PURLOINED PATHS | LAYOFFS AND LESSONS | BOOKS FOR THE EREMOCENE

High Country ForN people whoews care about the West

Grizzly Face-Off The Yellowstone grizzly population is poised to lose federal protections — for better or worse By Gloria Dickie May 16, 2016 | $5 | Vol. 48 No. 8 | www.hcn.org 48 No. | $5 Vol. 2016 16, May CONTENTS

Editor’s note Grizzly fascination

The professor’s assignment was open-ended: Get together with another graduate student and write about a current natural resource dilemma, one with lots of competing players. Both topic and partner came readily to mind: The Yellowstone intrigued not only me, but also my vivacious, intelligent colleague, Ann Harvey. That was back in 1985. The other day, I found our report buried deep inside an old file cabinet. It’s not poetry, but it captures the flavor of the landscape, as well as the politics of a place that has been one of my journalistic foci for decades now. And I am still friends with Ann, who has lived in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem ever since, and who continues to be an ardent wildlife advocate. Here’s the thing about grizzly bears: They create a human ecosystem every bit as interesting as the natural one. And that system is also populated by fierce and persistent individuals. Ann is one of many who have remained in the grizzly-shaped system for Yellowstone Valley photo guide, out tter and hunter Jim Laybourn wears a bear costume to help send a message at the Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee meeting in Teton Village last November. GLORIA DICKIE decades. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, for example, the FEATURE legendary Craighead brothers — John and Frank — undertook the pioneering population studies 12 Grizzly Face-Off that led to the bear’s listing under the Endangered Species Act in 1975, and pushed the National Park The Yellowstone grizzly population is poised to lose federal protections — Service to close the garbage dumps that had become for better or worse By Gloria Dickie On the cover dangerous, all-night buffets for too many bears. In the 1980s and 1990s, biologists Richard Wearing the wounds of CURRENTS Knight and Chris Servheen took center stage as mating season, a large successive directors of the Interagency Grizzly Bear male grizzly walks 5 West Coast cities sue Monsanto to pay for chemical cleanup through the spring Study Team, the federal and state scientists and snow in Yellowstone The agribusiness giant was sole U.S. manufacturer of PCBs managers assembled to monitor and manage the National Park. 6 Santa Fe National Forest’s pirated paths A lone investigator grizzlies. As former HCN intern Gloria Dickie reports THOMAS D. MANGELSEN/ WWW.MANGELSEN.COM hunts for a rogue skier who cut more than 1,000 trees in our cover story, optimism for full recovery grew 6 Snapshot: What the West’s trees tell us once the dumps were closed and the population from a low of some 200 animals. And new 7 The Latest: Wildlife Services and Mendocino County, advocates emerged from both within and without 8 Justice denied How ’s public defense system is failing the poor the bureaucracies. One insider — former interagency team biologist 9 Life after coal Can the West’s mining country learn from Dave Mattson — and one outsider — bear activist Europe’s approach to laid-off energy workers? Louisa Willcox — have spent the better part of two 8 The Latest: Eagles and wind projects decades fighting Servheen’s team’s push to declare the Yellowstone grizzly, which now numbers around 700, fully recovered. Removing it from the endangered DEPARTMENTS Complete access species list would mean handing management from to subscriber-only 3 FROM OUR WEBSITE: HCN.ORG the federal government to the states of , content and , and possibly reinstating HCN’s website 4 LETTERS controversial grizzly hunting seasons. There are good scientists and sincere grizzly hcn.org 10 THE HCN COMMUNITY Research Fund, Dear Friends Digital edition lovers on both sides of the argument, as Dickie hcne.ws/digi-4808 19 MARKETPLACE makes clear. One thing is certain, however: As the Tablet and mobile apps 25 WRITERS ON THE RANGE West’s wild country continues to shrink, our struggle to live with bears will only get more complex. hcne.ws/HCNmobile-app Real predators don’t eat popsicles By Kim Todd Should we be optimistic or pessimistic about the 26 BOOKS Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats by Donald K. Grayson and prospects for the Yellowstone grizzly? I say: Look to The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide, Eric Magrane and Christopher the humans the bear has surrounded itself with. As Follow us Cokinos (editors), Paul Mirocha (illustrator). Reviewed by Lawrence Lenhart long as we remain diverse and engaged, our most celebrated fellow omnivore should be around for a By Renée Guillory 27 ESSAY Aloft long time to come. @highcountrynews 28 HEARD AROUND THE WEST By Betsy Marston —Paul Larmer, executive director/publisher 2 High Country News May 16, 2016 FROM OUR WEBSITE: HCN.ORG

The Nooksack fight for tribal Trending membership ‘Best idea?’ In February 2013, Michelle Roberts, along In an opinion with approximately 300 other members piece that sparked of Washington’s Nooksack Tribe, received heated discussion a letter informing her that she was being among readers, Alan ejected from her own tribe. Roberts and Spears, director of others fought back, kicking off three years cultural resources of legal battles over tribal membership, still for the National ongoing. In recent years, disenrollment, as the Parks Conservation process of ejecting tribal members is known, Association, argues has gained steam, typically for financial that “parks are not reasons. More than 30 California tribes have America’s ‘best taken steps toward disenrolling members. idea,’ and describing In the case of the Nooksack 306, as they’re them as such may known, the conflict has been particularly be preventing us personal and tinged with uncomfortable from creating and questions about racial and tribal identity. sustaining the People who lose tribal membership also can diverse constituency lose access to financial and medical benefits our national parks and may experience psychological harm from need to survive and the deprivation of cultural identity. Notables thrive in their second such as author Sherman Alexie have spoken century.” Instead, out, and a social media campaign has sprung he says, members up to stop disenrollments like those of the of marginalized Nooksack 306. BEN GOLDFARB groups may rank e “Stop Disenrollment” campaign urges tribal members and other people to share photos with MORE: hcne.ws/nooksack306 other ideas higher, slogans against disenrollment on their hands. STOPDISENROLLMENT.COM such as marriage equality or civil rights legislation. To create The rising tide of overdose deaths a more representative In the West, coalition of parks heroin and supporters, those prescription groups’ understanding opioid of American history overdoses must be incorporated, account for too. more than 60 percent of You say drug-related STEVEN G. HERMAN: deaths. This is an apple-and- SOURCE: CENTERS oranges argument. FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND Certainly we need 2000 2005 2010 2014 PREVENTION to bring minorities into our parks; that is a very high priority. DEATHS PER 100,000 PEOPLE In 2000, only one county in the West had an extreme overdose rate. In 2014, more than 200 did. But the “best idea” n 0-2n 2.1-4n 4.1-6n 6.1-8n 8.1-10n 10.1-12n 12.1-14n 14.1-16n 16.1-18n 18.1-20n >20 concept applies in a conservation sense. Opiates on the rise SWIRLING WHEELNUTS: In March, a batch of illegally made fentanyl, a potent opiate used to treat 200 Western counties do. The spread is due in part to the prevalence of This is an argument pain, sold on the streets in Sacramento County, California, led to 11 deaths prescription painkillers, as well as stricter regulations intended to restrict for people of color in the area and more than 50 overdoses. The overdoses were part of a them that inadvertently created a demand for heroin when legal pills to be included in broader opiate and heroin epidemic in the West and across the nation. In became more expensive and harder to find. Have you seen impacts or the discussion of 2000, only one Western county — Rio Arriba in New Mexico — had a drug solutions in your community? Write us or fill out our anonymous tip form nationalized public overdose rate of more than 20 deaths per 100,000 people. Today, nearly online. PAIGE BLANKENBUEHLER MORE: hcne.ws/pill-addiction property. That white people so vociferously argue against the inclusion of these 150 Weekly rail traffic data for coal Railroad downturn 150000 ideas of people of In April, the federal Surface color speaks to the 2014 Transportation Board cancelled a racism deep in their 120000120 proposed railroad intended to ship coal ideology. from a since-abandoned Montana mine. 16 For decades, coal has been a mainstay Number of “food hubs” — a new take on DOUG LUCCHETI: the old agricultural co-op idea — operating 9000090 2013 of the Western railroads. Rail companies Literalists spoil in Wyoming, and New Mexico. therefore have made big cuts and other everything, literally. changes as the coal industry’s decline The U.S. Department of Agriculture put 2015 about $1 billion into 40,000 local food 2016 continues, and now they’re looking MORE: hcne.ws/ 6000060 infrastructure projects across the country for new products to ship. For example, not-best-idea and between 2009 and 2015. But that’s a small Figures are for traffic originating in the and rail giant BNSF has furloughed 4,600 Facebook.com/ excludes the U.S. operations for Canadian railroads. fraction of the amount the agency gave to and/or ContainersCarloads (in thousands) workers, about 10 percent of its staff, highcountrynews 30 industrial agriculture. LYNDSEY GILPIN 30000 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 since last year. ELIZABETH SHOGREN MORE: hcne.ws/food-hubs Week SOURCE: ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN RAILROADS MORE: hcne.ws/coal-railroads

www.hcn.org High Country News 3 LETTERS Send letters to [email protected] or Editor, HCN, P.O. Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428.

High Country News A ROMANTICIZED PAST ideological, economic and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/PUBLISHER social-historical factors. “The Gold King Reckoning” Paul Larmer My students, perhaps hit home for me and once MANAGING EDITOR like some readers, would Brian Calvert again renewed my quandary love to perceive climate SENIOR EDITORS over the nostalgic interest in change, for example, as Jodi Peterson all things mining-related in Jonathan Thompson a technical problem with the American West (HCN, ART DIRECTOR technical solutions in Cindy Wehling 5/2/16). I once participated the wings, but as I must ONLINE EDITOR Tay Wiles in the Hardrock Hundred remind them, our tech- ASSISTANT EDITOR Mile Run, which offered me Kate Schimel nology, engineering and a unique tour of the vestigial D.C. CORRESPONDENT scientific achievements Elizabeth Shogren remnants of Colorado’s San reflect and emerge from WRITERS ON THE RANGE Juan mining industry, and EDITOR powerful sources within Betsy Marston I now live on the Arkansas ASSOCIATE DESIGNER our culture and history. River in Salida, another Brooke Warren Take the story in the COPY EDITOR unique front-row seat from Diane Sylvain same issue that links CONTRIBUTING EDITORS which I can view the acid environmental problems Cally Carswell, Sarah wastes originating upstream Gilman, Glenn Nelson, (air quality and coastal in Leadville. Michelle Nijhuis development) with poli- CORRESPONDENTS Sure, the industry once tics — “California ousts Ben Goldfarb, Krista represented a source of Langlois, Sarah Tory, environmental agency Joshua Zaffos much-needed income, and by MATT WUERKER EDITORIAL CARTOON USED WITH PERMISSION OF MATT WUERKER AND THE CARTOONIST GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. leaders.” Not only does EDITORIAL FELLOW extension, was a means of the article identify the Paige Blankenbuehler securing both food and shelter for their hard work and collaborative environmental issues at play, it clearly INTERNS for the nearby communities, but at what Lyndsey Gilpin efforts to improve water quality by ap- foregrounds these in California’s compli- ultimate cost? The General Mining Law Bryce Gray plying scientific principles and research cated political and economic scene. This ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER of 1872 and its subsequent amendments to the problems. is good reporting, and I might add, not Alexis Halbert are so demonstrably outdated and inef- DEVELOPMENT MANAGER The Colorado Geological Survey, done well or frequently enough by our fective that I shudder to think of what Alyssa Pinkerton in addition to documenting acid-mine local, but sadly debilitated, truly underlies their continued exis- DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT drainage in hundreds of locations, also Times. Kudos to intern Lyndsey Gilpin. Christine List tence and use. documented large areas of natural, SUBSCRIPTIONS MARKETER And of course, I remain keenly Tom Edson acid-rock drainage in a number of places JoAnn Kalenak aware of our local “Smelter Town” Professor, Department of English, WEB DEVELOPER Eric Strebel in Colorado, including Silverton. Its Superfund site, which is just a stained Literature, and Journalism DATABASE/IT ADMINISTRATOR publication, Natural Acid Rock Drain- stone’s throw away from my current Mt. San Antonio College Alan Wells age Associated with Hydrothermally COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT home. So, what do I think about the Walnut, California Altered Terrane in Colorado, is available Gretchen King 365-foot-tall brick smokestack that still FINANCE MANAGER at http://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/ stands ominously at Smelter Town, Beckie Avera water/acid-water-natural/. Competent HOPES FOR LAND BUY-BACK now revered and listed in 1976 on the ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE cleanup of acid mine drainage cannot Jan Ho man National Register of Historic Places? My name is Ed “Cowboy” After Buffalo be accomplished without knowledge of CIRCULATION MANAGER Just tear it down! It is simply evidence Jr. As I read the story “A Land Divided” the acid drainage problems that nature Tammy York of a short-sighted, horrible past that we (HCN, 4/4/16), I am getting ready to at- CIRCULATION SYSTEMS ADMIN. is also creating in the area. Thus far, may never, ever, be able to adequately tend the kick-off event for the Blackfeet Kathy Martinez the EPA’s regulations do not take into CIRCULATION recover from or fix. tribal land buyback program on April 8, account this natural phenomenon. Doris Teel, Kati Johnson, hoping to get good feedback on the pro- Stephanie Kyle Erick Miller Vince Matthews, Ph.D. gram, which in turn will help me make ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Salida, Colorado David J. Anderson Leadville, Colorado an informed decision on selling vs. keep- AD SALES REPRESENTATIVE ing what interests I have inherited from LOCAL CLEANUP CONTROL Bob Wedemeyer A NECESSARY DIMENSION my father, Ed Sr. It would have surely GRANTWRITER Jonathan Thompson did a particularly been nice to individually acquire more Janet Reasoner In your latest “Editor’s Note,” you in- comprehensive job of covering issues interest in the allotment with 131 own- [email protected] dicated that some readers have “won- in Silverton (“The Gold King Reckon- ers through the buyback program, but [email protected] dered” about recent editorial forays into [email protected] ing,” HCN, 5/2/16). There is probably maybe, just maybe, the tribe will work long-standing social and cultural issues, [email protected] an additional point relative to Super- with me, and I will be able to trade a [email protected] such as the Sagebrush Rebellion, or the fund opposition. Mining communities smaller interest I own elsewhere on the FOUNDER Tom Bell Wise Use Movement (HCN, 5/2/16). As throughout Colorado witnessed the reservation. That would make things a BOARD OF DIRECTORS a new subscriber (and educator who John Belkin, Colo. conflicts between local governments and lot more simple for the ones next in line shares HCN with two college composi- Chad Brown, Ore. the Environmental Protection Agency at to inherit the property. We are one of Beth Conover, Colo. tion courses), I support such inten- Leadville’s Superfund site over several the few families on the reservation still Jay Dean, Calif. tional turns as a vital adjunct to your John Echohawk, Colo. decades. As a consequence, many com- living on the original allotments given strictly environmental coverage. This Bob Fulkerson, Nev. munities strongly prefer local control of out between 1907-1911, and we want it Wayne Hare, Colo. type of social/cultural coverage adds cleanup efforts over Superfund designa- to stay that way as long as possible. Laura Helmuth, Md. a necessary dimension to the limited tion. Groups such as the Animas River John Heyneman, Wyo. vista of technical, engineering and Edward After Buffalo Osvel Hinojosa, Mexico and Willow Creek (at Creede) associa- scientific “problems” by highlighting Browning, Montana Samaria Ja e, Calif. tions were created, and are to be lauded Nicole Lampe, Ore. the imminent participation of political- Marla , N.M. Raynelle Rino, Calif Esther Rivera, D.C. Dan Stonington, Wash. High Country News is a nonprot 501(c)(3) (ISSN/0191/5657) is published bi-weekly, 22 times a year, by High Country News, 119 Grand Printed on Rick Tallman, Colo. High independent media organization that covers the Ave., Paonia, CO 81428. Periodicals, postage paid at Paonia, CO, and other post offices. recycled paper. Luis Torres, N.M. issues that dene the American West. Its mission is POSTMASTER: Send address changes to High Country News, Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428. All Andy Wiessner, Colo. Country to inform and inspire people to act on behalf of the rights to publication of articles in this issue are reserved. See hcn.org for submission guidelines. Florence Williams, D.C. News region’s diverse natural and human communities. Subscriptions to HCN are $37 a year, $47 for institutions: 800-905-1155 | hcn.org 4 High Country News May 16, 2016 CURRENTS

