The fire which burned out of control from Bandelier National Monument and destroyed 260 homes near and in Los Alamos, New Mexico is a story of virtue leading to monstrous vice. A conjunction of ecological and economic understanding explains the tragic connections among humans, nature, and wildfires. With a thin snow pack, low soil moisture, […]

“People have come to understand that water is like gold in Montana – better, really, because gold runs out and streams flow forever, if you treat them right.” Datus Proper “Space,” from Writers on the Range, A book from Gallatin Writers, 1998 Each summer I switch from moving pixels on computer screens to moving pipes […]

Picture a map of the U.S. Identify those places with bountiful natural amenities, e.g., great views with expanses of open space, easily accessible waters, mountains, forests, and wildlife. Next consider recreational opportunities including hiking trails, ski areas, parks, and blue-ribbon fisheries. Eliminate from your map those places with high pollution, congestion, and crime. Likewise, scratch […]

Ed Marston, editor of High Country News, a regional paper published in Paonia, Colorado proclaims in the April 10, 2000 issue: “The war between extractive interests and the environmental movement for control of the Interior West’s public lands is drawing to a close. The timber era, the cattle era, the mainstem big-dam era, the wise […]

National politicians, like other mega-predators, continually seek niches to exploit. With gasoline prices nearing $2.00 per gallon, Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) offers a prime example of an exploitable political opportunity. Environmentalists have a rare opportunity to take advantage of this situation. Here’s how. On March 9th, US senators Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and Ted […]

My wife Ramona and I just returned from a mini-vacation on a ranch in the foothills of the Beartooth Range. It reminded us of the remarkably hard work accomplished by the homesteaders, of their poverty, and today’s easy living. Consider our history and try to imagine how pleased and excited we were when several of […]

Those of us working to preserve wildlife habitat and open space will be more successful when we grasp a key principle; all resources, including land, gravitate toward highest valued uses. With agricultural prices nearing historical lows, the pressures forcing farmers and ranchers out of agriculture are increasing. Although some people may object to this claim, […]

“Much mischief comes from mixing politics with higher education.” Great Falls Tribune, 14 February 1919 Jim Twiford, President of the Wyoming State Senate, recently asked the state’s Legislative Service Office to draft a bill eliminating the University of Wyoming’s College of Law. There may well be reasonable arguments supporting such a bill but Mr. Twiford […]

My physician recently told me; “You have really big hands”. He may be right for his data comes from observing academics, computer people, accountants, and lawyers. But compared with those with whom I worked a generation ago, he’s flat wrong. However, his observation is a useful benchmark of our changing West. We used to move […]

Modernization, the replacement of machines for muscle, is a universal social solvent. Even when resisted by traditional leaders, modernization erodes established social, economic patterns, and threatens ecosystems. As my friend Reverend Glover Wagner recently observed in another context, “The mind rebels at such a thought, but that’s the way God wired the universe”. The reason […]