New West Column
What Can We Make of Multiple Use?
Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt’s re-entry in the political fray in recent weeks, which he says was precipitated by fears over the future of the nation’s wild lands, brings up the question of what it means nowadays to be a Westerner.
To many people, the answer probably would be the same as it ever has been: wide-open spaces. Even though relatively few of us actually live in undeveloped areas anymore, wild lands remain central to our collective identity.
It’s hard to think of any topic that gets Westerners going more intensely than wild lands and all they contain. Wolves, elk, salmon, sage-grouse, logging, mining, rivers, off-road vehicles, roadless areas, the list goes on and on. Is there a greater number of special interest groups involved in any other aspect of Western life?
[more]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]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]Trail Work
Helping Out the Bob: Volunteering in Montana’s Largest Wilderness Complex
Pull, don’t push! When you’re working in the Bob Marshall Wilderness with a crosscut saw, this is the rule.
For five days in July, “Pull, don’t push!” became my mantra. Without the whine of the chainsaw or the stench of two-cycle engines to burn your nostrils, it is the sing of the blade, powered by two people, that makes trail crew work possible in Montana’s largest wilderness complex that said no to roads, vehicles and motorized anything in the late 1960s, largely thanks to one man, Robert Marshall.
Six of my friends and I signed up with the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation (BMWF) for one of their many volunteer trail crew projects. Our goal was to free a section of downed telephone line on the Historic Phone Line along the South Fork of the Flathead River in the 1.5 million acre complex. For 15 years the BMWF has placed volunteers deep within one of the country’s largest and most remote wildernesses to help maintain and preserve the many trails, cabins and artifacts that encompass a place affectionately referred to as “the Bob.”
[more]Rock Climbing
Why We Climb
It’s common knowledge that in Boulder, everyone and their golden retriever is a rock climber. So, since I live in Boulder, it could be correctly assumed I am one as well.
I’ve been climbing since I was a scared little kid following my dad, and I come from a long climbing lineage: My grandmother, Miriam Underhill, was the first woman to climb the Matterhorn without men and, along with my grandfather Robert, put up what seems like an endless list of first ascents in the Tetons. To tell truth, though, after all these years I remain an unabashedly mediocre climber. Perhaps I don’t have the competitive drive; perhaps it’s because I’m fairly scared of heights; perhaps it’s because of a morbid tendency to vividly imagine every situation’s possible death scenarios – of which there are many when you’re climbing.
However, I keep climbing in spite of my undistinguished skills because there are myriad things to love about climbing other than the clichés of challenge or competition. I think we tend to undervalue them, because they don’t get pro deals or sponsorships but, to me, they’re the backbone of the mountains’ inexorable pull.
Things I love about climbing:
[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]National Park News
Grizzly Sows in Grand Teton Exchange Cub
In a rare occurrence among grizzly bears, Grand Teton National Park biologists have reported that two sows—a mother and her five-year-old daughter—have exchanged a cub.
The two female grizzlies have occupied overlapping home ranges since both emerged from hibernation with newborn cubs this past spring. The adoption or fostering of cubs between two female bears is rare, but not unprecedented, according to a blogpost filed by public affairs officer Jackie Skaggs. This behavior was documented in an article written by Mark A. Haroldson, Kerry A. Gunther and Travis Wyman in a Yellowstone Science 2008 publication.
[more]Exploring
In Search of Kit Carson’s Cross on Fremont Island in the Great Salt Lake
On July 7th, my baby sister, Disa, turned 22 and my gift to her was a little taste of why I dedicate so much of my time working to protect and explore the natural world.
She might not have known how special and rare it is to tag along on a visit to Fremont Island when I invited her, let alone why in the world her sister would dedicate an entire summer to exploring and writing about the Great Salt Lake, but I think by the end of the day, she knew.
On the way to Antelope Island Marina, where two state park boats waited to whisk us away to the shores of Fremont, Disa admitted to Nicole and me that she doesn’t read our blog, “Summer of Salt, An Exploration of the Great Salt Lake.”
I write to her because she doesn’t know about the Lake, and has no reason to care about what happens to it. In fact, she has no strong feelings one way or the other. She is exactly the kind of person Nicole and I want to reach with this blog – people who would quickly understand if only they had a proper introduction.
For me, it was like discovering the Lake all over again.
[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.
[more]