tory in the Superior Court of California. West Coast cities sue Monsanto There, a judge found three companies had created a public nuisance by marketing to pay for chemical cleanup and selling lead-based paint while know- ing its health hazards, and ruled they The agribusiness giant was sole U.S. manufacturer of PCBs should pay $1.15 billion into an abatement fund to remove it from homes. The Mon- BY SARAH GILMAN santo cases likely have a stronger public nuisance claim, says University of Cali- ortland, Oregon’s Willamette is no torney Tracy Reeve, but it sold the chemi- fornia Davis environmental law professor P wilderness river. But on a spring day, cals anyway. “We believe that polluters, Albert Lin, because, unlike residences, downstream of downtown, wildness peeks not the public, should pay.” “waterways are clearly public resources.” through. Thick forest rises beyond a tank A victory would not only inspire more Monsanto’s role as sole manufacturer also farm on the west bank. A sea lion thrashes PCB lawsuits, it could suggest a pathway simplifies efforts to connect the company to the surface, wrestling a salmon. And as to help fill gaps in U.S. chemical regula- to contaminated areas. Travis Williams, executive director of the tion, says University of Richmond School Nonetheless, “the plaintiffs face an nonprofit Willamette Riverkeeper, steers of Law professor Noah Sachs, who spe- uphill climb,” says Peter Hsiao, an envi- our canoe under a train bridge — dodging cializes in toxics and hazardous waste. ronmental attorney for international law debris tossed by jackhammering workers The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, firm Morrison & Foerster. The lead paint — ospreys wing into view. inspired in part by PCBs, has a weak case is being appealed, he notes, and simi- The 10-mile reach, known as Port- review process and generally doesn’t re- lar lead paint lawsuits failed in six other land Harbor, became a Superfund Site in quire health and safety testing of chemi- states. Attempts to use public nuisance 2000. Over the last century, ships were cals before manufacturers can sell them. law to address climate change, with Cali- built and decommissioned here, chemicals And the Comprehensive Environmental fornia going after automakers, for exam- and pesticides manufactured, petroleum Response, Compensation, and Liability ple, have also foundered. Still, he worries spilled, and sewage and slaughterhouse Act — CERCLA, the Superfund law — is a win could have an unintended chilling waste allowed to flow. Pollution has de- concerned with who spilled or arranged effect on innovation, “depriving society of creased, but toxic chemicals linger in sedi- to dispose of chemicals at a site, not who the enormous benefit that comes from the ments. Resident fish like bass and carp made them. “What we see here is testing safe and effective use of chemicals.” are so contaminated that riverside signs a new legal theory,” Sachs says. “I hope First, though, the lawsuits must reach warn people against eating them, though companies that know their hazardous trial. Monsanto has been filing motions some do. And osprey can’t read warnings, products are escaping into the environ- to dismiss each case — arguing that it so they accumulate chemicals, which can ment are held accountable for the damage never had a manufacturing presence on thin eggshells and harm chicks. they’re doing.” the West Coast and never discharged any- A canoe casts o Among the worst are polychlorinated thing there. The first motion, against San from Cathedral biphenyls, or PCBs. Used in electrical he cases’ novelty arises from their ap- Diego, will be heard in court May 25. “The Park under the transformers, coolants, caulk, paints and Tplication of state public nuisance laws. allegations … are without merit,” Mon- St. Johns Bridge, other products, these probable carcino- Each seeks to prove that Monsanto com- santo spokeswoman Charla Lord wrote in part of a stretch gens were banned in 1979 for their toxic- promised public use and enjoyment of an email. If “companies or other third par- of the Willamette ity, persistence and the ease with which waterways by marketing and selling this ties improperly disposed of (PCB) prod- River laced with they escaped into the environment. Even class of chemicals while well aware of its ucts and created the need for the cleanup PCBs and other so, they continued entering waterways dangers. The Seattle complaint, for ex- of any waterways, then they bear respon- pollutants. CATHY CHENEY/PORTLAND through storm drains here and elsewhere. ample, cites internal memos from the ’60s sibility for the costs.” BUSINESS JOURNAL The Environmental Protection Agen- in which company of- cy’s remediation plan for Portland Har- ficials discuss PCBs as bor’s PCBs and other pollutants, expected “an uncontrollable pol- in May, will cost between $790 million lutant,” noting their and $2.5 billion. The city of Portland, one global spread and of 150 “potentially responsible parties” harm to people and on the hook for a percentage, has already wildlife. There is “no spent $62 million on studies and reports. practical course of ac- So on March 16, the city council decided tion that can so effec- to join six other West Coast cities in su- tively police the uses ing agribusiness giant Monsanto to re- of these products as to coup some past and future cleanup costs. prevent environmen- San Diego filed in 2015, and San Jose, tal contamination,” a Oakland, Berkeley, Spokane and Seattle Monsanto committee followed. wrote in 1969. “There Monsanto is best known for GMO are, however a num- crops and Roundup, but before it split ber of actions which from its chemical and pharmaceutical must be undertaken branches (also named in the suits), it was to prolong the manu- the sole U.S. PCB manufacturer from the facture, sale and use 1930s to the late 1970s. “Monsanto knew of these particular that if you used (these products) for their Aroclors” — the com- intended purpose, PCBs would leach into pany’s trademarked the environment,” says Portland City At- name for certain PCB compounds. Contributing editor Sarah Gilman writes from The cases follow on Portland, Oregon. @Sarah_Gilman a stunning 2014 vic-

www.hcn.org High Country News 5 Santa Fe National Forest’s pirated paths A lone investigator hunts for a rogue skier who cut more than 1,000 trees

BY PAIGE BLANKENBUEHLER

ine needles crunched under James ism to egomania,” Parker says. “It looks their own renegade paths, says Miles P Parker’s feet as he walked in the Santa like someone cut their own personal Standish, manager of wilderness, trails Fe National Forest on a warm September run to show their friends this cool new and recreation for the Española Ranger day. Parker, a longtime local, has hiked glade they made.” He reported the crime District. from the Winsor trailhead for the better to the U.S. Forest Service and local me- Cutting trees and bringing a chainsaw part of two decades, and he rarely sees dia, and the Forest Service launched an into designated wilderness are both ille- signs of other people once he leaves the investigation. gal activities. But the culprit here went path and bushwhacks into the woods. But Most of the illegal cutting that Parker beyond simply creating an unofficial trail this time, hiking off trail just inside the discovered occurred near Raven’s Ridge, by repeated use; this effort was “much Pecos Wilderness, he stumbled upon a an unofficial trail near the Ski Santa Fe more intentional,” Standish says. “This crime scene: Hundreds of chainsawed firs resort. And each time Parker returned, he damage, and the attitude that seems to be and ponderosa pines, their trunks litter- found yet more slashed trunks. Plastic red behind it, is worse than in the past.” ing the forest floor. ribbons flagged trees still standing in the The fallen trees shaped a path 50 feet route. n Sept. 24, 2015, soon after Parker’s wide and several hundred yards long. The U.S. Forest Service gave the case O report, Michael Gardiner, an Side trails branched out from it, forming to the agency’s crime unit, but as it grinds Albuquerque-based investigator of a network of ski runs hacked from the on, the incident vividly illustrates the par- the crime unit of the Forest Service’s heavily wooded forest. Shocked, Park- adoxes involved in managing public lands, Southwest Region, took the case. Gardiner, er surveyed the damage, walking past which are open to anyone and lightly, if a middle-aged man with a Hardy Boys- stump after stump. “It goes beyond ego- ever, patrolled. The federal process for like enthusiasm, has tracked misdeeds developing new trails is slow and cumber- ranging from illegal marijuana crops on Paige Blankenbuehler is an HCN editorial fellow. some, and that seems to be driving a few public lands to theft of government prop- @PaigeBlank frustrated outdoor enthusiasts to erty. But the crimes unit is seriously un-

Aboveground Biomass (kg/meter2) Snapshot 0 30 60 Magnification very tree tells part of the story of Earth and shows logging What the West’s trees tell us Eits atmosphere, from the planet’s available carbon and oxygen to its soil and water health. on the scale How can biomass and carbon data help us of individual Tree height and forest undergrowth help scientists plots, in mitigate the effects of human activity? study biodiversity and predict wildfires, while Washington. the location and density of growth are linked to 2 KM hydrology and erosion in mountainous regions. Scientists have long studied these patterns, but Midwest trees outline until five years ago, there was no comprehensive rivers and edges way to keep track of them. Instead, scientific between farms, and understanding was piecemeal and regional. In forests are recovering on 2011, Wayne Walker and Josef Kellndorfer from once-cleared crop land. the Woods Hole Research Center mapped every forest in the United States, along with its biomass and the carbon it stores, using satellite and ground data collected by the U.S. Forest Service, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey from 1999 to 2002, to create a forest biomass map in more precise detail than any other made. The darker the , the denser, taller and more robust the forests are. Predictable trends emerge: The rich The coastal Pacific forests of the Pacific Northwest and Northern Northwest has the California are obvious, for example. But there densest biomass in were also surprising insights, like the grid-like the United States. patterns created by human development in other Western forests. The map is already helping public-lands agencies and academics study and manage forest restoration, but researchers Biomass in the are working to update it: Western forests are Southeast includes changing rapidly due to logging, climate many highly change and tree disease. “It’s more valuable managed tree farms. In the Southwest and to understand how the forest is changing over Intermountain West, the time, in terms of ability to store carbon,” Walker thickest forests outline says. For now, land managers rely on these high plateaus and rocky pixelated swaths of green as their baseline for mountain ranges. understanding our country’s forests and their SOURCE: WOODS HOLE RESEARCH CENTER; ROBERT SIMMON future. LYNDSEY GILPIN

