http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/main/C146/L41/ New West Network: The Voice of the Rocky Mountains en info@newwest.net Copyright 2008 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:46:27 MDT Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:46:27 MDT http://www.newwest.net/city/article/what_ive_learned_from_gun_nuts/C146/L41/ Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:29:39 MDT I'm not a gun nut. I'm a regular nut who owns guns, but only to hunt, not to defend my home and family, join the militia or fight the forces of tyranny. Gun nuts don't scare or intimidate me. Instead, I'm learning a few things from them. You can, too. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/time_to_codify_the_roadless_rule/C146/L41/ Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:41:53 MDT On January 5, 2001, with George W. Bush's moving van parked at the back door of the White House, President Bill Clinton signed his now-infamous Roadless Rule. With a stroke of his pen and without the approval of Congress, Clinton protected almost one-third of our national forests, 58.5 million acres, from road building. The incoming Bush administration immediately reversed the rule, but a judge rapidly reversed the reversal. Ever since, the Roadless Rule has been a tennis ball, back and forth, on and off, mired in a ridiculous succession of administrative rules and court cases, making it hard to decide who's ahead in the game. As I write this, to emphasize the folly, two judges have made opposing rulings, one spiking the Roadless Rule, one re-affirming its validity. So I say, let's end the tennis match and make the Roadless Rule the law of the land. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/gun_lobby_attack_dogs_strike_again/C146/L41/ Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:07:45 MDT Something extremely scary happened last Friday on Halloween. Dan Cooper, President and Founder of Cooper Firearms of Stevensville, Montana, resigned. Not so scary, you say. Well, wait until you hear why. If you believe in freedom and that there's a reason why the right to free speech is the First Amendment, prepare to be terrified. Editor's note: Links to three updates at the end of the story.--Bill Schneider http://www.newwest.net/city/article/revisiting_the_cabelas_controversy/C146/L41/ Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:01:02 MDT Last year I wrote a series of articles about concerns voiced by Montana hunters about Cabela's Trophy Properties, the real estate marketing division of the world's largest retailer of hunting, fishing and camping gear, Cabela's. Facing a rapid decline in access to both private and public land, the last thing Montana hunters needed was "one of their own," Cabela's, to launch headlong into the amenity real estate business and further speed up the loss of huntable land. Fueled by the state's largest sporting group, the 7,000-member-strong Montana Wildlife Federation, the issue became white-hot controversial. The MWF even asked its members to return their catalogs to Cabela's with letters protesting the new venture. Hundreds of them did exactly that and, suddenly, hunters had the company's big-time attention and promises to do what it could to smooth out the ruffled feathers. But did the firestorm really change anything? Or a year later, is Cabela's Trophy Properties (CTP) doing business as usual? http://www.newwest.net/city/article/rule_allowing_more_mountain_biking_in_national_parks_no_big_deal/C146/L41/ Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:16:31 MDT Before I launch once more into the endless mountain biker vs. hiker controversy, I want to reaffirm that I'm still not a mountain biker. I commute around town on paved streets on my mountain bike, but it has never been on a trail. Even though you could say I don't have a dog in the fight, I have to ask, why do we have so much heartburn over the proposed rule to allow mountain biking on more trails in our national parks? Is this really worth the stress it creates? http://www.newwest.net/city/article/making_states_bicycle_friendly/C146/L41/ Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:35:57 MDT What makes a state bicycle friendly? That's a question just taken up in earnest by a Beltway-based bicycle advocacy group called the League of American Bicyclists. In August, the League issued its first annual "Ranking of Bicycle Friendly States." Out here in the New West, Washington won the sweepstakes, named the most bicycle friendly state of them all, followed closely by Oregon in fourth place. After that, it doesn't look nearly as friendly--Utah (11), Wyoming (18), Colorado (22), Idaho (37) and the worst of the region, my state, Montana (44). Ouch! So, I had to ask why? http://www.newwest.net/city/article/massive_public_lands_bill_leaves_out_montana/C146/L41/ Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:35:06 MDT I've written extensively about Montana's Wilderness drought, 26 years and counting without Congress designated one acre of the Big Sky State as Wilderness. Now, Congress seems poised to pass S. 3213, a massive public lands bill, a collection of 90 wilderness and watershed protection bills covering almost every state. For Montana wilderness advocates, it's another in a long line of no shows. In fact, Montana gets less than zero. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/mccain_palin_earmarks_and_the_dna_of_bears_and_harbor_seals/C146/L41/ Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:24:55 MDT Last Friday, at the onset of the ongoing congressional struggle over our "main street economic rescue package," fifty million of us watched Republican presidential candidate John McCain debate his Democratic rival Barack Obama. And tonight, as Congress is finishing up our economic rescue, even more than fifty million of us will watch Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin face off with Democrat Joe Biden. Based on what happened in that presidential debate, I strongly suspect she won't say anything about the grizzly bear or harbor seal DNA. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/make_this_hunting_and_fishing_day_the_best_ever/C146/L41/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:04:52 MDT Even though it has been around for 36 years, I suspect most people don't know that this Saturday, September 27, is National Hunting and Fishing Day. Let's make this one the best ever by launching a national effort to protect the last of the best wildlife habitat we have left, our 58 million acres of roadless public land. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/refusal_to_release_survey_details_casts_doubt_on_pro_mccain_poll/C146/L41/ Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:12:03 MDT My July 9 column titled, Hunters, Look Beyond the End of Your Gun Barrel, urged hunters to look at the big picture instead of basing their vote exclusively on the gun rights issue, which I consider basically over since politicians won't touch it and the Supreme Court has finally reaffirmed the individual's right to bear arms. The column wasn't about whether Barack Obama is more anti-gun than John McCain, even though most of the comments were. It was about voting for the candidate who would do the most to protect wildlife habitat and hunting access and therefore help save our hunting tradition. Ironically, on the same day I posted that column, the Los Angeles Times ran an article about a new poll showing hunters preferred McCain over Obama by a 14-point margin. This didn't jive with my feel for how hunters view the big race, so I decided to check out this survey. Then, it got interesting.