How a small group of people committed to academic freedom organized to turn around a school district.
Writers on the Range
Posted inWotr
Don’t forget what the Exxon Valdez taught us
On the regulatory laxness that led to the spilling of 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound 25 years ago.
Posted inWotr
An Iraq War veteran fights for public lands
Finding much-needed solace in Colorado’s Browns Canyon and hoping it becomes a national monument.
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Between a rock and a dry place
How the “mega-drought” facing the region got its start.
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Megaloads and wild-and-scenic rivers don’t mix
Opinion: These loads of mining equipment to Canada don’t belong on a narrow, scenic road that winds through my part of Idaho.
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Gliding past while bullets fly
Rafting the Yellowstone River while hunters shoot ducks out of the sky.
Posted inWotr
On the ground with economies built on snow
It has been snowing in Crested Butte, Colo., where people pray and dance for snow; the whole winter economy is predicated on snow. Crested Butte’s old miners used to call snow “the only crop that never failed.” They also used to say, “You can’t eat the scenery.” But Crested Butte and most mountain communities have […]
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Who speaks for the sage grouse?
Across the West, politicians and oil and gas industry spokesmen are wringing their hands, shaking their heads and saying “no” to Bureau of Land Management proposals to set aside large swaths of land for the greater sage grouse, and for federal plans to list the separate Gunnison sage grouse as an endangered species. Colorado Gov. […]
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The sounds of silence, Eastern style
I once read about a lock-tender who spent his life accompanied by the sound of rushing water going over the lock’s dam. Then, the dam was taken down, ending a lifetime of constant background noise, which, although perhaps a pleasant-enough sound, was still, well, constant. His greatest surprise was finally being able to hear the birds. I […]
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Words to live by as the year winds down
Adages, quotes and sayings to inspire in 2014.
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Will the nation accept horse slaughter?
Opinion on the recent opening of two slaughterhouses: why horsemeat isn’t such a radical idea.
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Uranium belt towns face bleak economics
A new documentary gets a good reception from both sides of the issue.
Posted inApril 4, 1980: Debate roils over Utah's troubled waters
Fish hawks herald man’s fate
Good news about the osprey — which was almost wiped out as a species in some parts of the U.S. before the pesticide DDT was banned in 1972 — is good news about man and the environment. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/12.7/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inWotr
Note to concessionaires: You don’t own the land
A reminder for private companies that public land use permits don’t make them owners.
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Climate anxiety is a real affliction
Understanding what “normal” weather is, in the context of history.
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Fracking in Utah’s Escalante canyons?
Powerless when a company comes to my small town.
Posted inWotr
Oil shale never stays down long
The implications of Shell Oil’s abandonment of its oil shale project in western Colorado.