6 High Country News May 16, 2016 THE LATEST der-funded, and Gardiner’s workload — he oversees several other investigators as Le, felled trees that Backstory well as his own district’s crimes — keeps James Parker suspects In 2014, Wildlife him from spending as much time as he’d were illegally cut to Services killed like on each case. create a “personal ski 61,702 coyotes — Gardiner first turned to social media, run.” e Forest Service one every eight scouring YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and is still tracking down the and a half minutes. Reddit for videos of cutting in the area, in- culprit. Below, Parker The agency, part of criminating conversations, plans for ski- investigates broken the U.S. Department ing there. Nothing. branches in a glade in of Agriculture, kills He called Parker, the sole , the Pecos Wilderness, invasive species, into his office to answer questions. On a where trees have been nuisance birds and cut down illegally. livestock-eating topographic map, Parker sketched the Parker and Forest predators like wolves damaged area. By then, he had tallied Service investigator and black bears. more than 600 cut trees. Michael Gardiner also Though its researchers In late September, Gardiner went observed ski tracks study nonlethal to see for himself, driving his tan Chevy during their November alternatives, such Tahoe up to the Winsor trailhead. He patrol of the area. as alarms, these are questioned the people he met, but learned COURTESY JAMES PARKER; PAIGE seldom implemented. nothing useful. Then he hiked towards BLANKENBUEHLER Ranchers, local Raven’s Ridge, following Parker’s map to governments and businesses fund half the new clearing, piled with slashed de- the agency’s budget, bris and red ribbons waving from dozens and serving clients of live trees. who want their wildlife The next day, on another “scoping problems eliminated mission,” Gardiner found fresh damage, remains its top priority bringing the total flora fatalities to more (“The Forever War,” than 1,000 trees. He thought he was hot HCN, 1/25/16). on the heels of the perpetrators. The agency set a $5,000 reward for informa- Followup tion leading to an arrest and conviction. In April, Mendocino The trail wasn’t the area’s first illegal County, California, path. In the 1960s, in the early days of Ski severed ties with Santa Fe, a young employee there hacked Wildlife Services, joining Sonoma away a few hundred trees on lunch breaks and Marin counties to create his own run, just beyond resort in cancelling boundaries. A few years later, the ski area or suspending absorbed the illegal glade, and the cutter contracts with even got to name it — the Desafio. The ski the agency. Six area appears to have no connection to the environmental and current crime, though, and no plans to ab- wildlife groups sorb this new trail, which is just past the had sued, claiming resort’s westernmost run. The motivation Mendocino County failed to consider for the deed simply seems to be someone’s nonlethal methods desire for a secluded but easily accessible and needed to study trail for downhill glade skiing, Gardiner the environmental says. impacts of killing It’s not just skiers who carve illegal especially when they don’t fit into the employee would have access to the equip- predators. This is trails on public land: Rogue ATVers, dirt agency’s master plans, which lay out a ment to do it — and could slip under the the first lawsuit bikers and hikers have created dozens of and management policy for the radar. In early March, Gardiner and the to challenge the unauthorized tracks in Santa Fe National forest. New Mexico Office of the Inspector Gen- relationship between Forest. “There’s a more aggressive atti- But the Forest Service would never eral questioned the suspect. After more local governments and the agency; more tude prevailing in the recreation commu- have given someone the go-ahead to than two hours, though, they let him go. counties are expected nity,” Standish says. “People have differ- slice a trail or ski glade inside a wilder- “We didn’t have the evidence to prove any- to cancel Wildlife ing opinions about how to manage these ness area, says Standish. The agency thing,” Gardiner says. “The trail ran cold Services contracts. lands. The process of public-land manage- lacks the funding or staff to patrol un- right there.” LYNDSEY GILPIN ment can be slow.” sanctioned paths, or enforce closures. So Now, Gardiner fears the case is lan- Many renegade trails that might have it prioritizes protecting tribal lands and guishing. It will be hard to solve it, he otherwise been sanctioned by the Forest wilderness areas — and pursuing par- says, without more time to patrol the Service are constructed clandestinely ticularly egregious cases like the crime at area, another agent on the case, or the because legal development often takes Raven’s Ridge. resources to install trail cams or increase years. The proliferation of pirated trails In February, there was a break in rewards. shortchanges citizens of the usual due the case. Someone mailed anonymous In March, James Parker went snow- COURTESY CHIVEE WILDLIFE SERVICES/GUIULIA process: public requests, environmental letters to the Santa Fe Forest Service of- shoeing through the area. Once again, impact assessments and open comment fice and a local newspaper. They included the tree slasher had left behind tantaliz- periods. Establishing new trails legally a LinkedIn profile picture of the alleged ing clues. No more trees had been cut, but starts with a request, Standish says, but culprit, an employee of the U.S. Depart- crimson ribbons glistened with melted that’s just the first step. “Many requests ment of Agriculture, and a scathing argu- snow, lightly swaying in the wind. Parker sit in a holding pattern as a nice idea, ment that connected the suspect to the plucked off all of them. At the very least, but no certain way forward,” he says, crime. Gardiner’s head whirled: A federal he says, “I’m still watching.”

www.hcn.org High Country News 7 he right to a public defender stems T from the 1963 Gideon v. Wainwright Justice denied decision, in which the Court held that states are constitutionally re- How Utah’s public defense system is failing the poor quired to provide legal counsel to defen- dants who cannot afford to hire their own. BY SARAH TORY The roots of that decision, however, are actually much older. Nearly 100 years before, a man named Shepherd L. Wixom “They just want n Jan. 1, 2015, Sue M. was walking Sue was assigned a court-appointed was charged with stagecoach robbery in O a friend’s dog in Parowan, Utah, a public defender, but had to call him twice Lander County, . Wixom, who was your money.” small desert town near Zion National to get a response. He said that the only poor, fought for the right to have his own —What a public defender Park, when two unleashed Rottweilers at- time he could meet with her was on the lawyer. In 1875, Nevada became the first told Sue M. when asked if he could do anything tacked the dog. Sue (who asked that her day of her court appearance. During their state to authorize the appointment of, to reduce her fine. full name not be used to protect her iden- five-minute-long meeting, Sue asked and payment for, defense attorneys in all tity) filed a police report, but no investi- whether there was any way to reduce the criminal matters. gation followed. Instead, a police officer fine, which she could not afford to pay. Montana, Idaho and California soon came to her house, handcuffed her and But the lawyer was unwilling to pursue followed, and for much of the past 150 took her to the Iron County Jail, where the matter. “They just want your money,” years, access to legal representation for all she spent three traumatic nights, locked he told her. was the norm. But in the 1980s, the num- inside a chaotic windowless room with 14 Sue is not alone in feeling short- ber of criminal cases exploded, thanks other women. Her crime? Her name was changed by her public defender. Utah and to the War on Drugs and new “tough on in the police database for an unpaid fine. Pennsylvania are the only two states in crime” policies. As the volume of cases Earlier that year, Sue had shoplifted the country that provide no funding for increased nationwide, many counties aspirin from a supermarket, was charged the right to legal counsel — guaranteed to could no longer afford to pay the full costs with retail theft and fined $680. At 51, all Americans by the Sixth Amendment, of public defense. And so they looked for Sue struggles with depression and chronic regardless of their ability to pay. That shortcuts. pain, and blames the episode on the fact leaves local governments on the hook In Utah, the problem was amplified that her doctor had just changed her med- for public defense, but in Utah’s budget- by a lack of government oversight and ication, increasing her emotional instabil- strapped rural counties the system is funding for the state’s increasingly over- ity. Four months later, unemployed and failing: public defenders are overworked burdened public defense system. Most recovering from breast cancer, she still and underpaid, many defendants never counties in Utah offer contracts to public Tom Means, Utah’s lead public defender, hadn’t paid the fine. meet a lawyer until minutes before their defenders for an annual flat fee, regard- speaks with a client at a trial, and each year hundreds of people less of the number of cases. Often that pretrial hearing. Correspondent Sarah Tory writes from Paonia, are convicted without satisfactory legal leaves a defender tasked with well over MARK JOHNSTON/DAILY HERALD Colorado. @tory_sarah representation. the American Bar Association’s maximum suggested caseload — 150 felonies or 300 misdemeanors a year. Sometimes, the low flat-fee rate, which in some counties is less than $30,000, means that public de- fenders have to sign contracts with mul- tiple counties or work in private practice on the side, leaving them without the time or economic incentive to fully represent their poor clients. “My job is to give someone a voice in the system,” says Michael Studebaker, a juvenile public defender in Box Elder County, Utah. “But the problem is that too many defenders won’t do that because they don’t have enough time.” The flaws in Utah’s patchwork sys- tem were documented in a report re- leased last year by the independent Sixth Amendment Center, hired by the state judicial council to assess Utah’s situa- tion. The report found that 65 percent of poor criminal defendants were never even provided legal counsel. The majority of cases end in plea-bargaining, a strat- egy Studebaker calls “meet and plea” — anxious clients have little more than a brief conversation in the courtroom with a harried public defender before they end up pleading guilty. The report also documented how outsourcing public defense to counties increased the likelihood of conflicts of interest. The county often defers to the Please see Justice, page 22 8 High Country News May 16, 2016 Mark Perkins, le, and Scott Pearce talk about recent layos from the nearby Black under Coal Mine at Perkins’ electrical shop in Wright, Wyoming. Perkins is closing his business aer the mine laid o hundreds of workers, including Pearce, due to a dramatic decline in demand for coal. e town, with a An injured red- population of less than 2,000, relies heavily tailed hawk at on the energy industry to sustain itself. Altamont Pass NICK COTE Wind Resource Area. COURTESY EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT

tional effort to address climate change by THE LATEST reducing fossil fuel use and investing in renewables. Mining subsidies are being Backstory phased out by 2018, according to agree- As coal fades, ments negotiated by the German govern- industrial solar and ment and industry. wind energy are filling The arrangement has created a the gap. But massive “soft landing” for workers and compa- solar thermal nies without unexpected mass layoffs collectors and wind or abrupt bankruptcies. Many older turbines kill a lot workers will ease into retirement, while of birds, including younger miners can take advantage of federally protected Germany’s strong vocational training eagles and migratory birds. A researcher and apprenticeship programs to pursue estimated that one work in engineering, technology and oth- solar facility alone, er industries. Ivanpah near the The U.S., however, lacks a compre- Southern California- Life after coal hensive climate action or energy policy. Nevada border, Miners and officials in Wyoming and else- killed up to 30,000 Can the West’s mining country learn from Europe’s approach where tend to blame President Obama birds in 2014. The to laid-off energy workers? and the Clean Power Plan, rather than industries, however, global price drops, export declines and en- have been slow to BY JOSHUA ZAFFOS admit the problem vironmental pressures, for coal’s downfall. (“Green Energy’s “First, it’s fiction,” says Adele Morris, a se- Dirty Secret,” HCN, nior fellow with the Brookings Institution, eople linger at an outdoor café, chil- benefits from faltering companies seem 10/26/15). who authored a recent report on the fu- dren run around a park, and visitors uncertain. Many locals wonder how their P ture of coal communities and workforces, tour a former coal mine, now a thriving small towns will survive. Given all this, Followup “and, second, it’s unconscionable for lead- museum. The one-time industrial site, the official government response feels un- Now, the largest ers to not serve the people. It behooves planned onshore which includes an events center, restau- derwhelming. us to do right by these folks who kept the wind facility in the rants, and even a Ferris wheel, attract- While Zollverein is a long way from lights on.” country has plans to ed 1.5 million visitors over the past five the Powder River Basin — the German Instead, while global forces buffet in- reduce eagle deaths. years. Zollverein, Germany, once home to mine is near a city of almost 600,000 peo- dustry and workers, U.S. lawmakers have A U.S. Fish and one of Europe’s largest coal mines, is now ple — U.S. economists and policy analysts done little to ease their pain or adjust to Wildlife Service study a retail and tourist destination. are eyeing Europe, where governments, projected Wyoming’s new realities. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, The second act at Zollverein may pro- companies and unions are charting a dif- Chokecherry and R, opened temporary community resource vide inspiration — or aggravation — for ferent path toward life after coal. Over- Sierra Madre wind centers in the coal towns of Casper, Gil- down-and-out coal communities in Wyo- seas, coalfields are also facing job cuts, farm would kill 10 to lette and Douglas to provide information ming’s Powder River Basin and elsewhere but unemployment benefits generally last 14 golden eagles each on unemployment insurance, job opportu- year, down from the in the West. March 31 has become known longer, job training and economic-devel- nities and training, and counseling ser- 46 to 64 estimated in as Black Thursday in Wyoming since Arch opment programs are more extensive and vices. Following Black Thursday, more 2012. Power Company Coal and Peabody Energy announced 465 retirement benefits better protected. “The than 900 people showed up at the centers of Wyoming says layoffs at two major mines, amid recent safety net is much different in Europe,” and workforce offices, including some un- it will relocate and Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by Arch, says Robert Godby, a University of Wyo- adjust turbines based employed oil and gas workers. But the Alpha Natural Resources and Peabody. ming economist. on eagle flight-path state’s latest energy strategy is focused Given the combination of crashing prices, data. Meanwhile, on fossil fuels with scarcely any mention bankruptcies, and a global push to phase s concern over climate change has the Obama of renewables, and Mead recently said out fossil fuels, the layoffs are likely just grown, Europe and the U.S. have tak- Administration again A Wyoming is “doubling down on coal,” ag- beginning. en different paths. In the U.S., coal-pro- proposed giving gressively backing unproven “clean coal” wind and other In northeastern Wyoming, where coal ducing states and Congress have balked and carbon capture and storage technol- energy industries provides one out of every 10 jobs and has at steps to shift from coal to other indus- ogy, in hopes of somehow bucking the a 30-year pass on generated billions of dollars for schools, tries, while Europe has more willingly em- global downturn. killing or injuring roads and other public services, plans for braced the transition. In Europe, stabilizing forces also in- more than 4,000 a popular museum or conference center Germany, which relied heavily on eagles annually — clude the unions. Germany’s mining, en- seem far-fetched. Good jobs are scarce out- coal for power and jobs following World nearly four times the ergy and chemical industry trade union side the energy industry, and retirement War II through reunification, has the current limit. Public is one of the nation’s strongest, and has most productive lignite mines in the comment is open helped maintain welfare and retirement world. But the government is now scal- through July 5. Correspondent Joshua Zaffos writes from Fort benefits and pensions and supported the PAIGE ing back soft-coal mining as part of a na- Collins, Colorado. @jzaffos Please see Euro coal, page 23 BLANKENBUEHLER www.hcn.org High Country News 9 THE HCN COMMUNITY

