If you ever want to see the epitome of what we in the West call a “starter castle,” I recommend you visit close to the real thing, the Hearst estate on the California coast. This once-upon-a-time bastion of privilege conquered by the California State Park system sits on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Close […]
Writers on the Range
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No-growthers gain strength in Albuquerque
Albuquerque residents on Oct. 28 voted down a $52 million bond issue — the only bond issue to fail out of 10 on the ballot, and the first one to fail since 1985. The vote grabbed headlines because it meant the temporary defeat of plans to extend roads through a national monument dedicated to petroglyphs […]
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Bark beetles are gnawing their way through our ponderosa-pine forests
When Mike Wagner took Northern Arizona University students to the site where he was trapping bark beetles near Flagstaff, he expected to show them a simple lesson: Once freed from a funnel-trap, the insects would find a juniper tree and burrow into it. But as the entomologist tipped the trap, thousands of beetles poured out, […]
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Idaho grows out of its cowboy boots
Idaho politicians love to conduct the nation’s business dressed in cowboy boots. Their boots aren’t just for walkin.’ On the capital’s marble floors they ring out an attitude of cowboy values and ornery independence, of things being different way out West. Loafers they are not. Daandy as they may be, cowboy boots reflect life in […]
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The salting of the West – who cares?
If a Colorado mine were to dump a hundred thousand tons of chemical salts onto the ground, chances are good that residents nearby would be upset and local and state agencies would get on the mine operator’s case. Yet, the state of Colorado dumps 125,000 tons of chemical salts on its roads each year, and […]
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You can’t stuff a stocking with chainsaw fuel, or can you?
It’s in my genes, like birds heeding the instinct to fly south for the winter; a mysterious force possesses me every December, luring me to, where else? The mall. But reject these instincts I must, for no Christmas gift would disgust my environmental extremist husband more than something from J.C. Penney. I love my husband […]
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Why I love one of Utah’s most remote places
I’ve always been attracted to parts of Utah that others describe as being a whole lot of nothing, godforsaken or not-the-end-of-the-earth-but-you-can-see-it-from-there. I think our preference for landscapes can be just as trite as our preference for beautiful people hawking products in magazines or delivering the mundane news on television. We like pretty. Not me. So-called […]
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Succumbing to globalism, one cup at a time
Not long ago and with little fanfare, Montana lost one of its distinctions. It ceased to be one of the last few states without a Starbucks Coffee Shop. Last year, only six states didn’t have a stand-alone store. The offending shop arrived in August in Helena on Prospect Avenue. The greenish copper rotunda of the […]
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The flu comes to visit
Why do people come over, fling themselves on my couch and croak and quack about how sick they are? Really. There is a bad cold here making its rounds through the houses carried by messengers like these I hand them cans of chicken soup with rice and urge them to GO AND TAKE CARE OF […]
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A new rural West is being born in Idaho
Recently, an acclaimed young writer and a world-renowned opera singer charmed a packed house in Driggs, Idaho. What were they doing there instead of a place a hundred times larger? The answer tells us something about the future of rural Idaho. The writer was Ann Patchett, whose most recent novel, Bel Canto, draws its intensity […]
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Colorado needs to break its cigarette habit
To stanch the state’s financial bleeding, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens wants to get a quick hit of $800 million owed by Big Tobacco instead of stretching out annual payments for a total of $2.1 billion. Meanwhile, money for anti-smoking programs remains in limbo. This is, at the least, a curious moral dilemma. Colorado is getting […]
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The most vulnerable farmworkers are the least protected
Jose and Luis are only 10-and 11-years old, but they are already expert cherry pickers. After three summers working in the orchards with their father, they know how to pluck cherries without harming the tree bud. They know how to avoid the tractors that speed through the slender rows of trees. They know that long […]
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Does Wal-Mart really need our tax dollars?
Typical of shopping centers built decades ago, Alameda Square in Denver is a cheap, single-story strip of stores. It’s ugly and rundown. But that does not deter shoppers. Mostly Asian Americans, shoppers come from miles around to patronize more than a dozen Asian-owned businesses, including two grocery stores, two restaurants, a hair salon, a clothing […]
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A love letter to a sewage lagoon
At a neighbor’s house a few years ago, I saw a sphere of ruddy sandstone displayed on a ledge. Rolling it in my hand, I recognized the heft and grittiness of the ball. “We used to find these at Lake Powell,” I said, “Is that where this came from?” Our neighbor, a dedicated environmental activist, […]
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Sportsmen for Bush: Wise up!
Without enthusiastic support from most of America’s 50 million hunters and anglers, George W. Bush and his appointees would still be employed by oil, gas and coal companies. I still see bumper stickers that say: “Another Sportsman for Bush.” Yet as a lifelong sportsman myself, I wonder why even one sportsman, let alone “another,” would […]
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Getting ready to wreck the vote
Let’s just get this out of the way: As a nerd, and an overly opinionated one at that, Election Day — not Thanksgiving — has always been my favorite “holiday.” Some kids couldn’t wait to turn 16 and drive; I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and vote. Simply put, I’m a maniac for democracy. That […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2003: Riding the middle path
Being a local doesn’t make you any better
“Where is this guy from?” I said to myself, flipping to the inside cover of the new book, “True Grizz,” by Douglas Chadwick. It said the author lived in Whitefish, Mont., a trendy town north of Flathead Lake. He may live there, I thought, but where’s he from? It’s embarrassing to recount my thought process. […]
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Thanksgiving as a holiday of the imagination
There is a saying among the Lakota that when the Pilgrims first landed at Plymouth Rock, they fell on their knees and prayed, and then they fell on the Indians and preyed. Perhaps it is not surprising that the stories of this country’s founding are awash in error. As Napoleon reportedly said, “What is history […]
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A cheer for runaway bison and their glorious home
Anyone with a heart had to cheer the bison. One recent snowy day in Great Falls, Mont., three of the half-ton creatures were being loaded off a truck into a slaughterhouse. One of the half-wild bovines busted through a five-foot timber corral and — bingo! — led a buffalo breakout. The three beasts stampeded through […]
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The biggest environmental issue is staring us in the face
Tom Bell says we’d better connect the dots that reveal global warming.