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Category Archives: June 2015
Wild horses, feckless bureaucrats, and Civics 101
Like most hot-button issues, this one began with a tragedy. In the summer of 2014, six horses died of dehydration at Mesa Verde National Park after the park superintendent, citing “standard protocol for wildlife management on public lands,” blocked their … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
‘Run Free’: A romanticized view of a native people
In a canyon deep in the Sierra Tarahumara of Northern Mexico, a lanky American nicknamed “Caballo Blanco” organized what Christopher McDougall describes in his popular book “Born to Run” as “The Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.” Now, a … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
Tagged Run Free: The True Story of Caballo Blanco
Pros of prose: 3 local authors are nominated for Colorado Book Awards
What do Ed Abbey’s outdoor legacy, 13 weeds for human survival, and a Napa Valley winery mystery have in common? These are the subjects of three books by Four Corners authors who have been nominated for a Colorado Book Award. … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
Tagged Andrew Gulliford, Chuck Greaves, Katrina Blair
Judge refuses to dismiss voting suit
A lawsuit filed by the Navajo Nation in January 2012 over voting districts in San Juan County, Utah, is moving forward after a federal judge rejected a motion by the county to dismiss the suit. In a ruling in March, … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
Tagged navajo nation elections
Connecting carrots with consumers: Southwest Farm Fresh Cooperative offers a necessary link in a chain
The wholesale link to a sustainable food-distribution market has always been the trickiest piece in the puzzle of commercial agriculture. It’s the piece that adds cost to the product – the “middle man” in conventional, corporate-controlled consumer models. Wholesale markets … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
An alphabet soup of ideas: A new SMA plan joins the mix of public-lands proposals in San Juan County
A new plan has been added to the plethora of alternatives being considered by San Juan County, Utah, for managing federal public lands in the county. The new plan calls for designating a 2-million-acre special management area in the county. … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
Tagged san juan public lands
Plight of the pollinators: From monarchs to honey bees, the helpful insects are in decline
Gardening takes faith. It’s a faith that Ric Plese, local horticulturist and owner of Cliffrose Garden Center and Gifts in Cortez, has been cultivating in his customers for 16 years and counting. Faith that it will rain, and that it … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
Tagged monarch butterflies
Judge: Sinclair can remove ‘Dino’ from Mancos site
Dino, the endearing baby dinosaur that has long been the Jurassic-era promoter of Sinclair gasoline, may soon disappear from one of Montezuma County’s most notorious landmarks. Visiting District Judge David Lass ruled May 15 that the Sinclair sign is … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
Debate continues over lands-transfer concept
The idea of transferring public lands from the federal government to the states remains a hot topic in Montezuma County. Ever since the county commissioners voted in March to give $1,000 to the Utah-based American Lands Council, a group that … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
Tagged American Lands Council
‘American Meteor’ is a fine frontier yarn (Prose and Cons)
We first meet Stephen Moran, the Brooklyn-born narrator of American Meteor, Norman Lock’s keyhole-view history of the American West, as a 16-year-old bugle boy convalescing in a Washington, D.C. hospital. Young Stephen has lost half his sight, and all his … Continue reading
Published in June 2015, Prose and Cons
Tagged American Meteor, Chuck Greaves, Norman Lock
The taxpayer money that fuels federal land transfer demands: How the behind-the-scenes lobby group American Lands Council gets funding
Kindra McQuillan May 15, 2015 Since 2012, the American Lands Council has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to advocate and lobby for the transfer of federal lands to states. Such a move could dramatically change how these lands are … Continue reading
Published in June 2015
Tagged American Lands Council