Rock climbers are not the only acrobats that frequent cliffs. Raptors such as peregrine falcons nest and roost on lofty rocks and can be scared away from their chicks by careless climbers. Nationwide, nearly 60 crags have temporary climbing restrictions to protect these birds, but in many cases, raptors and climbers can coexist peacefully, says […]
Recreation
Posted inMarch 2, 1998: Wild horses: Do they belong in the West?
The Grand Canyon struggles with reality
TUSAYAN, Ariz. – Just south of Grand Canyon National Park, this hamlet of 1,600 people is a model for what federal planners don’t want near a national treasure. The main street takes millions of visitors a year past an Imax Theater opposite an RV park, Babbitt’s General Store, motels and fast-food restaurants that tourists overwhelm […]
Posted inMarch 2, 1998: Wild horses: Do they belong in the West?
Into the canyon: Fear and heat on foot
On the southeast rim of the Grand Canyon, at the South Kaibab trailhead, wind blows hard and cool at 4:20 a.m., even in July. I walk past the yellow sign with the fretting boy sitting on a rock under the sun. The sign reads, “Heat Kills!” A bus left five of us here moments ago, […]
Posted inFebruary 16, 1998: Private rights vs. public lands
Soul in your soles
When was the last time you felt mud ooze between your toes? Richard Frazine in The Barefoot Hiker encourages readers to free their feet as well as their minds. No joke: Frazine, who lives in Connecticut, has been hiking unshod for over 20 years even through sleet and snow. He recommends a woodland trail for […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 1998: Looking at dams in a new way
Ski resort plans ruffle feathers
The forested hump of Pelican Butte stands like an island in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. Bounded by a wilderness area, a national park (Crater Lake), and a national wildlife refuge, the butte is known for its stands of old-growth Shasta red fir, nesting spotted owls and wintering bald eagles. A ski area proposal from Jeld Wen […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 1998: Looking at dams in a new way
Cars to get the boot
CARS TO GET THE BOOT Cars are on their way to the endangered list in three of the country’s most popular parks. The National Park Service wants to replace private cars with light rail in Grand Canyon and expand bus systems in Yosemite and Zion national parks by 2000. “The problem isn’t too many people, […]
Posted inDecember 22, 1997: Gold Rush: Mining seeks to tighten its grip on the 'last, best place'
The West from a snowmobile: a 50 million-acre theme park
It was fortunate that I could ski faster than my friend Mark Tokarski, because, like a 200-pound mosquito in a red stocking cap, he was pursuing me, belting out this incredibly annoying whining sound: “YEEEEENNNNGGGHHHH.” Foolishly, as we shushed along cross-country trails on the Bitterroot Divide, I had commented what a rare pleasure it was […]
Posted inDecember 22, 1997: Gold Rush: Mining seeks to tighten its grip on the 'last, best place'
Activists ‘shepherd’ wayward bison
Highway Administration says it’s all or nothing
Posted inDecember 8, 1997: Mono Lake: Victory over Los Angeles turns into local controversy
Is the Park Service too timid?
When Washington’s Mount Rainier blew its top 5,600 years ago, a massive mud flow buried much of the Puget Sound under hundreds of feet of mud and rock. Today, smaller mudslides from the volcano, called one of the world’s most dangerous, threaten Mount Rainier National Park. In the past decade, slides have destroyed a bridge […]
Posted inNovember 24, 1997: Restoring a refuge: Cows depart, but can antelope recover?
Our national movie stars
National parks have always played starring roles in Hollywood productions. Sandstone pillars and deep gorges also appear on television and in magazines, selling cars, beer and almost everything in between. But most parks, some of which host an average of 50 productions per year, don’t see a dime from production companies. A 40-year-old rule prohibits […]
Posted inNovember 24, 1997: Restoring a refuge: Cows depart, but can antelope recover?
Greens differ over plan to expand national park
Anyone who has wandered the convoluted canyons of Arches National Park knows this landscape doesn’t lend itself to ruler-straight boundaries. But find the park on a map and you’ll see a stair-stepped outline that cuts across canyons and over mesas. Walt Dabney, the outspoken superintendent of both Arches and Canyonlands national parks, has been trying […]
Posted inNovember 10, 1997: Drain Lake Powell? Democracy and science finally come West
Bison killing goes inside
Rangers in Yellowstone National Park have permission from park brass to shoot bull bison headed out of the park this winter. It is the first time in decades that rangers may, as a matter of policy, kill wildlife they are charged with protecting. Park managers say the change is intended to control disease, rather than […]
Posted inNovember 10, 1997: Drain Lake Powell? Democracy and science finally come West
Banning the buzz
The National Park Service is developing rules to allow local park officials to restrict, and perhaps ban, personal sit-down or stand-up watercraft. Park Service program manager Dennis Burnett says although the fast watercraft make up only 7 percent of all boaters, they cause more than half of all boating accidents. They also dump about a […]
Posted inNovember 10, 1997: Drain Lake Powell? Democracy and science finally come West
More ATVers than aliens
You can search for alien life forms near Roswell, N.M., and not see them, but you can’t miss all-terrain vehicles. For the past 20 years, motor-bikers have carved tracks all around 3,530-acre Haystack Mountain. But unfettered roaming may end soon. The Roswell District of the Bureau of Land Management has finished a draft management plan […]
Posted inNovember 10, 1997: Drain Lake Powell? Democracy and science finally come West
Continental Divide Trail
You don’t have to leave your home to experience the Continental Divide Trail. Exploring the trail is now as easy as typing www.gorp.com/cdts/ and hitting return. The Continental Divide Trail Society has created a Web page for hikers to exchange information, inquire about weather conditions and find hiking partners via the Forum, the site’s on-line […]
Posted inOctober 27, 1997: Deconstructing the age of dams
Monumental conflict continues
The saying, “time heals all wounds,” may not apply to Utah, at least not to its politicians. Though more than a year has passed since President Clinton created the 1.7 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, the state’s congressional delegation continues to try to dismantle it. Republican Rep. Jim Hansen told the Salt […]
Posted inOctober 27, 1997: Deconstructing the age of dams
Snowmobiles remain an issue
Yellowstone is one of the few national parks in the world where snowmobiling is allowed, and about 100,000 people a year take advantage of that fact. But there has never been a formal study of how the noisy, smelly machines affect the park and its wildlife. That could change next year. The Fund for Animals, […]
Posted inSeptember 29, 1997: The timber wars evolve into a divisive attempt at peace
Microbes for sale here
As military bands, rangers on horseback and Vice President Al Gore marked Yellowstone National Park’s 125th anniversary in August, park officials signed a contract that formally opened the park’s famous hot springs to bioprospecting. The deal allows San Diego-based Diversa Corp. to collect samples of hot-water microbes, called thermophiles, in exchange for $175,000 over five […]
Posted inSeptember 15, 1997: Yellowstone at 125: The park as a sovereign state
Yellowstone at 125: The park as a sovereign state
Note: this front-page essay introduces this issue’s feature story. In June 1986, Max Peterson, then chief of the Forest Service, went to Yellowstone National Park. In the course of his speech, he mentioned how nice it was to be in Montana. Unfortunately, he was standing in Wyoming. The press hooted. We shouldn’t have. It’s a […]
Posted inSeptember 15, 1997: Yellowstone at 125: The park as a sovereign state
Bigger might be better for Utah’s parks
Lockhart Basin isn’t part of southern Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, but activists and park managers are saying it should be. Just outside the park’s eastern boundaries, the basin will soon be home to a drilling rig from Legacy Energy Corp., which has a permit from the Bureau of Land Management to explore for oil. Opponents […]