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Boise State University Update Feature
At Bonneville, Green Challenges Diesel
Fewer people have gone 200 mph on land than have stood atop Mount Everest.
If the members of Greenspeed, an unusual student club at Boise State University, can get their hands on a few more key car parts in coming days, they may join that club, and stand alone as builders of the world’s fastest vegetable oil-fueled vehicle.
[more]Public Land Management
Is Tim DeChristopher A Civil Disobedient for the Modern Era?
In 1849, Henry David Thoreau posed these questions in his essay, “Civil Disobedience.” Last week, a civil insurgent from the climate-change generation, Tim DeChristopher, was sentenced to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine for actions stemming from his own answer to Thoreau. It was December 2008 when DeChristopher defied a government action he perceived as unjust: the sale of energy leases around Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. He entered the federal auction and bid on the parcels to drive up their prices or win them, ultimately nabbing 14 leases for $1.8 million.
“I was there to try to disrupt this process,” DeChrisopher has said. “This was an act of civil disobedience in response to this fraud against the American people and a threat (climate change) to my future.”
Due to DeChristopher’s actions, the government halted the auction midway through, had him escorted out, and later arrested. He was eventually charged with the crimes of disrupting a federal auction and making false statements on forms to enter the auction. He was convicted March 3.
River News
Rafting Gets Back to Normal in Colorado
A sustained high water season on rivers in and around Summit County, Colorado, is coming to a close, and that means less juggling for local outfitters.
“It was a challenge, for sure,” Arkansas Valley Adventures owner Duke Bradford said. AVA, like other companies, transferred trips based on flows to put ages and abilities on appropriate stretches. Someone who booked a Brown’s Canyon trip in the Arkansas River Valley may have gotten short notice that they’d now be running the more consistent Blue River, though it still ran quickly, about an hour north in Silverthorne.
Those with youngsters aiming to hit Clear Creek may have been shifted to the farther away Upper Colorado River, because as the water flows increased, consequences were more severe — so companies raised their age limits on certain stretches.
[more]Marathon Swimming
A Swim in Great Salt Lake: Hold the Salt, Please
During a decade that brought fear, Black Tuesday, the Dust Bowl, food riots, and thousands of closing banks, there was a magical event that gave swimmers hope. The hope and the fortitude to cross the finish line, to accomplish something most wouldn’t even try and to believe in the human spirit. It all started in 1927 with a local swim legend named Orson Spenser.
He swam the Great Salt Lake Marathon Swim in 1927, 8.12 miles from Antelope Island to the old Saltair. Through the years the finish line moved from Saltair to Black Rock. The races were grueling and swimmers often dropped out of the competition due to fatigue and poor weather. Spencer won this race six times before the water levels lowered to the point they discontinued the race in 1940. Ever since, some thought this strange tradition should be brought back to life.
Gordon Gridley (Gords for short) and Josh Green, both marathon swimmers, were so inspired by what Spencer had accomplished they decided to revive the Great Salt Lake Marathon Swim and added a one-mile swim from the Great Salt Lake Marina to Black Rock. Being a past-time triathlete I thought I knew the effort this swim would take.
Only the salt scared me.
Fishing & Hunting
How Much Should Hunters With ATVs Be Regulated?
The hunters stalked their game for hours, carefully taking note of scat and tracks the herd left behind. They hunted on foot through the West’s backcountry wilds, through brush and over mountains. A rumble in the distance sounded like the characteristic clap of a Rocky Mountain thunderstorm. It spooked the elk. Over the hill emerged a firearm-clad off-road vehicle rider.
Many hunters contend they should be protected from noisy, ungulate-frightening machines when out seeking their prey. And in numerous states they are, with rules keeping hunters on ATVs tied to major roadways instead of backcountry paths. But ATV advocates want those restrictions changed, and across the West lawmakers continue to propose bills favoring motorized uses for hunting.
In Idaho, the issue is coming to a head, where a back-and-forth on whether hunters can use ATVs to access wilderness is under way.
[more]New West Series
Despite Troubled Past, Hydro Remains Dominant Renewable Energy Source in West
Long before the political quest for renewable resources, hydropower provided reliable energy to most of the West – and lots of it. But it came at the cost of a massive effort to dam the Colorado, Columbia, Missouri, Snake and almost every other major river in the region.
