The Magazine

The proposal to designate a big chunk of wild land in Idaho as the River of No Return Wilderness has created new conflicts that jeopardize the land’s longstanding wild character.

Jackson Hole officials have tried to shape and slow the rapid growth sparked by the opening of the Teton Village Ski Area in 1966, but their efforts haven’t been enough.

Although swamps have historically been viewed as unattractive and worthless, a building movement — buoyed by federal laws — recognizes wetlands as havens for wildlife that also hold and purify water used by humans.

The solar energy industry is a booming business, containing all of the perils of rapid growth — fast-buck men, scant history, few standards and regulations, and consumer confusion.

Lack of clear goals for Idaho agriculture becomes more evident as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management wrestles with plans to convert thousands of acres of desert lands managed by that agency into individual private farms sanctioned by the Desert Land Act and the Carey Act.

Damage to sensitive desert ecosystems is causing some to take a hard look at the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, which was the first time Congress gave full protection to a non-native species animal.

The U.S. Supreme Court has lifted an injunction barring four coal companies and a railroad from proceeding with coal development in Wyoming’s eastern Powder River Basin, opening the way to full-scale development of the region’s coal.

A look at alternative toilets — such as composting toilets that eliminate water consumption — and a brief explanation of how they work and their chief advantages and disadvantages.

After losing a lawsuit involving grazing allotments, the Bureau of Land Management has expressed concern that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) — considered to be the country’s most important environmental law — is making the agency vulnerable to lawsuits that drain time and resources, raising questions about that law’s future.

More and more rural residents are starting to resent transmission lines as the lines proliferate across the open spaces of the West, marring the scenery, hindering farm operations, and producing ozone, which may be harmful to crops.

A rush for phosphate in Idaho could mean 22,000 new residents, a substantial loss of wildlife habitat, increased air pollution, and an uncertain future for two resident endangered species.

Near the remote ranching community of Circle, Montana, the Burlington Northern railroad company plans to construct a coal gasification plant that would produce not only natural gas but also fertilizer.

Two years after public hearings, the National Park Service is still embroiled in a national controversy over whether or not to allow the establishment of a commercial jetport in Grant Teton National Park in Wyoming.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s Oahe Diversion Project, ballyhooed for nearly 30 years as the savior of South Dakota’s family farm agricultural economy, is now being bitterly opposed by many of its supposed beneficiaries as construction begins.

As the Tennessee Valley Authority rapidly expands its electric generation with nuclear power, it has interests in exploring and mining uranium in Wyoming, New Mexico, and other Western states.

Industry says the West’s thick, low-sulfur coal seams are they key to America’s abundant energy, while conservationists push for more equitable distribution of mining throughout the country. In this issue, HCN presents three different views on the options.

Several Western governors convened recently to hammer out general policies on energy issues for the region, striking a tone of “states’ rights” in relation to the national government.

Wheatland, Wyoming, has so far dodged the energy boom, but it may be the future home of the Missouri Basin Power Project, a 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant.

Most people believe wilderness should be left alone. But as more and more people use it, active management becomes necessary.

Can you imagine a U.S. energy future which doesn’t require immediate and massive commitments to western coal and oil shale development, nuclear power, offshore oil or foreign imports?