The Magazine

Faced with rising temperatures and a passive federal
government, Western towns such as Aspen, Colo., are beginning to
work out a local approach to combating global warming.

Also in this issue: President Bush revives a
proposal to sell off public lands managed by the BLM and the Forest
Service as part of his 2007 budget.

In Riverside County, Calif., the conflict between the
Endangered Species Act’s critical habitat rule and the
West’s booming, sprawling, growth-driven economy comes to a
head.

Also in this issue: The seven
states of the Colorado River Basin have come to a groundbreaking
agreement that, among other things, will allow cities such as Las
Vegas to lease water from out-of-state farms during times of
drought.

The first bison hunt in 15 years was supposed to offer
hope for a reasonable solution to Yellowstone’s
‘buffalo problem,’ but a lifelong hunter who watched it
says the senseless slaughter continues.

Also in
this issue: A group of scientists at Oregon State
University’s College of Forestry publish a controversial
study saying salvage logging may actually slow forest recovery.

As the West’s privately owned timberlands go up for
sale, small towns like Glenwood, Wash., are working to buy local
forests and manage them for the good of the community.

Also in this issue: The closing down of the
Mohave Generating Station and the Black Mesa Mine are both a
victory for environmentalists and Indian water activists, and an
economic catastrophe for the Hopi and Navajo nations.

In Montana’s dying farm country, “vanguard
agriculture” is putting people back to work on the land.

Also in this issue: Concerned citizens overflow
a meeting in Delta, Colo., as a crucial deadline for protecting
roadless areas in national forests nears.

The end of the oil and gas era may be in sight, but the
current energy boom in the West means that a rough and wild ride is
still ahead.

Also in this issue: After
Michele DeHart of the Fish Passage Center in Portland, Ore.,
publicly supported a plan to protect salmon, angry lawmakers led by
Sen. Larry Craig yanked the center’s funding.

Energy companies are reaping billions in the West today,
but few states are making sure that enough of that wealth stays at
home and is invested wisely.

Also in this
issue: The long and carefully planned campaign to protect
the Ojito Wilderness in New Mexico holds useful lessons for
wilderness activists across the West.

Denver, Colo., one of the West’s most sprawling,
traffic-choked cities, has become a champion of mass transit with
FasTracks, its ambitious light-rail project.

Also in this issue: A provision in the new
energy bill promises funding to speed up the oil and gas permitting
process in BLM offices – without costing the industry an
extra penny.

Elaborate marijuana gardens created and managed by Mexican
drug lords are turning California’s public lands into a
dangerous, illegal, industrial-style landscape.

Also in this issue: The Forest Service’s
claim that a recent court order would suspend routine activities
– such as cutting Christmas trees or picking mushrooms
– has been dismissed by the judge as the agency’s
attempt to blow the issue out of proportion.

Modern-day scientists, retracing the path of Joseph
Grinnell in Yosemite National Park, document conspicuous changes in
the natural world and find a culprit unimagined by biologists 100
years ago: global warming.

Also in this
issue: On his 12th attempt, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif.,
succeeds in pushing a bill through the U.S. House designed to
reform the Endangered Species Act and end critical habitat
protection.

Susan Ryan, a young archaeologist, has some unusual ideas
about why the Anasazi left their homes in the Southwest, 700 years
ago.

Also in this issue: In the city
of Albuquerque, underdog candidate Eric Griego, a critic of sprawl,
challenges incumbent Mayor Marty Chavez, a pro-growth booster.

With only a tiny share of the Colorado River available to
it, Las Vegas decides to get the water it needs from elsewhere in
the state – underneath the rural high-desert Basin and Range
country.

Also in this issue: The Park
Service lands in hot water when Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary
Paul Hoffman secretly rewrites the agency’s management
manual, and the revision is leaked to the press.

The Quivira Coalition wants to bring peace and prosperity
to the West’s public grazing lands, but some critics question
whether the collaboration-based group can accomplish its goals.

Also in this issue: The Navajo Nation
is wrangling over the benefits – and dangers – of the
proposed Desert Rock Power Plant in northwestern New Mexico.

The Air Force wants to close Cannon Air Force Base, but
the nearby town of Clovis, N.M., is not ready to let go of its main
economic engine.

Also in this issue:
California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo holds a hearing in New
Mexico on the National Environmental Policy Act, and it’s up
to Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, to defend the law
against its conservative attackers.

In Mormon Country, young Polynesians search for identity
— and for an escape from a seemingly unstoppable cycle of
violence.

Also in this Issue: The BLM
lets the gas industry sit behind the desk and The Great Salt Lake
is loaded with mercury.

California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo made his mark
blasting the Endangered Species Act, but now, he says, he’s
learning to compromise on environmental issues.

Also in this issue: The Bureau of Land
Management rewrote a scientific report critical of its new grazing
rules, and two veteran scientists have quit the agency in protest.

A writer takes a 1,600-mile Greyhound bus ride from Salt
Lake City into Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, and listens
to the stories of the Westerners he meets.

Also
in this issue: The Bureau of Land Management is
tightening its standards on what it considers worthwhile,
“substantive” public comments from citizen activists.

The development boom in the West’s exurbs is
draining public coffers and destroying the region’s last
wide-open spaces.

Also in this issue:
A judge has thrown out the Bush administration’s salmon
protection plan, setting the stage for dramatic changes to the
federal hydropower system.

In Montana’s Madison County, Reid Rosenthal uses
conservation easements to help the land — and make his
investors rich.

Also in this issue:
Facing severe budget cuts, the Forest Service is selling off
property, and considering closing some recreation sites it
considers too expensive to maintain.

Despite angry environmentalists, rotting timber, and
unenthusiastic logging companies, the Bush administration is
determined to push logging on roadless land burned by the Biscuit
Fire in southwestern Oregon.

Also in this
issue: The House of Representatives has just passed an
energy bill that is even more outrageously friendly to industry
than the Bush administration had requested.