Dams provide enough energy to power millions of homes and they irrigate huge swaths of land. The Hoover Dam alone produces over 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power more than 2 million homes by itself. Compare that to the largest wind farm in the world, which generates less than half that amount.
Although hydropower is by far the most widely used renewable resource, the political push to diversify renewable portfolio standards in the U.S. has shifted the focus from building large dams to upgrading operating capacity at existing ones, and building smaller hydropower plants that affect the waterways less.
Guest Column
House Under-Estimates Public Concern Over Oil Pipeline Spills With Bill to Rush Keystone XL Tar Sand
On July 26, the House passed a bill mandating a decision on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by November 1. This bill is unlikely to pass the Senate and become law, mostly because it would speed us toward a pipeline that could have a disastrous effect on U.S. waters and communities. What the public wants is better pipeline safety, not acceleration of a pipeline that would threaten the Yellowstone River, the Nebraska Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer. The more the public learns, the more concerned they get. It is ironic that in the wake of the Yellowstone River oil spill and on the anniversary of the yet-to-be-cleaned up Kalamazoo River tar sands oil spill, the House would act so contrary to the public concerns about pipeline safety. In fact, to heighten the irony, tomorrow, the House Energy Committee will discuss a draft pipeline safety bill that would require a study of the impacts of raw tar sands oil such as would be carried in the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Before Tuesday night’s vote, more than 22,000 National Resources Defense Council activists wrote to their members of Congress asking them to vote “No” on the bill. The National Farmers Union also wrote to Congress today on behalf of farmers, ranchers and rural communities opposing the bill and urging that no fixed deadline for making a decision be put in place. The League of Conservation Voters wrote to Congress asking for a “No” vote and noting that this vote might be included in their 2011 Scorecard of environmental votes. Yesterday, the White House issued a statement opposing the bill. That’s a lot for the House to disregard as they did that night.
[more]Crop News
Plant Politics: The Changing Roles of Beet and Corn Crops in the West
Both corn and beets have been used to sweeten the billions of soft drinks Americans have consumed for decades. And both crops have shaped and been influenced by the politics, perceptions and changing technologies that have driven the sweetener market for decades.
One of the latest such developments has been genetically modified versions of both crops.
This summer in the Bighorn Basin of north-central Wyoming, there was the conspicuous absence of a sight seen for many decades: migrant farm-worker families toiling with hoes in the beet fields, their camper-topped pickup trucks with Texas plates parked by the road.
With the soil saturated by heavy rains, you would expect to see, along with thriving crops, a riot of sprouting weeds attacked by squads of busy field workers. But — save for a few hardy, insurgent Canadian thistles — there are no weeds in the long, neat rows of leafy sugar beet plants. And so, no workers.
[more]Adventure Journal Post
Large Predators Critical to Ecosystems
In Yellowstone National Park, the extirpation of wolves led to a flourishing elk population, which then overgrazed trees. Reductions in numbers of lions and leopards in parts of Africa has led to a rise of olive baboons, increasing contact with humans and the spread of intestinal parasites in humans and baboons. The decimation of sharks in the Chesapeake Bay has led to a proliferation of cow-nosed rays, which have over-consumed oysters.
“People who live in North America know it’s hard to grow a garden because deer will eat it,” said Ellen K. Pikitch, a co-author of the report and a professor at Stony Brook University in New York. “The lack of wolf populations throughout North America has led to an expansion of the deer population.
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As Wyoming’s college rodeo coaches converge on the National High School Finals in Gillette this week, they will be recruiting top student athletes who waver between going to college and turning pro right out of high school.
The most ambitious competitors will want to ride on the college and Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association circuits at the same time. And many of those may follow some of Wyoming’s top young cowboys to Texas, where the pro rodeo season is longer and richer than in the Northern Rockies
“I do hear kids say they want to go to Texas and pro rodeo,” said Dan Mortensen, a world champion saddle-bronc rider and the interim head rodeo coach at Northwest College in Powell. “I know it’s really tempting to head off to the pros. The ones who are winning in college are probably good enough to win pro rodeos, too.”
Case in point: JR Vezain of Cowley, who won last month’s College National Finals Rodeo bareback competition. With $29,000 in winnings, he is a top contender for rookie of the year on the PRCA circuit.
“I never wanted to go to college,” said Vezain, the 2009 national high school bareback champion, as he stripped several yards of tape from his forearms after riding last month for Vernon College at the CNFR in Casper.
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