The Magazine

The case of Wyoming’s poisoned eagles took a bizarre turn when Van Irvine — the sheep rancher from Casper, Wyo., who is charged on 29 counts of game violations — asked for a no contest plea and was fined the absolute minimum on all charges.

Keith Becker, a former Navy pilot from Thermopolis, Wyo., has been named the new executive director of the Wyoming Outdoor Coordinating Council. He succeeds Tom Bell, director since 1967, who is stepping down to devote full time to editorship of High Country News.

The deaths of at least 50 eagles in Wyoming has led to the arrest of Van Irvine, a prominent Wyoming stockman who is now being charged with 28 game violations.

The Glacier Primitive Area in Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains will be the subject of an upcoming public hearing, part of the wilderness review process specified by the 1964 Wilderness Act.

The latest toll of golden and bald eagles reported dead in Wyoming now stands at 43. Twenty-three of those eagles are confirmed or suspected of being killed by poisons.

A tragedy involving America’s symbol of freedom has struck in central Wyoming. Eleven bald eagles were found dead on the west end of Casper Mountain; five golden eagles were found dead, and another was partially paralyzed and near death.

The 1971 Montana legislature may go down in the record books as the session in which “environmentalism” finally caught on. Bills passed and signed into law include new hard rock mining reclamation laws, zoning provisions, tougher water pollution controls and more.

In hearings at the nation’s capitol, Sen. Gale McGee called for a two-year moratorium on clear-cutting in national forests, underscoring the increased criticism that timber practices have come under in recent years.

The “prophets of progress” see the great, untamed section of the Snake River through Hells Canyon not as a thing of intrinsic value, but as a tragic waste of kilowatts.

Unlike in most states, the Montana environment has a real champion: Fish and Game Department head Frank Dunkle, who has fought Montana governor Forrest Anderson to a virtual standstill.

Most of Nebraska’s rivers and streams are threatened and many may be destroyed or greatly altered within a few years, according to National Audubon Society representative Ron Klataske.

Wyoming Sen. Gale McGee has stated that management policies of National Forests must be redirected “away from short-range, short-sighted emphasis on timber cutting toward long-range protection of the entire spectrum of forest-related values.”

Both Governor John Love of Colorado and Governor Cecil Andrus of Idaho have put environmental matters high on their list of priorities.

Governors Forrest Anderson of Montana and Stanley Hathaway of Wyoming — neither of whom has outstanding environmental records — have both declared the environment to be an important issue. The Era of the Environment must certainly have arrived.

Wyomingites turned out to comment on a proposed water development plan for the Green River. They were almost unanimous in speaking out against the environmentally destructive
and economically prohibitive proposals.

Jackson Hole sports the label of being the biggest ski area in the United States with its 4,135-foot vertical drop and its six square miles of ski country — terrain for everyone, from beginner to “super skier.”

For the first time, the road to the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park will be plowed, allowing snowmobile enthusiasts to visit new winter wonders.

The environment and environmental issues made some gains in this year’s elections. But environmental conditions existing at present did not make much impact on most voters.

According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, lack of snowfall in the high country has made hunting for deer and elk extremely tough.

The battle lines have been drawn between aroused outdoor citizens and the U.S. Forest Service over final boundaries of the proposed Eagle’s Nest Wilderness in Colorado’s Gore Range.