring again from private consulting in 2009 – Bahls finally found time to pursue his real passion: Tiny, glass-walled microbes called diatoms that practically cover the surface of the Earth. […]
Posted inGoat
Forest Service rules catch up with the growth of year-round activities at ski resorts
After spending a day of mountain biking on the Colorado Trail this summer, I stopped near my car to watch the tourist season circus at Copper Mountain’s base area. The crowd milled around a bungee-and-trampoline contraption, a mini golf course and a concert stage that blared mediocre funk music. Signs along the trail pointed “mountain […]
Posted inWotr
The bullet shortage: a self-fulfilling prophecy
It started with a fear of government intervention and ends with hoarding.
Posted inGoat
A family’s mission to document the most isolated spot in each state
Let there be no mistake: Rebecca and Ryan Means don’t hate roads. “We enjoy driving around on them,” Ryan says. “But what we’re saying is we have plenty. Maybe as a country we should think about not laying any more down.” Rebecca, 40, and Ryan, 41, are conservation biologists from Florida, and they’re on a […]
Posted inGoat
New Mexico’s Valles Caldera Preserve will soon welcome hikers
In northern New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains, hikers are finally getting access to some stunning lands that have long been off limits – the 89,000 acres of the Valles Caldera Preserve. Starting Dec. 6, 2013, much of the preserve’s forests, meadows and streams will be opened* to unrestricted cross-country hiking for a $10 daily fee. “The […]
Posted inWotr
Immersed in the wild, trekking part of the Pacific Crest Trail
Living on wilderness time for 300 miles.
Posted inSeptember 16, 2013: Intimate Geographies
Heart-Shaped River: Craig Childs finds his center in Canyonlands
“Not all maps are made of paper. The best ones are spooled in memory.”
Posted inSeptember 16, 2013: Intimate Geographies
Craig Childs narrates a Canyonlands adventure
Images from a month-long trip with friends in 1999.
Posted inGoat
What IS glamping, anyway?
Retired Associated Press editor William Kronholm and his wife recently spent six days on the Salmon River in Idaho, rafting during the day and enjoying a gourmet meal with wine each night before retiring to their tent, complete with a mattress, fluffy pillows and floor rug. Kronholm, whose previous standard for wilderness luxury was simply […]