RESEARCH FUND Thank you, Research Fund donors, from Sheridan to Silverthorne

Since 1971, reader contributions to the Re- Kenneth Swanstrom | Kalispell, MT search Fund have made it possible for HCN to investigate and report on important issues that are unique to the American West. Your PATRON TO SEE THEM RUN: GREAT PLAINS COYOTE COURSING tax-deductible gift directly funds thought- In memory of David J. Weber | Dallas, TX By Eric A. Eliason, Photos by Scott Squire provoking, independent journalism. Steve & Ellen Adelson | Tulsa, OK 112 pages, hardcover: $40. University Press of Mississippi, 2015 Thank you for supporting our hardworking Becky Beasley | Everett, WA journalists. The photographs by Scott Squire in the book, To See Them Run, offer a glimpse of an Richard Boyd | Chestnut, IL unusual Great Plains tradition called “coyote coursing,” a sport that involves training Robert M. Clithero | Bigfork, MT athletic hounds to run down coyotes. The book also includes vignettes written by Eric INDEPENDENT MEDIA GUARDIAN Patricia Forsberg & Stephen Speckart | Eliason about some of the characters involved. The sport is “an uncommercialized Missoula, MT The BF Foundation and never-before-studied vernacular tradition,” writes Eliason. Coyote hunting is wide- Roger Goldhamer | Santa Fe, NM spread across the country, but coursing remains relatively uncommon, though still Samuel & Wendy Hitt | Santa Fe, NM contentious. To See Them Run sidesteps the controversy entirely; no photos show the PHILANTHROPIST Jerry & Donna Jacobi | Santa Fe, NM end of the hunt, when the greyhounds actually catch and kill their prey. In the end, George W. Davis Fund Alice Karl | Davis, CA that’s what is most unsettling about Eliason’s book: It keeps the gore of an otherwise John Heyneman & Arin Waddell | Sheridan, WY Charles Kerr & Gudrun Rice | bloody hunt aesthetically out of view. PAIGE BLANKENBUEHLER Kongsgaard-Goldman Fund at Seattle Grand Junction, CO Foundation Charles & Anita King | Santa Fe, NM John Lyddon Family Foundation Sharon Kolber & Gerry Burkard | Nick Carling | , UT Tobin Hieronymus | Hudson, OH Heber City, UT Jim & Todd Cowart | Nederland, CO Ann Hinckley | Powell, WY STEWARD Diane & Bill Oblock | Richmond, UT Andree Deligdisch | Great Falls, MT William Hohle | Saratoga Springs, UT Marla Painter & Mark Rudd | Albuquerque, NM James Osborn | Denver, CO Thomas & Carol Delsman | Myrtle Creek, OR William Hoover | West Lafayette, IN James V. Ralston | Los Angeles, CA Reed & Karen Dils | Buena Vista, CO Doug & Beverly Howland | Boulder, UT GUARANTOR Ronnie Rogers | Burien, WA Gus Dizerega | Sebastopol, CA Mary Huffine | Rifle, CO Deb H. Cookingham & Hugh Epping | Patricia Houck Talbert & Wilkie Talbert | Carol Dunckley | , CA John J. Hunt | Madison, AL Silver City, NM Red Bluff, CA Angela Dye | Telluride, CO Susan Hunt | Bellingham, WA John & Lydia Delventhal | Cornville, AZ Wayne Urbonas, President of WELL | Kihei, HI Alice & Cal Elshoff | Bend, OR Sanford Hurlocker | Española, NM Kent M. Ervin | Reno, NV Ben Winkes | Conway, WA Mike Erwin | Billings, MT Jerry & Janet Hurst | Colorado Springs, CO Gerry & Vicki Wolfe | Rio Rico, AZ Don & Carolyn Etter | Denver, CO Harold Hushbeck | Eugene, OR BENEFACTOR Yvonne Everett | Arcata, CA Joann Hutton | Ellensburg, WA Debra & Thomas Corbett | Anchorage, AK FRIEND Adele Ewert | Berkeley, CA Deb & Tom Intlekofer | Loveland, CO Robert & Mary Estrin | Los Angeles, CA Anonymous (2) Andy Fairchild | Enterprise, OR Al & Pat Jefferson | Longmont, CO Coby Jordan | Hurricane, UT In memory of Thomas Croarke | Yankee Hill, CA Gary Falxa | Eureka, CA Bill Jeffery | Stockton, CA John & Carolyn Ramsey | Eagle Point, OR In memory of Nelda Holden | Belmont, VT Marilyn & Paul Felber | Alpine, CA Darin & Cynthia Jernigan | Pocatello, ID Daryl A. Scherkenbach | Cazadero, CA In memory of Phil Icke | Ouray, CO Renate & James Fernandez | Estes Park, CO Michael Judkins & Lynn Moore | Casper, WY John Willard | Cortez, CO In memory of Corey McCrea | Snohomish, WA Bill Ferris | Silverthorne, CO Monica Jungster | West Glacier, MT In memory of Sandra L. Unger John Fleck | Albuquerque, NM Bill Kaage & Susan Lamberson | Boise, ID SPONSOR In memory of Clarence Weikal | Oil City, PA Damian Fleming | Los Altos, CA Jan Kaggerud | Selma, OR Anonymous Victoria Roach Archuleta | Gunnison, CO Mary Fluegel | Colorado Springs, CO Susan Kendall | Fountain Hills, AZ James Lovett | Boulder, CO Allan & Cathy Belt | Morro Bay, CA Gregory & Michelle French | Las Vegas, NV Nancy Kerson | Napa, CA David C. Moir | Los Alamos, NM Allen Black | Centennial, CO Dave Friedland | Larkspur, CO Elizabeth Kester | Denver, CO Chuck & Meredith Ogilby | Carbondale, CO Robert F. & Kenlyn Blecker Fund, an advised Bart Rea | Casper, WY fund of the Santa Barbara Foundation Bernard P. Friel | Mendota Heights, MN Allen King | McCall, ID Gary & Cindy Stucky | Littleton, CO Tim Brown & Angela Dean | Salt Lake City, UT Peter Gang | Petaluma, CA Janet & Robert Kingsbury | Albuquerque, NM Sean Gillies | Fort Collins, CO Kathie Kinzie | Philo, CA Junior Goodell | Seattle, WA Gerald Kolbe | Hermann, MO Barbara B. Goss | Reno, NV Julie Lawell | Seattle, WA YES! I care about the West! Catherine Griffith | San Mateo, CA Erby Lee | Lamoille, NV o $25 Friend Amount of gift $ o Make this amount recurring George Griset | Gustine, CA Tom Lewis | Grand Junction, CO o $75 Patron o Here’s my check (or voided check/1st month’s gift for recurring gifts) Roger Groghan | Meadow Vista, CA Wallace G. Lonergan | Caldwell, ID o $150 Sponsor o Charge my credit card $12/month minimum Peter Groth | Lakewood, CO Dale Maas | Prescott, AZ o $250 Benefactor Julie Hall | Boise, ID Tom Magarian | Cut Bank, MT Card # Exp. date o $500 Guarantor Chris & Helen Haller | Pittsford, NY Jerry & Duskey Mallory | Arvada, CO o $1,000 Steward Name on card Margaret & David Harder-MacPhail | Daniel T. Mates | Olympia, WA Santa Rosa, CA o $2,500 Philanthropist Jeff Mattson & Peggy Hodgkins | Moab, UT Billing Address Eric & Sally Harmon | Lakewood, CO o $5,000 Publisher’s Circle Michael McClaskey | Bonners Ferry, ID Marita W. Hart | Salt Lake City, UT o $10,000 & up Independent City/State/ZIP Andy McCrady | Ogden, UT Media Guardian Rachel Hart-Brinson | Eau Claire, WI Norman McKee | Panguitch, UT Nancy Hegan | Denver, CO Cassandra Mill | Portland, OR High Country News | P.O. Box 1090 | Paonia, CO 81428 | 800-905-1155 | hcn.org 48:08 James & Jacqueline Hertel | Yakima, WA Erich Montgomery | Ridgway, CO Beth Hervey | Fairplay, CO John K. Moore | Sacramento, CA 10 High Country News May 16, 2016 DEAR FRIENDS

Blossoming fruit trees and a bounty of awards As local orchards and vineyards second and third place, respec- gear up for business, the High tively, in general reporting for Country News staff has been coverage of the failures of the busier than ever. Something Federal Emergency Manage- about this glorious time of year ment Agency and the mysteries is bringing visitors aplenty of methane gas. Cindy and Kate to our headquarters here in Schimel, our associate editor, Paonia, Colorado. Erik Cadaret took second place in public ser- of Mission Viejo, California, vice journalism for their project recently toured the office before “Why Westerners die at the jetting off to Utah’s national hands of cops.” parks on a 25-day adven- And that’s not all: Online ture. We also caught up with editor Tay Wiles and her team loyal readers Chris Caskey and snagged a first-place award Holly Williamson, who live on for general website excellence, the Front Range. They stopped while Jonathan received second by HCN and Solar Energy In- place in breaking news for his ternational, then grabbed lunch coverage of the Animas River from Taco Bliss, our local taco spill. Way to go, team! truck. Thanks for dropping in! Finally, contributing writer Guy Martz res his .22 revolver across a gully as his dogs scan the prairie for coyotes, above. It’s been an exciting time for Hal Herring — who chronicled Todd Fritz’s kennel with “Pinhead,” a dog who doesn’t hunt coyotes, le. SCOTT SQUIRE us: The Society of Professional his experience at the Bundy-led Journalists recognized some of wildlife refuge occupation in our staff in its Top of the Rock- the recent cover story, “Making Paula A. Moore | Pueblo, CO Doug Smith | Dagmar, MT ies Awards. Sense of Malheur” — received Richard Morehead | Santa Fe, NM Jonathan Smith | Socorro, NM Washington, D.C., cor- the Backcountry Hunters and Jerry Morel | Gillette, WY Julie Smith | Golden, CO respondent Elizabeth Shogren Anglers 2016 Ted Trueblood Robert Moston | Grand Junction, CO Peter J. Smith | Carson City, NV scored first place in enterprise Award, which recognizes jour- Jeff Nichols | Morgan, UT Wendy Smith | Palo Alto, CA reporting for her feature story, nalism on public lands, water Gary A. Nowlan | Boulder, CO Martha L. Somers | Flagstaff, AZ “The Campaign Against Coal,” and wildlife. Hats off to you, sir. Shelley Olds | Nederland, CO Till Stoeckenius | Petaluma, CA published last November. Cindy When our contributors aren’t Edroy Parker | Twisp, WA Peter Stoel & Karen Josephson | Corvallis, OR Wehling, our head of design, busy winning awards, they’re Tim Parmly | Fairfax, VA Faith & Piers Strailey | Quincy, CA and longtime contributor writing books. HCN contrib- Joyce E. Payne | San Bernardino, CA Gene F. Summers & Mary Miron | Black Earth, WI Marshall Swearingen received uting writer Eric Wagner just David & Lisa Peters | , MN Marvin Sundstrom | Buckley, WA second place in the infographic published The Once and Future Scott Peters | Winnetka, IL Matthew G. Symonds | Farmington, NM category for an interactive River, which chronicles Seattle’s timeline of public-lands protec- Duwamish River Superfund Roger S. Peterson | Santa Fe, NM Jane G. Taylor | Lincoln, CA tion through the Antiquities site and its possible restoration. Debbie Petrocco | Fruita, CO Helga Teiwes | Tucson, AZ Act. And associate designer Congratulations, Eric! Roger Pool | Littleton, CO Harry Temple | Leadville, CO Brooke Warren, together with Now that we’ve tooted our Caroline Pufalt | St. Louis, MO Mikki Teresin | Billings, MT contributing photographer Gar- own horn sufficiently, we want Daryl Rice | Perkasie, PA TR Thompson | Santa Fe, NM rett Grove, won second place in to reserve the last and high- Andrew H. Rorick | Baker City, OR Greg Thornton | Issaquah, WA feature story page design for est praise for you, our readers. Roland Rowe | San Antonio, NM Ingrid Tohver | Seattle, WA last July’s “The Human Fac- Thank you all for making HCN Phyllis Saarinen | Newberry, FL Les Tumidaj & Kamala Bremer | Portland, OR tor.” Elizabeth and Jonathan possible. Lydia Saldana & Bill Orcutt | Fort Worth, TX Linda & Carl Wagner | Beloit, WI Thompson, Durango-based —Paige Blankenbuehler Bill Salterberg | Stevensville, MT Donald Walker | , IL senior editor, also won for the staff Mike Samuelson | Eureka, CA Nancy Wall | Tucson, AZ

KATE SIBER Dixon Sandoval, Jicarilla Forest Products | William Walton | San Diego, CA FEATURE | BY Dulce, NM THE HUMAN FACTOR Gaythia R. Weis | Longmont, CO We’re better than ever at understanding the dangers of avalanches. So why aren’t we better at avoiding them?

