Until I traveled to Holland recently, I didn’t know how irreversibly American I am, perhaps not precisely a patriot — the word comes from the Latin for father — but certainly one deeply identified with my native land. In Amsterdam, people eyed me with pity, suspicion or loathing as soon as I opened my mouth […]
Writers on the Range
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The West has to count on itself
If you care about the environment, and you survived the presidential debates without running out into the backyard to scream at the heavens, you’re a bigger person than I. For those of you who missed them, the three debates included just one question on that “fringe issue” of what’s in the air we breathe and […]
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The ghost of Richard Butler surfaces in Arizona
It would be foolish to believe that the death of Aryan Nations’ leader Richard Butler means the death of hate in the West. Butler, who sowed ill will for decades in the region, passed away at the age of 86 Sept. 8 in Hayden, Idaho. He died a broken man, his empire of knuckle-draggers that […]
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So much for sticking to the center
Return with us now to those thrilling days of not quite four years ago, when George W. Bush was taking office and almost every veteran political observer — even including your humble agent here — predicted that his presidency would not stray too far from the ideological center. We were, as fools so often are, […]
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Chain stores discount a town’s true worth
Glasgow, Mont., is a far cry and a long drive from the mountainous western portion of a state that draws its name from the Spanish word montana. I know that because I recently drove to Glasgow, a town of 3,253 that rests in a flat region of northeastern Montana and serves as the county seat […]
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Nostalgia for Colorado’s past isn’t what it used to be
A wave of yearning for “Colorado as it used to be” has been sweeping the state and I suspect much of the West. It’s almost enough to make you wish for a time machine. If only the past were as wonderful as we think it was. This nostalgic, backward-looking pose is particularly evident in the […]
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Presidential candidates try to look svelte in blaze orange
Ernest Hemingway said every writer needs a “shockproof B.S.-detector.” My B.S.-detector has been getting a workout, as the presidential candidates have been hunting for votes this autumn. In particular, they are seeking the votes of the 47 million Americans who hunt and fish. In a race this tight, politicians see this as a bloc as […]
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The Hoopa’s fight for a river is a lesson for us all
The Hoopa Indians of Northern California are a tenacious people. In the mid-19th century, when the U.S. Army tried to drive them out of their villages along the Trinity River, the Hoopas waited them out, camping in the nearby hills until the soldiers gave up and left. One hundred years later the government started draining […]
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Bring on that old lanky dog (and be sure to eat the elk)
For my son’s last day of summer vacation, I took off from my veterinarian practice, and off we went to northern Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. We climbed around on some boulders, got rained on and we saw elk, lots of elk. I have seen my share of elk throughout the West, but this particular […]
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Red-baiters target greens in Oregon
A group in White City, Ore., has opened a broad attack on teaching environmental sustainability in our public schools and universities, calling it the kind of brainwashing Lenin and Hitler would do. The group, Operation Green Out, ran two full-page ads in The Oregonian, Oregon’s largest daily newspaper, earlier this year. They warned of a […]
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What I Hate Most About You
Editor’s note: The author is said to live “on a 100-year-old ranch that once was miles from the nearest neighbor but now may be right next door to your new subdivision.” Dear new neighbors, I’ve never met any of you. If I did, I would be perfectly polite. Probably I’d even think you’re nice folks. […]
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Automate this: personal interaction in a small town
The big news in my small town has been the new automated checkout line at the grocery store. You scan the purchases yourself, and then give the machine your credit card, with no need for any human interaction. At least that’s how I’m told it works — I haven’t used the thing myself. It’s a […]
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Lewis and Clark and the short view of Western history
If American history west of the Mississippi begins with Lewis and Clark, then the history of the United States seems pretty simple: “Indians owned the West, and then they lost it.” History is never so simple. That some of the people Lewis and Clark met had “never seen a white man” did not mean they […]
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Let the states broker roadless lands — it’s the democratic way
This July, the U.S. Forest Service proposed a new administrative rule dealing with the controversial issue of roadless areas in national forests. Environmental groups reacted as you might expect. For example, a “personal” spam I received from John Adams at the Natural Resources Defense Council warned that the Bush administration “is lining up massive timber […]
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When yesterday’s garbage becomes today’s collectibles
To get to Glass Beach, you turn towards the ocean at the Denny’s on the outskirts of Ft. Bragg, Calif., and drive down the lane to park. Signage is minimal. This is not Big Sur. The day we go, two local guys drive up and park next to us in a Volvo that has seen […]
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This is no time to step back from the Roadless Rule
While researching a new book last spring, I had the opportunity and pleasure of interviewing Dale Bosworth, chief of the Forest Service. I found him to be an honest, straightforward, forthcoming, and, at times, courageous man. So when I read that he had agreed to the repeal of the Clinton-era Roadless Rule on our national […]
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The bear has been misleading people for 60 years
Smokey Bear celebrated his 60th birthday this summer, and the ageless advertising icon wandered out of the woods for an elaborate birthday bash. He was feted by a crowd that included Dale Bosworth, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and children of firefighters who sang happy birthday to him. Smokey, who never speaks, was also […]
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Give a cheer for Winnebagoes
This is America: You can drive just about any kind of gas-guzzling, hydrocarbon-spewing, rust exhibit you want — unless you drive a recreational vehicle, otherwise disdained as an “RV.” Among the pundits of political correctness, driving an RV puts you one social notch above suspected terrorist. Sure, RVs are big, ugly, get notoriously poor mileage […]
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Sometimes, it takes a tourist
One day early in the summer, my husband, Mike, and I were working on our place, a few irrigated acres carved from Wyoming’s high desert. Tree limbs lay scattered from a recent tree trimming, manure was heaped in the corral. The last thing we needed was a telephone call from a stranger. He spoke with […]
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Another fish kill on the Klamath seems to be coming
Unfortunately, it’s business as usual in the Klamath watershed, where all the conditions are in place for yet another fish kill similar to the one that occurred in the fall of 2002. It’s another dry year, with the same low flows in the river that caused the deaths of at least 34,000 salmon two years […]