A favorite quotation of my early twenties was by none other than the archdruid himself, David Brower, from an essay he wrote for the Sierra Club Bulletin in 1935. Having spent the previous summer wandering around and over the high peaks, Brower wondered whether his adventure was “the limit? Could the Sierra offer only transitory […]
Recreation
Posted inHeard Around the West
Finding treasure in the “Treasure State”
MONTANA Billings Gazette reporter Diane Cochran decided to personally test her state’s voter-initiated Medical Marijuana Act recently, timing exactly how long it took to get a doctor to recommend the use of pot. Eight minutes was the answer, courtesy of an Internet consultation, but according to the executive director of the pot-advocacy group, Montana Caregivers […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
If wolves could drive cars…
WYOMINGMayor Scott Mangold of Powell, population 5,000 or so, in northwest Wyoming, tries to keep it light on the town’s Web site, cityofpowell.com. If you want to vote, he advises, you’d better be 18, a U.S. citizen and a resident, all no-brainer qualifications, he admits. “Could you imagine people in California voting in Wyoming?” he […]
Posted inBlog
National Parks for the Whole Nation
I’ll admit it. There are some environmental topics I just don’t know much about. For example, I first heard of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir when friends living near Yosemite invited me to visit during my move from Los Angeles to Portland (that January trip was itself my first visit to Yosemite). I saw a sign […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
1 for the money, 2 for the show, 3 to get ready, now go, yak, go
WYOMINGFor the last eight years, John and Laura DeMatteis have raised a small herd of yaks on their 300-acre ranch in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. “I needed an ag exemption on my property,” he told the Casper Star-Tribune, “and didn’t want to do cattle, and bison are kind of a pain. So […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Exercises in discretion
OREGONVincent Ruark was sitting at home with his two dogs in northern Oregon recently, not doing much of anything, when two Klickitat County officers knocked on his door. Aerial surveillance had spotted marijuana plants growing in his yard, they informed him, and they wanted permission to conduct a search. Taken by surprise and flustered, Ruark […]
Posted inArticles
Why not fees on Fourteeners?
Proposal might result in fewer tourists — who spend more
Posted inHeard Around the West
A little taste of … something
COLORADOPot dispensaries may be proliferating on Main Streets across the West, but a new sign that weed is going mainstream can be seen in Durango, a college town in southern Colorado that attracts lots of hikers, climbers and mountain bikers. Just turn on Durango’s public-access television channel, and you can watch pot-inspired recipes come to […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Taking matters into their own hands
OREGONWhy would you bring pepper spray to a cooking contest for local chefs in Portland? Well, let’s just say that it was not employed to spice up one of the entrees. Instead, it was used by police to halt what Willamette Week Online described as a brawl featuring “drunken head-butts, chefs being ejected from a […]
Posted inGoat
Happy birthday, Glacier NP
When I was younger, I was lucky to visit Glacier National Park in Northern Montana, which today becomes a centenarian. By now, my memories of my family’s visit are few, but distinct: Gliding on a boat over the glassine reflections of glacier-shouldered crags; walking a trail past incredibly docile, shaggy mountain goats; seeing an black […]
Posted inRange
HCN Reader Photo: Teton Summer
We might be a little premature in posting this photo, in April, since it represents the Tetons in August. But it’s such a lovely picture, and gives us something to look forward to: long summer days with beautiful views. It’s great to live in the West. Add your photos to our Flickr pool; we pick […]
Posted inGoat
Voyage of the Plastiki
Two weeks have passed since 12,000 plastic bottles began riding the waves from San Francisco to Sydney. This is no mini Pacific Garbage Patch–the bottles form the bulk of the Plastiki, a 60-foot sailing boat built from recycled materials. Its big, flashy journey is intended to raise awareness about manmade pollution in the ocean. Perhaps […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
World’s largest sand trap
Where is a golf-ball-collecting fox when you need one? Although it might take more than one to round up the 3,000 or so golf balls that a 57-year-old man has scattered around Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. Since 2007, Douglas Jones has been “just tossing them out of his vehicle,” a park spokesman […]
Posted inWotr
Got your elk yet?
Got your elk yet? It’s a far more complex question than it appears. In one breath, it asks, “Are we friends?” “Do you approve of firearms?” “Do we share an ideology?” and, naturally, “Do you want to hear about me getting my elk?” Even more significantly, the question assumes that if you live in the […]
Posted inGoat
California’s State Parks: No New Closures
In July, after $14.2 million was cut from the California State Parks’ operating budget, it looked like up to 100 parks might have to close to make ends meet. Park supporters have thus spent the last few months anxiously speculating about which parks would fall to Governor Schwarzenegger’s death panels. But today they got a […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 2009: Home
Our best idea
Dayton Duncan was an impressionable 9-year-old when he made his first journey into the West’s national parks. He had the kind of life-changing experience that many people have enjoyed in the parks. Beginning Sept. 27, it will pay off in 12 hours of evocative public television, exploring how land conservation is often inspired by personal […]
Posted inGoat
State Parks Spread the Wealth
The Road-Warrior anarchy that may await some state parks in the West (see “Lawless Future” in this week’s issue) if funding cutbacks close park gates may not have much of an impact on overall state revenues. Despite what many good-hearted park defenders argue, state parks don’t rake in piles of cash. Only 13 of California’s sexiest state […]