If dirt roads in southern Utah suddenly seem free of ruts, washboards and washouts, you can thank Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Environmentalists believe Babbitt’s recent announcement of a new BLM inventory of wilderness led to a flurry of illegal road work by county crews. For if roads exist, the Bureau of Land Management can’t include […]
Wildlife
Posted inSeptember 30, 1996: Can this man break the right's grip on Idaho?
The bigger the mine, the better the deal
BOZEMAN, Mont. – The way things are going around here lately, we should change Montana’s nickname from the Big Sky Country to the Big Swap Country: Let’s make a deal! No doubt it’s a form of progress. So were the 1872 Mining Law and the railroad land grants in their day. But qualifiers need to […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Bear with us
If you’re a hiker or angler in black bear or grizzly territory, a modest little handbook, Bear Aware: Hiking and Camping in Bear Country, could save your life. It concisely explains the bear essentials of coexistence, such as staying alert in the outback, venturing out only with a large group, sticking to the trail and […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Do cows become the Prescott?
Arizona’s Prescott National Forest is not the place for cows and sheep, according to a lawsuit filed in August by The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club. But the suit goes beyond the usual grazing vs. o-grazing debate. The lawsuit charges that the Forest Service violated federal law by issuing grazing permits without considering whether […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Utahns roar over lion hunt
A decision allowing hunters in Utah to kill 630 mountain lions this year has created an uproar. A hunt approved by the Utah Wildlife Board Aug. 26 allows for the killing of 150 more lions than the state allowed last year, or about one-third of Utah’s estimated lion population of 2,000. “This decision was not […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
A summer of smoke and ashes
Marines and Army soldiers joined the tens of thousands of firefighters at work in Western states this summer. On Aug. 16, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise declared a maximum Level 5 Emergency, which authorizes the use of military personnel. The additional firefighters were needed to combat the most intense fire season since 1969. […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Whatever happened to letting fires burn?
The summer wildfire season is drawing to an end, but the West is still burning. And despite a plethora of ecological research that demonstrates the value of fire as an ecological and evolutionary force, land-management agencies continue to suppress fires, except in a few wilderness areas or other reserves. Not only is such a policy […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Opal Creek is blowing in the (political) wind
Since the wilderness battles of the early 1980s, Oregon forest activists have fought to protect Opal Creek, a lovely, nearly intact old-growth watershed on the western flank of the Oregon Cascades. Last spring, Sen. Mark Hatfield announced that he would at last grant their wish. The Oregon Republican, retiring next January after 30 years in […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Birds get eviction notice
When the Bureau of Reclamation floods the endangered southwestern willow flycatchers out of their nesting habitat near Phoenix, Ariz., will the birds simply move to the next best spot? The Bureau says they will. But conservationists fear the move will drive the local population of songbirds to extinction. The deluge comes next spring as a […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Where the wolves are
Though the media’s attention has focused on the wolf reintroduction effort in Yellowstone National Park, wolves in Idaho may reach the recovery goal of 10 breeding pairs first. Biologists received good news last spring when they confirmed that eight pairs of wolves in Idaho had denned. Three litters have been sighted so far. In 1995, […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Montana grizzlies move west
For a decade, Montanans have complained about the influx of Californians. The trend has reversed, at least for three grizzlies. A sow and her two 16-month-old cubs had run into trouble by repeatedly raiding garbage cans and cabins just outside Yellowstone National Park. Even after land managers relocated the family, the grizzlies returned to their […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Babbitt takes the offensive on Utah wilderness
At a wilderness hearing last spring, Utah Rep. James Hansen challenged Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to find 5 million acres of BLM land in Utah that qualify for wilderness designation. Now that competing Utah wilderness bills are dormant in Congress, Babbitt has taken him up. The Interior boss has assembled “a small team of career […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
A “bizarre” alliance fights logging
The southern Colorado town of San Luis, population 850, is predominantly rural, Hispanic and Catholic. Everyone here knows everyone else. But at a special sunrise service on June 10, the local priest welcomed some new faces from environmental groups such as Ancient Forest Rescue, Greenpeace and Earth First! Afterwards, the motley congregation drove to the […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Recreation fee startles locals
In July, radio talk show hosts in Tucson, Ariz., went after an unlikely target: forest ranger Tom Quinn. “They roasted me for a week,” said Quinn, who works on the Coronado National Forest. The reason for the fuss? The Forest Service wants to charge an entrance fee for the popular Mount Lemmon recreation area just […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Last line of defense
Civil disobedience and protest slowdown ‘lawless logging’
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
What a difference a year makes
Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. A brief history of the salvage logging rider: July 27, 1995: President Bill Clinton signs the salvage logging rider. The measure, attached to a budget bill containing financial aid for victims of the Oklahoma City bombing and for war-torn Bosnia, expedites logging on national forests […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
When the crackdown came
Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. For nearly a year, the Forest Service patiently accepted the presence of the protesters at Warner Creek. But after the Clinton administration announced that logging would be at least delayed at Warner Creek, the agency’s attitude toward the protesters changed abruptly. Law enforcement officers moved […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Cove-Mallard: ‘I’m just trying to right what I feel is wrong’
Content removed at freelancer’s request. Article and three sidebar articles are available in print edition, found in bound volumes at HCN’s Paonia headquarters and in several university libraries. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Cove-Mallard: ‘I’m just trying to right what I feel is wrong’.
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
The pole-sitter
Content removed at freelancer’s request. Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The pole-sitter.
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
The innkeeper
Content removed at freelancer’s request. Note: This article is a sidebar to a feature story. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The innkeeper.