other hazardous endeavors, such as hiking in grizzly country or of sloughs rocketing down fighting wildfires. Jim & Carmenza Sarvay | Beaverton, OR ALL MORNING, I’D HEARD THE ROAR The project, initiated during the winter of 2013-2014, cliffs as I skied up a mountain in Prince William Sound, Alaska. asks recreational skiers and snowboarders to record their Dolores Welty | Encinitas, CA Now, standing at the summit with my six friends and our two backcountry routes using an app, Ski Tracks, and then complete guides, I gazed over treeless sheets of white plunging to the inky a post-trip survey. Over the past two seasons, more than 400 ocean. A virgin slope beckoned to us. I felt uneasy — the snow people from the U.S., Canada and Europe contributed more was clearly unstable — but said nothing. than 1,000 tracks. Researchers hope to gather thousands more I was there as a travel writer and photographer, so the group over the next two years, but already trends are emerging. Nick Sayen | Des Moines, IA agreed that I would go first to set up my camera, accompanied For example, experts ski similarly steep slopes regardless by Dan, the lead guide. I shook off my nervousness and skied off, of whether the local avalanche forecast predicts a moderate, Anne & Dennis Wentz | Bozeman, MT arcing turns down a mellow powder field and stopping before considerable or high hazard. (With a higher forecasted a knoll. Dan whizzed past me and disappeared over the bump, hazard, they do modify their plans slightly — avoiding, say, flanked by steeper slopes. Suddenly, a line tore across the snow, northeasterly slopes that could be more slide-prone.) And all- releasing a massive avalanche that crashed 700 feet down the male groups typically ski steeper slopes than all-female groups slope, engulfing Dan in car-sized panes of broken snow that on days with the same avalanche hazard, although the data on “We human Avalanche professionals have developed simple settled, slowly, into a terrifying stillness. all-female groups is still small. decision-making aids to help backcountry Kraig Schmitz | Cupertino, CA beings are With the help of his inflatable airbags, Dan kept afloat and Jordy Hendrikx, a tall, energetic earth sciences professor, travelers evaluate the objective hazard and survived, unhurt. He took a few moments to collect himself, and is leading the study with Jerry Johnson, a political scientist. not very good the risk of human factors. The only problem? David Wernecke | Baraboo, WI then put his skins back on. I stood there in awe and terror, my Hendrikx has studied avalanche science on four continents for Getting people to use them. Here are two easy heart racing, glad to be alive. years, but after several friends and acquaintances died in slides, at logic. Our mnemonics for your back pocket. I don’t know whether some misjudgment or breach he became intrigued by the human factor. brains are of professional protocol contributed to this accident. It’s “It’s been almost an awakening for me,” Hendrikx said. “I UNLOCKING THE METHANE MYSTERY hard-wired exceedingly rare for a slope shy of 30 degrees to slide so realized I could spend the next 10 years researching how a The ALP TRUTh test Frank Schnitzer | Lebanon, OR dramatically. But for years, I have relived the incident, particular snow grows, and I’d help maybe two people Have you seen three or more of these danger signs for social questioning assumptions about safety in avalanche make a better decision. Or I could spend the next 10 years really A tour of the Four Corners Hot Spot, whereon your tour? If so, naturalpay extra-close attention. Ingas has a dark side Fred Wetlaufer & Virginia Kile | Montrose, CO terrain. Was it a wild fluke, a simple miscalculation, or a serious looking at how people interact with the landscape and how they the average accident, about five of these clues are interactions mistake made possible by complicated psychological factors? In make decisions, and I could make a much bigger impact.” present. FEATURE BY JONATHAN THOMPSON | PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEREMY WADE SHOCKLEY other words, how dumb were we? I’d learned about the study this winter, when I saw A SILVER VAN ROLLS SLOWLYdown a narrow road on the edge A = Avalanches in the last 48 hours and pattern Over the last 10 years, skiers and snowboarders have a request for participants on the Colorado Avalanche background levels of methane,L = Loading a potent by new snow greenhouse or wind in gas. of the small town of Bayfield, Colorado, a farming-turned-bed- The obvious suspect behind the hot spot is the vast oil and swarmed the backcountry, thanks to rapidly improving Information Center’s website. One Saturday this March, I It’s not hard to find the probable last 48 hours source. Inside a chain-link- “bridge” fuel for transitioning from a coal-heavy energy system recognition.” enrolled, downloading the Ski Tracks app on my iPhone and room community 20 miles east of Durango. With its darkly tint- P = obvious avalanche Path natural gas industry infrastructure, which is woven like rebar equipment, new gates that allow access to untracked slopes fenced enclosure next to the school’s tennis court, the pipes, Tam & Sue Scott | Patagonia, AZ —Bruce Tremper, beyond resort boundaries, and, perhaps, a culture that glorifies filling out a questionnaire about my background — gender ed windows and government plates, the van has an ominous T = terrain Trap, such as a gully in to one that’s carbon-free. Yet the main ingredient of natural gas into the landscape here, and burps and leaks methane and (female), level of education (college), years skiing (25), marital valves and other equipment ofwhich a BP slide America debris could natural collect gas well director of the Utah dangerous routes while minimizing risks. There are more appearance, not helped by the long, fishing-pole-like append- –– methane –– has 30 times more global warming potential than James L. Wilkinson | Boulder, CO Avalanche Center avalanche-prevention classes and resources than ever before — status (married), number of kids (zero). At the Deer Creek R = a Rating of considerable or higher other hydrocarbons from valves, pipes, compressors and newly jut from the ground. Everything’s painted gold and purple, the carbon dioxide. If the scientists were to find that the natural gas in 20 years, the handful of schools has grown to more than 100 trailhead near Coal Bank Pass in Colorado, I clicked on the age, accessorized with wires and tubes, that extends from its in the avalanche forecast fractured wells. Other known contributors include an under- school colors, with “WolverineU = Unstable Pride” signs emblazoned like collapsing, on a metal — yet the fatality rate has steadily risen since the early 1990s. app’s tracker. The forecast warned of a considerable avalanche top. Impatient drivers pull around the creeping vehicle, peering industry is behind the extra emissions, it could further cloud the On average, approximately 30 people die in avalanches in the hazard near and above treeline — it had snowed recently and cracking, or tough trail-breaking ground coal mine, from which methane is vented for safety, and box. Like many of the 40,000 or so oil and gas wells here in the fuel’s current climate-friendly status. It might also indicate how United States annually. (Last season, fortunately, there were warmed quickly — but I felt safe with my husband, Andrew, suspiciously as they pass. Just behind the local high school, conditions a few landfills and two coal-burning power plants, which emit only 11.) About a third are novices, but two-thirds have some my friend Rachel, and her boyfriend, Chris, all of whom are San Juan Basin, this one extractsTh = Thawing natural or rapid gas warming from the Fruit- hard the region’s oil and gas industry will be hit by regulations Ben Sellers | Basalt, CO the van stops abruptly, then reverses, then pulls forward again relatively small amounts of the gas.

level of avalanche training. Why are capable people making more experienced than I am. land coal formation. The natural gas, which is largely methane, from the Obama administration as part of its strategy for reduc- such deadly decisions? And what can those of us who emerge We skinned up a south-facing slope, in air so warm we onto the shoulder before stopping. The FACETS test Susan Williams | Las Cruces, NM is gathered here, processed and piped to market. Or at least But there’s a 155,000-ton gap between the emissions these unharmed learn from our close calls? stripped to T-shirts. Little puffs of powder fell from spruce The passenger-side door swings open and Gabrielle Pe- Evaluate your near misses for the following human ing emissions from the industry by 45 percent. the critical information, branches and, lit by sunbeams, turned to glitter. I live to ski factors so you can become more aware of your own facilities collectively report to the Environmental Protection if you just give people most of it is: Some of that methane is apparently leaking from The industry, however, blames the gap on another methane- “I ONCE THOUGHT powder — that fleeting sensation of near weightlessness — tron, an atmospheric scientist with The National Oceanic and susceptibilities. Agency’s greenhouse gas inventory, and the amount of emissions and to experience the grounding silence of a forest muffled in the wellhead and drifting intoF = theFamiliarity atmosphere, with the terrain contributing in spewing villain that lurks here in the San Juan Basin and in they’ll automatically make the right decisions,” says Bruce Atmospheric Administration and the Cooperative Institute for the scientists estimate is needed to produce a plume as concen- Tremper, director of the Forest Service and Utah Staying Avalanche Alive in Center snow. But always, there is an undercurrent of fear. Always I am its own small way to the notoriousA = social Four Acceptance Corners or the Methaneneed to Hot Avalanche Essentials whoomphs or scanning the terrain for dangerous other coal- and natural gas-rich areas: geologic seeps, where Mike Sennett | Bellingham, WA and author of listening for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colo- impress others trated as the hot spot. Petron, along with a of scientists . “But I found out — just like economists and Spot, a highly concentrated plume = Commitment of greenhouse to a goal gas that hov- methane leaks unbidden from the earth, as it has done for mil- Avalanche Terrain features. rado, Boulder, hops out, gesturing to the following journalists to C under the aegis of the National Aeronautics and Space Admin- Penelope P. Wilson | Malvern, PA stock traders — it doesn’t work that way. We human beings At the top of the slope, we looked out over a forested valley ers over the region. When scientistsE = Expert firsthalo noticed the hot spot pull over and do the same. Petron wears jeans and hiking boots, lennia. Environmentalists scoff at the theory, but researchers are not very good at logic. Our brains are hard-wired for social and an exposed white ridge, joking, snacking, drinking water T = competing for first Tracks istration and NOAA, descended on the region this spring, using in satellite imagery captured nearly a decade ago, it was so aren’t discounting it. “The seeps are definitely a piece of the interactions and pattern recognition.” and tearing the gluey skins from our skis. And then, one by a black jacket and sunglasses, all given flair by the saffron- S = Social proof, or the myth of safety in planes, satellites and automobiles to try to account for all that For decades, we have understood the basic science behind intense that they thought their equipment numbers was malfunctioning. one, we skied down, gleefully slicing through buttery snow orange scarf wrapped loosely around her neck and shoulders. puzzle,” says Devin Hencmann, with LT Environmental, the avalanches. But unfortunately, we don’t make decisions based and launching off buried logs. But even on this mellow slope unaccounted-for methane. But more satellite imagery from 2009 confirmed the anomaly’s (See sidebar, page 16.) company that has monitored the seeps in the San Juan Basin Ed Shaul | Heber City, UT solely on observations. There are other forces at play — the of north-facing trees, which I had always thought of as a safe Speaking with a slight French accent, she explains the van’s What they find could have wide-ranging implications. Natu- existence, and in 2014 a team of scientists published a paper on emotions, biases, beliefs and mental shortcuts that some call zone, I noticed the crown lines of small avalanches that had erraticA skier setsbehavior: off a pocket Its slab sensors on the Shuksanindicate Arm the at Mountpresence Baker, of above- for the last decade. pulled away from convexities. At the bottom, a three-foot crown ral gas emits about half the carbon per unit of energy gener- John Winkel | Thornton, CO the human factor. Relatively little empirical research has Washington. He outran this slide and no one was harmed. it that garnered widespread media attention. But just how big a piece? And where exactly does it fit into explored this, but a sweeping new study, led by two Montana gaped at us — no skier tracks in sight. This small slide, about 40 GARRETT GROVE ated as coal, and about a third less than oil, making it a good State University researchers, may soon help us understand feet across and 120 feet long, had slid within the last two days, the hot spot puzzle? how skiers, snowboarders and others make decisions in without the weight of a skier. avalanche terrain. This could change how avalanche prevention Guillaume Shearin | Redwood City, CA is taught, and also shed light on our relationship to risk in 12 High Country N News July 20, 2015 ews August 31, 2015 Flaring from natural gas wells lights up the night sky in the San Juan Basin of northern New Mexico. Raymond Winters | Scottsdale, AZ 36 High Country

www.hcn.org High Country News 13 Kathy Shimata | Honolulu, HI Bill Wood | Bangor, ME Karen Cheney Shores | Cameron, MT Dave Wood | Quincy, CA Rich & Gretchen Sigafoos | Highlands Ranch, CO Alison Woodworth | Coleville, CA Pages from some of our award-winning Allan & Johanna Sindelar | Cerrillos, NM John V. Woolley | Sequim, WA Diana Lee Six | Missoula, MT content, clockwise Richard Worm | Bellevue, IA from upper le, in Joyce Sjogren | Fort Collins, CO Heidi & Clifton Youmans | Helena, MT issues 47.12, 47.15, Beverly R. Skinner | Marion, MT George Zaboji | Golden, CO 47.22 and 47.19. Dan Smith | Fairfax, VA Dave Zumwalt | Antioch, CA www.hcn.org High Country News 11 Grizzly Face-Off The Yellowstone grizzly population is poised to lose federal protections — for better or worse

FEATURE BY GLORIA DICKIE

12 High Country News May 16, 2016 very morning, David Mattson hikes up the steep hillside behind “It’s been an his house in Livingston, Montana. From there, he surveys the incredibly swath of Paradise Valley that unfurls before him, flanked by the northern terminus of the Absaroka Range. He can see the sub- fascinating Edued trickle of Suce Creek, which threatened to flood last spring; a multi- career, million-dollar mansion –– abandoned by a lawyer who found the observing area too windy — and the pale gray barn that a mountain lion raided late these bears. one night, making off with a couple of goats. But Mattson usually focuses less on the valley below him, and more on the tree line above. And it’s been He seeks out a smooth, distant ridge covered in what appear to be a cause spiky gray toothpicks. Not long ago, that ridge was host to a thicket of for grief.” green and healthy whitebark pines. Today, more than 90 percent of the —David Mattson, region’s trees are gone. “Back in 2007, you could come up and watch the Montana bear biologist trees decline,” he says, tracing the loss with a gloved finger. “Everywhere and opponent of delisting the grizzly you looked during that period, whitebark pine was dying.” Mattson is one of the country’s most eminent grizzly bear biologists, so he found the rapid decline especially worrying. In the summer of 1988, 28 percent of the whitebark pines in Yellowstone National Park burned in devastating fires. Later, in the 1990s, Mattson watched the region’s whitebarks die from blister rust, a non-native fungus. So when the - kill epidemic hit in the early-2000s, it devastated already struggling forests. And it also threatened everything that depends on those forests, particularly the Yellowstone grizzly bear, which relies on whitebark pine nuts as a key source of nutrition. Fresh off the endangered species list and without federal protections, the Yellowstone grizzly was suddenly facing an uncertain future. Citing Mattson’s research on the relationship between the bear and the nuts, conservation groups fought hard in court to regain the bear’s protected status. The strategy worked: In 2011, the 9th Circuit Court deemed the Yellowstone grizzly to be still in danger and relisted it as threatened. But now Mattson feels like he’s suffering from a serious case of déjà vu. In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its plans to move forward with a proposal to delist the Yellowstone grizzly bear, citing the 700-some bears who currently live in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as a victory for the recovery effort — the successful culmination of 41 years of struggle, and an indicator of the health of the grizzly population. With fewer federal restrictions, states would be able to restore trophy hunts and gain revenue, as well as more easily resolve livestock conflicts. But scientists and conservationists fear that the move to delist relies too heavily on uncertain science and is largely a response to state pressure. If the federal government had the bear’s best interest in mind, they say, why wouldn’t it wait to be sure the grizzly was truly recovered? For Mattson, 62, who has dedicated much of his life to protecting these bears, another delisting would be a heartbreaking defeat. “It’s been an in- credibly fascinating career, observing these bears,” he says. “And it’s been a cause for grief.”

A collared grizzly bear stands to get a better view of a nearby grizzly sow and cub in Grand Teton National Park. MARK GOCKE

www.hcn.org High Country News 13 whitebark pine production had caused bears to forage at lower elevations, creating a spike in conflicts with humans. And it found that lower cub and year- ling survival slowed population growth in 2002. However, the study team also praised the bears’ diet diversity and eco- logical adaptability. Though omnivorous, Yellowstone grizzlies rely more on meat than other populations, the study team wrote, and many bears occupy areas with little or no whitebark pine habitat, and thus eat other foods. The reason more cubs and yearlings were dying, they figured, was not because of the white- bark pine declines, but because too many grizzlies were crowded into too small an area. Given that evidence, in 2013 the Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee and Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee recommended that the Fish and Wildlife Service remove the bear from the endan- gered species list. “We have three times as many bears occupying more than twice the range we did when we started,” says Servheen. That’s in spite of the fact that grizzly bears, or Ursus arctos horribilis, are the second slowest-reproducing land animal in North America, just behind the musk , taking two or three years to rear a single litter of cubs. And, unlike most other listed species, they sometimes Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, center, talks with kill human beings. Since 1872, grizzlies Frank van Manen, center right, of the U.S. Geological Survey and of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, have killed eight people in Yellowstone during a break at a Bozeman, Montana, public hearing in April over the proposed delisting of the Greater Yellowstone National Park. “And yet we’ve done it,” grizzly bear population. (Servheen retired later that month.) MIKE GREENER Servheen says. “That’s a good story.” Yet it’s a story with some hiccups. At It’s not like the CHRIS SERVHEEN HAS SERVED as the U.S. 34,375 square miles in and around the the Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommit- Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear national park, rangers worked to close tee’s annual meeting in Teton Village, Wilderness Act, recovery coordinator since 1981 — long open garbage dumps, a long-standing Wyoming, this past November, Frank “ where places enough for his thick mustache to turn source of bear-human conflict, in hopes of van Manen, the bald, bespectacled Dutch from brown to gray — working from “rewilding” the fewer than 312 bears that ecologist who now leads the study team, must forever his office at the University of Montana, remained. walked up to the podium in Hotel Terra’s remain listed where he earned his Ph.D. in wildlife In 1979, nearing the completion of his airy conference center and announced to after they’ve biology and forestry. For more than three master’s degree in plant ecology, Mattson dozens of grim-looking outfitters, photo decades, his job has been to keep the joined the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study safari guides and tribal representatives been designated. Lower 48’s 1,800 grizzly bears alive and Team, working as a field technician and that the grizzly bear that Fish and Wild- The ESA needs healthy; a delisting ruling would be the collecting habitat data. Then, in 1983, life was so ready to delist had, in fact, crowning achievement of his career. federal, state and tribal entities formed declined over the previous year, from 757 success stories to “The objective of the Endangered the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee to 714 animals. Van Manen quickly added strengthen the Species Act is to get a species to the point to help boost the grizzly population, which that the number was within the range of where protection is no longer required,” had continued to decline despite the new variability, and that the long-term trends law, and the says Servheen, who announced his protections. The committee, which would showed no evidence of decline, but that Yellowstone retirement at the end of April. “It’s not guide the bear’s recovery across all states, did little to dampen the palpable sense of grizzly bear like the Wilderness Act, where places relied on the study team’s research to frustration in the room. must forever remain listed after they’ve establish policies and alter land-manage- And the most recent count doesn’t fac- recovery is the been designated. The ESA needs success ment practices. Members worked with tor in all of Greater Yellowstone’s recent greatest success stories to strengthen the law, and the area managers to close grazing allotments grizzly deaths — 61 in 2015, the most Yellowstone grizzly bear recovery is the that brought bears into conflict with since records began. Instead, most of those story of all. greatest success story of all.” livestock; changed garbage management deaths will be reflected in the 2016 count, —Chris Servheen, In 1975, with the grizzly bear ex- in Yellowstone National Park; and limited when grizzlies first emerge from their win- U.S. Fish and Wildlife tirpated from 98 percent of its former road access. For 14 years, Mattson, who ter dens. Last year, 37 bears were killed grizzly bear recovery” range south of the Canadian border, the took over field investigations in 1984, con- by humans, including the euthanization coordinator federal government opted to protect the tributed to the committee’s bear ecology of the notorious mother grizzly who killed five remaining populations in the Lower research, counting bears and looking into a hiker last summer. An additional 17 ur- 48 as threatened under the 1973 Endan- the causes of bear mortality. sine fatalities are under investigation, the gered Species Act. The ruling triggered an Much of this research came to frui- majority of which occurred during hunting array of protective measures for bears in tion in 2013, 20 years after Mattson’s season. Though they are much larger than Yellowstone, Bitterroot, Selkirk/Cabinet- departure, when the study team released their cousins and have distinctive features Yaak, the North Cascades and Northern a report examining the impact of white- such as a dish-shaped face and shoulder Continental Divide, including halting the bark pine loss on bears — the reason hump, grizzlies can still be mistaken for grizzly hunting season. In the Greater the courts had earlier restored federal black bears. Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes protection. The report noted that poor Fewer bears are living out their

14 High Country News May 16, 2016 roughly 25-year natural lifespan in the wild. Instead, bear and human conflicts are increasing “because bears are get- ting into areas where they haven’t been for decades,” van Manen said in a phone conversation a few weeks before the Teton Village meeting. “They’re moving into areas where people are not used to seeing grizzly bears.” Some wildlife managers actually worry that continued protection of the bears could increase conflicts with humans and livestock, resulting in yet more bear deaths. Brian Nesvik, chief warden of Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department, believes that the states could do a better job of managing delisted bears, reducing conflicts and removing problem animals earlier. “The bottom line is the core of the grizzly bear population has reached carry- ing capacity, and there’s not a lot of room left in the sardine can to put more bears.”

DRIVING THROUGH WYOMING’S RAIN- SOAKED BRIDGER-TETON National Forest, it’s hard to miss the yellow, diamond- shaped signs that warn of “game” on the roads, a not-so-subtle reminder of how the state sees most wildlife: as something to be hunted. That may soon include griz- zlies, too. If and when the Yellowstone grizzly is delisted, regulated hunting will be allowed inside the 19,300-square-mile management zone that surrounds the park. The bear population would not be permitted to drop below 600, meaning that, according to the latest count, about 100 potentially could be killed. The quota would be divided between Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, with Wyoming hunt- ers getting the largest share. Further riling bruin-lovers, one Jack- son Hole outfitter announced that as soon as grizzlies are delisted, he intends to target Bear 399, the Yellowstone ecosys- tem’s most famous and beloved grizzly. First collared in 2001, Bear 399 and her several litters of cubs have frequented Grand Teton’s roadsides for more than a decade, delighting sightseers. The outfit- ter told the Jackson Hole News&Guide that he was motivated by a hatred for “the federal government, bear-loving environmentalists and the Endangered Species Act.” Such vitriolic reactions, Mattson Nesvik, the Wyoming wildlife official, species’ survival. The healthier the bear Wyoming Game and says, “go back to fundamental world- notes that his state is a strong believer population, the better the hunt. In effect, Fish Department views, where the idea that there would in the state-run “North American model the same people who want to shoot the employees Terry be a species out there that’s not hunted of wildlife management.” Management bears could become their best stewards. Kreeger, Dan is a literal moral offense,” a philosophy decisions, he says, are best made by the ompson and Matt Huizenga Mattson refers to as “domestic utilitar- folks on the ground who live near bears. IT’S BEEN MORE THAN 20 YEARS since admire the 23-year- ian.” The philosophy is “fully embodied in After all, he says, other species, like black David Mattson arrived for work one old female grizzly state wildlife management,” he says, with bears, are successfully managed by the morning at the Yellowstone Interagency 179 they had just disgust. “Wildlife are there to be used state. “What folks need to remember is Grizzly Bear Study Team to find that his re-collared, before and dominated — and the ultimate act of the states are fully committed to ensur- office had been invaded: His computer releasing her back domination is to kill them.” ing we have a healthy recovered popula- files deleted, research folders emptied to the Bridger-Teton The delisting proposal “is very much tion of grizzly bears that won’t ever be and data confiscated. The jarring event, National Forest near responding to state pressure,” says Noah threatened again.” which would mark a turning point in Moran Junction. Greenwald, the Center for Biological Some say that, unlikely as it may Mattson’s career as a grizzly bear biolo- Data collected is used both by the Diversity’s endangered species director. seem, the domestic utilitarian approach gist, was chronicled in Todd Wilkinson’s state agency and the “It’s just unfortunate, because some of could help the bear. Once wildlife be- 1998 High Country News feature “Grizzly interagency team. these state game agencies are terribly comes game, hunters — a powerful, mon- War.” Later, Mattson learned that the MARK GOCKE, WYOMING regressive.” eyed constituency — gain a stake in the apparent burglary had actually been a GAME AND FISH DEPT.

www.hcn.org High Country News 15 Bear biologist David Mattson and his wife, and fellow bear-activist Louisa Willcox, hike with their Australian shepherd, Tashi, along the hillside above their Paradise Valley home outside Livingston, Montana. The couple contends the grizzly population remains in peril and is fighting the delisting effort. MIKE GREENER

“raid,” by the then-leader of the study the Northern Rockies, the 62-year-old, work has drawn the ire of many delisting team, Richard Knight, who stated in a gray-haired activist is accustomed to con- advocates. When Willcox started receiv- memo that the incursion was “simply my troversy. She served as program director ing death threats, the couple installed retrieval of data that I am responsible for of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, an elaborate external lighting system before it was used to further criticize the then as the Natural Resources Defense around their property. government.” Mattson had openly chal- Council’s senior wildlife advocate for Mattson’s audits go far beyond the lenged the scientific basis for removing nearly a decade, where she fought to rel- whitebark pine nut research that made endangered species protections from the ist the grizzly in 2007. Now semi-retired, him famous. He examines population Yellowstone grizzly, something the federal she authors an incendiary email news density and counting methods with a wildlife service was eager to push along. bulletin, Grizzly Times. critical lens — because management The experience shook Mattson to the Today, after what Willcox calls “a long, decisions, and ultimately listing deci- core. “I thought science drove the world,” weird, wild ride” and six years of mar- sions, hinge on population figures — and Mattson recalls, chuckling at his naiveté. “I riage, the couple constitutes what they he focuses on the bear’s diet of army thought science was the fountain of every- term “the rebel bear force” in this corner cutworm moths, cutthroat trout and thing that mattered to decision-makers.” of Montana. ungulate meat. The middle-aged scientist fled, seeking According to the best available science, refuge first at the University of Idaho, ON A COLD NOVEMBER NIGHT, shortly af- 717 grizzly bears roam the Yellowstone where he finished his doctoral degree, then ter the first snow of the season, Mattson ecosystem (a slight revision to Novem- in the Canadian Yukon’s Kluane National and Willcox pore over a draft of their lat- ber’s estimate of 714), the second-largest Park and Reserve, where he continued to est Grizzly Times entry. It’s the day after population in the Lower 48. But even study grizzlies, and later, when the ursine the Teton Village meeting, and news van Manen, who has studied the world’s reminders proved too much, in the dusty of the population decline has traveled ursines, from sloth bears in Sri Lanka to American Southwest, where he surveyed fast. Willcox and Mattson are in a bit of China’s giant pandas, admits that the mar- the predatory behavior of mountain lions. a tizzy. “Seven hundred and fourteen!” gin of error is large: Bears are notoriously Eventually, Yellowstone’s grizzlies Willcox exclaims. The bookshelves in the hard to count. Still, he says, the agency has pulled him back home to Montana — couple’s home office, illuminated by the erred on the side of caution, and there may that, and a certain grizzly bear activist. computer monitor’s harsh glow, overflow be as many as 1,000 bruins roaming the “I came back to Louisa, and therefore I with skulls and specimens, books on bear Yellowstone region’s woods. came back to grizzly bears,” he says with biology and tomes of forest ecology. Their Mattson, however, is not so sure. The a shy smile early one morning at the dog, Tashi, a black-and-white shep- traditional counting method, the Chao2 home he and his wife now share. herd, sits patiently at their feet as they estimator, which extrapolates population “Louisa” is Louisa Willcox, long a run through final edits before blasting estimates and growth trends from ground force to be reckoned with. Where Mattson news of the meeting’s revelations out and aerial observations of females and appears soft-spoken and reflective, Will- to conservationists around the country. their young cubs, is prone to overestima- cox is outspoken and determined, quick As the most persistent, and celebrated, tion, he says. And a newer technique, to denounce what she sees as social and auditor of the grizzly bear study team’s mark-resight, which uses a combination political injustices. She’s on the “pointy data, Mattson spends much of his time of radio-collar tracking and aerial obser- end” of advocacy, her husband says. Hav- conducting external reviews and deliver- vation, is also faulty, according to critics, ing spent most of her professional life at ing presentations on his findings around in that it can generate population trends the center of grizzly bear conservation in the region to the public. The couple’s that would be biologically impossible.

16 High Country News May 16, 2016 Meanwhile, University of Colorado ecolo- afterward. He’s OK with the Yellowstone Mattson made no mention of their brute gist Daniel Doak found that the aerial grizzly being delisted, provided Montana force or 400-plus pound presence. Rather, “search effort” had increased substantial- and the Fish and Wildlife Service make he gave a scientific answer: “They’re ly over the past 27 years, giving the false strong, clear plans to link grizzly popula- more intelligent, adaptable, omnivorous. impression that the Yellowstone popula- tions across the state. The ways they plug into the environment tion was increasing. This leads folks like are unending. Frankly, they just do that Mattson to believe the general population OUTSIDE THE ENTRANCE OF HOTEL TERRA, many more interesting things.” trend has remained stagnant, or even Jim Laybourn clasps a white plastic sign When it comes to delisting, Shields declined, despite the official counts. between wooden claws. A gaping grizzly says, “we try to provide a neutral stance We had The population impact of changing mouth covers his mustachioed face; fangs and let people decide for themselves. feeding behaviors can’t be ignored, either. protrude over his eyebrows. A bodysuit Unfortunately, she adds, few of the people anticipated that In Yellowstone, gender once determined of brown fur protects him from the who come through understand delisting, “ if the Fish and diet: Female grizzlies ate a lot of white- November wind. or are even aware of the pending decision. bark pine nuts, while males consumed Laybourn, a photo guide, outfitter, and She’s less worried about hunting than Wildlife Service nearly twice as much meat. Now, more hunter in the Yellowstone valley, is here about the potential loss of habitat under was moving this and more females with cubs are feasting in bear costume to send a message to the delisting. “Right now, the grizzly popula- proposal forward, on ungulate carcasses and livestock to Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee: tion seems like it’s at a really healthy make up for the loss of whitebark pine We grizzlies are worth more alive than level,” she says, “but it’s ultimately an then other and cutthroat trout, which were a staple dead, and there’s a very real economic island population.” scientists were until the mid-1990s, when whirling dis- reason to keep protecting us under the Under the draft Grizzly Bear Con- ease and invasive lake trout devastated Endangered Species Act. servation Strategy most development is probably going the Yellowstone Lake cutthroat popula- “Our tourism economy here is so restricted in the 5.5 million-acre conser- to be on the tion. The meatier meals lead to conflict based on bears,” says Laybourn, who ends vation area. But more than half of the not only with humans, but also aggres- up acting as doorman to the members habitat outside the recovery zone is open same page. sive male bears and wolves. of the study team as they search for the to oil and gas development and timber —Jeremy Bruskotter, Though the study team found no sig- correct entrance. In 10 years working as cutting, with even more land available to speaking about a study nificant effects from whitebark pine loss, a guide, Laybourn has taken hundreds of road building. that was ”part of an changes in grizzly populations can take people into the dense coniferous forests “We like to tell people, you don’t need Ohio State University over a decade to manifest. “Van Manen’s of Yellowstone in search of grizzlies, not to save hundreds of thousands of acres master’s thesis that found more than 60 estimates are averaged essentially over geysers. “Every single person I have ever to save these bears. You just need to save percent of grizzly the past 10-plus years, which completely taken out asks, ‘Are we going to see a the right spots,” says Shields. experts were against masks the fairly dramatic changes that bear today?’ For some people, it’s a life- The Northern Continental Divide delisting have gone on,” Mattson says. “Looking in changing experience.” Ecosystem, which spans 9,600 square the rearview mirror doesn’t have any sen- A 2014 study published in The miles in northwestern Montana and in- sitivity to what’s unfolding in real time.” Journal of Environmental Management cludes Glacier National Park, is home to Other scientists are cautious too. For entitled “The Economics of Roadside Bear an estimated 960 grizzly bears. A century her master’s thesis, Ohio State Univer- Viewing” found that Yellowstone visitors ago, Yellowstone’s grizzlies mingled and sity student Harmony Szarek surveyed would be willing to pay an additional $41 procreated with these northern neigh- the world’s foremost grizzly bear experts if it ensured spotting roadside grizzlies. bors, and one goal of the 1993 Recovery to determine how many were in favor of But if bears were barred from road- Plan was to re-unite the two groups. But delisting. Of the 234 respondents, more side habitat, the study noted, 155 jobs today more than 150 treacherous miles of than 60 percent believed the Yellowstone and more than $10 million to the local farmland and roadways still separate the grizzly should remain listed as threat- economy could be lost. populations. ened or be upgraded to endangered. At the end of January, Grand Teton Servheen, however, is confident the “This was shocking to us,” says National Park officials publicly spoke out two populations will soon connect, aided Jeremy Bruskotter, Szarek’s advisor and against the potential delisting decision. a professor in OSU’s Terrestrial Wildlife “We are concerned about the potential Ecology Lab. “We had anticipated that if harvest of grizzly bears adjacent to Grizzly bears in the West the Fish and Wildlife Service was moving Grand Teton,” park spokesman Andrew Current recovery areas Potential habitat Historic range this proposal forward, then other scien- White said. “This is a very important tists were probably going to be on the issue that may negatively affect grizzlies Northern Continental same page.” using the park as well as bear-viewing Selkirks Divide Tom France, senior director of the opportunities for visitors.” Cabinet-Yaak MT National Wildlife Federation’s Northern Down the road, the bears’ charisma North WA Selway-Bitterroot Rockies Regional Center, is one of the is on full display at the Grizzly and Wolf Cascades few environmentalists willing to defend Discovery Center, nestled between an delisting. IMAX and a McDonald’s in West Yellow- OR ID Greater “We have many, many species under stone, Montana, the park’s tourist hub. As Yellowstone the ESA and a limited set of federal many as 100,000 people visit the center WY resources. As we achieve success, like the each year when the wild disappoints. On Yellowstone grizzly, we need to redirect a chilly November day, Kimberly Shields, those federal resources to other more a young naturalist with dark brown hair imperiled fish and wildlife.” and maple-leaf-red winter coat, talks to NV UT France says he’s looked closely at the few off-season visitors. Behind her, CO scientific audits done by Mattson and resident brother and sister grizzlies Ko- others, and believes “it doesn’t overcome buk and Nakina tussle in their enclosure. CA the tremendous body of research that has Their mother and another sibling were been developed around the Yellowstone caught raiding a chicken house 17 years population. It’s indisputably one of the ago in Alaska and shot by a farmer, who NM most studied populations in the world, left the two remaining cubs for dead. AZ and the body of evidence speaks loudly to Now lumbering, full-grown bruins, recovery targets being met.” they awe, even as they fight over Still, he adds, much of his support pumpkin snacks. When asked what it ERIC BAKER. SOURCE: CENTER ultimately comes down to what happens was about grizzlies that inspired him, FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY.

www.hcn.org High Country News 17 on environmental stewardship, lies about 40 miles from Willcox and Mattson’s home. On my last day in Montana, Louisa suggests we stop in for a visit. Rumor has it that grizzlies have been seen foraging in nearby fields. Indeed, says Trina Smith, the ranch’s guest services supervisor, cars clogged the ranch’s private roads all summer long. Some visitors even held tailgating parties while they waited for the grizzlies. By mid-September, Smith had counted 18 bears at once feeding on what the ranch presumed to be wild caraway root (an ex- citing new dietary discovery, if true), not far from the ranch’s cattle. What might horrify some ranchers is more than toler- ated at the B Bar — it’s celebrated. “The West is changing,” Willcox con- cludes at dinner later that night, pulling apart a piece of chicken as we discuss the day’s events. “Whether it’s Bozeman or Yellowstone, or Colorado. There’s a new kind of people living here, and they are not reliant on agriculture, logging and mining.” Instead, newcomers tend to be more interested in recreation, tourism and simple mountain living, far away from the highways and high-rises that plague Grizzly 399 and her by projects to help the animals bridge not agree with the decision of the Depart- cities. They have different value systems, triplets navigate a highways, like I-90, which cuts the two ment of Justice when it comes to the gray says Willcox. But that doesn’t mean the bear jam in Grand populations in half. Even without con- wolf and is appealing their decision.” grizzly is out of the woods. Teton National nectivity, the Yellowstone population is In 2013, the Humane Society sued to “The bears are still adjusting to a Park. One Jackson genetically healthy, says Servheen. “It’s overturn U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s world without whitebark, trout and Hole outtter has not a small isolated population; it’s a final rule to delist the Great Lakes gray fewer elk. They can’t withstand too much threatened to target large isolated population.” wolf. The U.S. District Court ruled in 399, if grizzlies are killing,” says Willcox. Moreover, the new delisted. Mattson confirms that the divide is the Humane Society’s favor, calling the people moving to the mountains aren’t THOMAS D. MANGELSEN/ shrinking. “They’ve covered about half the agency’s decision “arbitrary and capri- as vocal or as engaged in the political WWW.MANGELSEN.COM distance going down — the gap, at this cious.” Judge Beryl Howell ordered the im- process, leaving the microphone open for point, is not huge.” But he worries that mediate restoration of endangered species hunters, loggers and miners. once the Yellowstone grizzly is delisted, protections in , and The Yellowstone grizzly remains in the progress will cease. Suddenly, bears Michigan, halting the controversial hunts. a perilous position, despite the hints of will be hunted on the fringes, or eutha- Nokes, who has a J.D. and master’s change. Perhaps only when the old value nized for moving into agricultural land. in environmental law and policy from systems give way, and the rebel bear force “There’s a predictable geography to where the Vermont Law School and is now the is rendered obsolete, will Willcox and death rates are going to escalate first,” WildEarth Guardians’ Carnivore Cam- Mattson support delisting. he explains, “and it’s going to be on the paign Lead, plans to use a similar angle “The Old West knows it. They know periphery.” of attack against the Yellowstone grizzly they’re going down. And they’re just delisting: The law does not allow for the putting up the last, biggest fight they IN 2007, DAVID MATTSON knew the “rebel piecemeal delisting of species by distinct can over the thing they can fight over — bear force” had a good chance at getting population segments. grizzly bears.” grizzlies back on the endangered species “The plain language of the Endan- As I head to bed that night, snow list; the possible impacts of whitebark gered Species Act is that a listed species beginning to fall again in Paradise Val- pine loss were clear. But this time, he may be delisted in its entirety only,” she ley, I have to wonder: Just how many says, will be tougher. says. “The Service, in effect, is really grizzly bears is enough? How many bears On a crisp, winter morning, while thwarting the very purpose of the ESA will the people of Montana, Wyoming and Mattson sips coffee out of a Grizzly Bear and undermining efforts to recover the Idaho truly tolerate? Once described by X-ing mug, a knock, followed by Tashi’s grizzly as a whole.” The Milwaukee Journal as the “king of barking, echoes from the front door. In other words, since the grizzly bear the wild beasts of the ” “Oh, that’s Kelly,” says Willcox, rush- was listed in 1975 in all of the Lower 48 after the mauling of legendary frontiers- ing to greet a young woman with bright states, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service man Hugh Glass, grizzlies were and are red curly hair, whom I immediately cannot slice the population into different one of the few animals in North America recognize from the meeting at Hotel Terra. subgroups, like Yellowstone or Bitterroot considered “really dangerous.” As much Gloria Dickie is a free- Kelly Nokes was the only one who man- or North Cascades, simply for the pur- as Mattson and Willcox would love to lance environmental aged to make the Fish and Wildlife Service pose of delisting them one by one. see thousands of grizzlies in their home journalist and former squirm, when she asked Richard Hannan, Not long after the Great Lakes gray state and beyond, is this a feasible goal? HCN intern who deputy director of the agency‘s Pacific Re- wolf verdict, Michigan and Wisconsin Can grizzlies roam from Yellowstone to writes from Boulder, gion office, if he was familiar with the case filed an appeal, which is pending. The Yukon? Or is 717 bears the best we can Colorado. of gray wolves in the Great Lakes region. outcome of the case could very well deter- hope for? Ultimately, it’s an answer that This story was funded Hannan, who seemed to have been mine the grizzly bear’s future. will only emerge once the bear is delisted, with reader donations brought in as a quasi public relations han- and the states and the people are left to to the High Country dler, cleared his throat and gruffly replied, B BAR RANCH, marketing itself as an “or- decide just how far the monarch of the News Research Fund. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does ganic working guest ranch” that focuses wilderness will be allowed to reign.

18 High Country News May 16, 2016 MARKETPLACE

Notice to our advertisers: You can place EMPLOYMENT Policy and campaign manager at the recycle drop-sites, composting in the schools, classified ads with our online classified sys- Gifford Pinchot Task Force will lead campaigns income-qualified home energy retrofits and, Lover of the outdoors: tem. Visit http://classifieds.hcn.org. May 16 Development guru — to protect forests, watersheds and wildlife in coming soon, a community farm. Send cover Attentive, persistent, flexible, must thrive in is the deadline to place your print ad in the Washington’s South Cascades. letter, résumé and three references to info@ a vibrant, constantly changing environment. May 30 issue. Call 800-311-5852, or e-mail www.gptaskforce.org/about/employment- cloudcityconservation.org by June 6th. [email protected] for help or information. Exceptionally strong written and verbal opportunities. communication skills, a successful fundraising For current rates and display ad options, visit HIGH COUNTRY NEWS — Major Gifts hcn.org/advertising. track record, great sense of humor and the ability to generate earthshattering ideas. Cabinet-Purcell Mountain Corridor Officer — HIGH COUNTRY NEWS, the Info: www.LNT.org. project coordinator — The Yellowstone to nation’s leading source of in-depth news Advertising Policy: We accept advertising Yukon Conservation Initiative, a nonprofit about the American West, seeks a Major because it helps pay the costs of publishing Multidisciplined/experienced resource organization with a mission to connect Gifts Officer to oversee and execute the a high-quality, full-color magazine, where and protect wildlife habitat so people and manager — Seasoned, certified forester, nonprofit’s major gifts program. Candidates topics are well-researched and reported nature can thrive, is seeking an experienced ecologist, resource manager and conserva- should have a passion for HCN’s mission, in an in-depth manner. The percentage of collaborator and strategic thinker. The tionist seeking employment opportunities fantastic interpersonal and communication the magazine’s income that is derived from successful candidate will help develop in the Western states. Recognized for leader- skills, and a proven track record of advertising is modest, and the number of and implement conservation projects in ship, ability to communicate and work with cultivating and securing major gifts. Join advertising pages will not exceed one-third the CPMC. S/he will have an education in all stakeholders. Experience and adaptability HCN’s dynamic team, doing a job with of our printed pages annually. environmental studies, ecology or related essential to your success! R sum upon re- meaning. Full-time with location flexible; é é field and five years’ experience working in quest: 903-721-4530. billrose.rose@gmail. Denver, Colo., preferred. Salary based on partnerships or collaborations in a lead role. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES com. Bill Rose. experience. Excellent benefits. Send résumé For a detailed job description, qualifications and cover letter to [email protected]. For full job Conservationist? Irrigable land? Stellar and details on submitting an application description, visit hcn.org/about/jobs/. HCN seed-saving NGO is available to serious part- for this position, visit our website at y2y. is an equal opportunity employer. ner. Package must include financial support. net/about us/opportunities. 403-678-7097, Details: http://seeds.ojaidigital.net. [email protected], www.y2y.net.

Highly profitable outfitting business Executive Director — The Cloud City and canoe livery for sale in Montana. Offering Conservation Center is looking for an fully guided trips as well as operating a very Executive Director who is deeply committed busy canoe and kayak livery in a national to environmental sustainability and our monument. The leading outfitter since 1965. independent mountain community of Three-bedroom home, 40-by-60-foot ware- Leadville, Colorado. We are a small and house, fleet of vans, trucks, trailers, over 70 scrappy nonprofit that excels at doing canoes and kayaks. Turnkey. 1-877-538-4890. Executive director, Eastern Sierra real on-the-ground work and bringing the Interpretive Association — Great job with community together around a shared vision. a great organization in a great location. Info: The new ED will build on recent successes go to esiaonline.org or call 760-873-2411. that include a new community solar array,

www.hcn.org High Country News 19 MARKETPLACE

Field organizer — “We all love this place we naturally, easily with proven AGGRAND. REAL ESTATE FOR SALE FOR SALE: Operating lodges & B&Bs; in call Montana. We believe that land and water 877-486-7645, www.natural-fertilizers.com. Montana — Near Yellowstone. Advanced Solar off-grid — 3,960-square-foot log-sid- and air are not ours to despoil, but ours to bookings. $250,000-$2.5 million. Fish, golf, ed home for sale overlooking Idaho’s wild steward for future generations.” Help protect raft, bike. Call John @Eagles Rest Montana PROFESSIONAL SERVICES and scenic Salmon River on 13.42 irrigated Montana’s water quality, family farms and RE. Meet at Bozeman Airport for tour. acres, 40 miles downstream of Salmon, Idaho, ranches, and unique quality of life. Work hard, Expert land steward – Available now for 406-585-5384. with 1,344-square-foot barn on horse-friendly meet good people, make a difference! Salary, site conservator, property manager. View property and abundant wildlife viewing. Vis- benefits, generous vacation time. Visit www. résumé at: http://skills.ojaidigital.net. Diamond in the rough — Fully renovated it www.offgrididahorealestate.com. Contact northernplains.org or call 406-248-1154. home for sale on a sunny half-acre adjacent Esther: 208-756-7019. Wildland Fire Services — Planning, reviews, to the Sawtooth National Forest and just five litigation, www.blackbull-wildfire.com. minutes to world-class skiing on Sun Valley’s HEALTH AND WELLNESS Paradise found — Enjoy your mornings . Windermere. 208-720-4077. on a covered deck overlooking the Upper Environmental law/science research dangorham.withwre.com. Enjoy a healthier lifestyle! Experience Wind River Valley outside of Dubois, Wyo. and writing — Experienced JD, LLM, the LIVING ENERGY of Premium Grade–A 4,200-square-foot home on 4.5 acres with Ph.D. Providing general overview to Spectacular adobe compound on 120 Essential Oils. Unadulterated — no pes- four bedrooms, two full baths, two half baths, detailed analysis (but not legal advice). acres — Southern New Mexico. $950,000. ticides. Organically grown. Proprietary large workshop, attached three-car garage, Holly [email protected]. Spectacular 2,300-square-foot three-bedroom distilling methods. Business opportunity. radiant floor heat, beautiful oak, cherry and 541-740-9716. main home, a fully equipped 850-square- www.theOilSolution.com. pine floors, fireplace, spectacular views. Pas- foot two-bedroom guest house, garage with sive solar design and superior internet service. PUBLICATIONS AND BOOKS storage on 120 quiet, private, star-filled acres. HOME AND GARDEN $569,000. Contact [email protected]. 303-885-1214. Back of Beyond Books is buying Create a healthier home with eco-friendly newmexicoranchcommunity.com. products. Organic bedding and bath linens, collections/libraries of used Western Southwest Colorado Ranch, price air purifiers, juicers and more. Americana, Native Americana, Southwest reduced — 409 secluded acres; year- literature and river guides. Call Andy Nettell round stream, water rights, adjacent BLM Must sell. Mountain land, southwest www.naturescrib.com. Remote 40-acre and 26- at Back of Beyond Books, 800-700-2859. land, energy-efficient home. $1.393 M. New Mexico — realtorbillyr.com 970-749-7671. acre tracts. $400 per acre. Easy terms. Scythe Supply — European scythes 505-350-4973. from Maine! Free catalog. 207-853-4750. Walking the Llano: A Memoir of www.scythesupply.com. Place by Shelley Armitage An environmen- Riverfront mountain retreat — 3.25 acres tal memoir set in the Texas Panhandle, explor- with a home at the headwaters of the Gila Outstanding recreational property — 321 acres, 4,400 feet lake frontage, 30 ing history, prehistory, and eco-issues through River. $170,000. [email protected]. Seeds Trust — Seeds for Cold Country minutes to Glacier National Park, native personal story. “A quiet masterpiece.” —BK Siberian tomatoes, heirloom vegetables, grasslands and aspen forests. $189,999. Loren. “Once you’ve ambled into these ... lyr- Unique farming opportunity — herbs, native grasses, wildflowers since 1984. [email protected]. 720-335-3436. www.seedstrust.com. ical, evocative pages ... the Plains will never Orchard, vineyard, winery in western be plain again.” —Bill DeBuys. Colorado. Certified organic fruit. Bar Diversified. Ecologically farmed. Turnkey. Historic Woods Landing resort — AGGRAND Natural Liquid Fertilizers and dancehall, cafe, store, post office, guest [email protected]. Chemical dependent? Grow responsibly, house, eight new and rustic log cabins, 10 RV

20 High Country News May 16, 2016 sites, and 25 acres on the Big Laramie River Yurt — North Fork of the Gunnison River $1,650,000. woodslanding.com. Yurt with all the amenities, near Paonia, Colo. 307-745-9638. www.vrbo.com/323752.

TOURS AND TRAVEL Rogue Wild and Scenic River Trips — EXPERIENCE COPPER CANYON, MEXICO Three-four days in lodges, fishing 10-day package from Los Mochis Airport. Four from drift boats or whitewater rafting. nights hotel, five nights camping/hiking with 37 years’ experience. 877-855-6270 burro support. From $2,000 per person. www. tightlinesfishing.com coppercanyontrails.org, 520-324-0209. Costa Rica beachfront condo — Two-bedroom, two-bath, Playa Junquillal. Expedition Rafting — Five-day VRBO #823459. $145 per night. Colorado River trips and more. [email protected]. AdventureBoundUSA.com. 800-423-4668. UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS Tours for nonprofits — Put the fun back in fundraising. Take your supporters New! Bachelor’s in public service on a customized tour. We specialize in degree Fully online program provides the bus tours to scenic, cultural and historic skills and content knowledge to work in the locations in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. public, private and nonprofit sectors, and the 602-944-3286. emerging fourth sector. Offered by the top- ranked CU Denver School of Public Affairs. Coming To Tucson? Popular vacation www.bit.ly/SPABAPS. house, everything furnished. Rent by day, week, month. Two-bedroom, one bath. Large Colorado-certified public manager enclosed yards. Dog-friendly. Contact Lee at program — Designed to offer individu- [email protected] or 520-791-9246. als in the public and nonprofit sectors an opportunity to develop and improve their Guided backpacking in the Escalante management and leadership skills. Start Canyons — All gear/food can be provided. classes at any time. Offered by the top- Join Escape Goats for a true adventure! ranked CU Denver School of Public Affairs. escalantecanyonguides.com, 435-826-4652. www.spa.ucdenver.edu/cpm.

Copper City Inn in Bisbee, Ariz. — Environmental Writing Institute (EWI) “Number 1” on TripAdvisor. Reviewed in Sept. 22-25, 2016, in Missoula, Mont., led Arizona Highways. See it: coppercityinn.com. by author Seth Kantner. Details/appli- 520-432-1418. cation www.hs.umt.edu/ewi. Deadline Aug. 1, 2016.

www.hcn.org High Country News 21 Justice continued from page 8 $1 out of every $15 of state general fund enforce higher standards for rural public discretionary dollars. defenders. prosecutor regarding which public de- In March, Utah’s Legislature passed fenders to hire, an arrangement compara- tah’s public defense may be among a bill aimed at reforming the state’s sys- ble to letting one team pick its opponent, U the country’s worst, but the state is tem. The proposal, which will likely go says Anna Brower of the American Civil by no means the only one where the sys- into effect this May, would create a state- Liberties Association (ACLU). The public tem is failing the poor. Studebaker says wide public defense commission to estab- defender may hesitate to ask for a special it’s a “monstrous problem” throughout the lish standards and provide training and investigator or expert witnesses, because rural West, where counties with low tax money to the counties. Those standards doing so not only reveals the defense’s bases suffer the most from a lack of state would presumably address the flat-rate strategy, it also costs the county extra funding. In January, Studebaker sued contracts and other shortcomings. But money. According to the multiple current Washington County, Utah, alleging un- Brower says the funding falls far short or former public defenders interviewed constitutional public defense on behalf of of the estimated $30 million-$40 million for this story, many lawyers have lost several defendants facing serious criminal that’s needed: There’s only $1.5 million their contracts after billing the county charges. to start with, and then $500,000 annually for too many such “extras,” like choosing The lawsuit recalls Sue’s experience thereafter. to go to trial instead of arranging a plea in neighboring Iron County. Under Wash- Meanwhile, Sue’s fine has now risen to deal. The result is a justice culture that ington County’s current system, the suit over $900, thanks to late fees and the ad- rewards deference over a robust defense, notes, public defenders regularly fail to ditional fee the county imposed for send- For Utah’s poor, says Brower. meet and confer with their clients in a ing it to a collections agency. Before she Ending up with a criminal record due meaningful manner before trial. Often, was released from jail, a judge ordered her the consequences to inadequate legal representation has the lawyer’s contact with a defendant is to start paying the fine in $25 monthly in- of having a consequences that go beyond the court- limited to a few minutes in the courthouse stallments, which Sue still cannot afford room. A poor person with a record can be immediately prior to a court appearance. to pay. She is $50,000 in debt from her criminal record barred from certain educational grants, Overall, the complaint states, Utah’s pub- master’s degree and gets by with the help due to poor legal professional licenses and public housing. lic defense system is designed “to mini- of food stamps. Inadequate public defense also contrib- mize potential financial liability rather Last year, Sue applied to live in a representation utes to Utah’s growing number of people than to ensure adequate defense repre- housing shelter, but was denied when a can include behind bars for minor offenses or for sim- sentation.” previous conviction for forging a prescrip- ply violating the terms of their probation Studebaker hopes his suit will help tion for painkillers appeared on a back- being barred or parole, by missing an appointment or spur the changes necessary to fix the sys- ground check. She is trying to support from certain failing to pay a fine. tem, such as establishing a statewide pub- herself through a variety of odd jobs: Writ- Ironically, short-changing public de- lic defender office that employs full-time ing about hiking trails around Parowan educational fense ends up costing the state more at lawyers. for a local tourism website, teaching ka- grants, the other end, says David Carroll, the ex- Already, a number of Western states rate, walking dogs, handing out samples ecutive director of the Sixth Amendment have taken steps toward reform. In re- at Costco. But a full-time position with a professional Center. “When you don’t have proper rep- cent years, Nevada, Idaho, Montana and salary that would allow her to pay off her licenses and resentation, people sit in jail longer pre- Washington have abolished flat-fee con- debts still eludes her — likely because of trail and get longer sentences,” he says. In tracting, and both Montana and Colo- her two criminal convictions. Sometimes public housing. the U.S., prison systems now account for rado formed statewide commissions to she thinks about that vial of aspirin. The price, she remembers ruefully, was just $1.45. For the ACLU’s Brower, Sue’s expe- rience highlights the substandard treat- ment of Utah’s poor at the hands of its criminal justice system. “You put public defenders in a situation where they can’t be a vigorous defender of their client’s rights,” she says, noting that an adequate defense would almost certainly have ar- gued down the fee, had it written off alto- gether, or pushed for community service instead, given Sue’s financial circum- stances and mental health problems. Sue says that she is resigned to pov- erty. A few weeks ago, she applied for dis- ability benefits, hoping that, if she’s suc- cessful, it will enable her to finally pay off the fine. Eventually, Sue would like to become a writer, or perhaps an addiction therapist. “I’ve heard they’re less strict on background checks,” she says.

Sue, who has incurred a lot of debt, partly because she has not had adequate legal representation, and a friend’s dog in Utah. COURTESY PHOTO

22 High Country News May 16, 2016 Euro coal continued from page 9 ernments and citizens have mostly sup- ernment also formed a local tourism en- Overseas, ported broader public resources and a terprise and helped develop a university coalfields are negotiated phase-outs of coal. In con- greater safety net than the U.S., where Arctic research program. trast, the once-mighty U.S. mining-labor limited government remains a mantra In the U.S., President Obama launched also facing movement is in steep decline. The Unit- among conservatives and even some the POWER Initiative last year to provide job cuts, but ed Mine Workers had 800,000 members progressives. On top of that, Europe’s about the same amount, $65.8 million, for in the 1930s, but now represents just politics are generally more left-leaning, job training, job creation and economic unemployment 35,000 active and 40,000 retired miners. with social-democratic influences that diversification for slumping coal commu- benefits generally A mere 5 percent of mining, quarrying, walk the line between capitalism and nities. But it’s mostly focused on Appa- and oil and gas workers were members socialism. lachia, and isn’t big enough, considering last longer, in 2014. A stronger safety net, however, re- the size of the country’s energy industry. “In the Powder River Basin, union quires higher taxes, a trade-off most According to the recent Brookings report, job training mining is almost nonexistent,” says Americans resist. So while Wyoming protecting retiree benefits, reclaiming and economic- Godby, partly since strip mines there miners average $83,000 a year, a laid-off abandoned mines and providing substan- have small workforces compared to West worker collects perhaps $470 a week, and tive job training would require tens of bil- development Virginia and Kentucky’s underground benefits can run out after half a year. In lions of dollars. programs are mines. The union has fought hard to pre- Germany, a lignite miner’s salary was To generate that sort of money, Mor- vent companies from trying to duck out of roughly $57,000, in 2011, and tax rates ris suggests that a carbon tax — anathe- more extensive retirement benefits in Appalachia, but it are about double U.S. rates, but unem- ma to energy-dependent states and many and retirement has little stake or influence in the Pow- ployment benefits pay job seekers two- politicians — could actually help by pro- der River Basin. Arch Coal, at least, has thirds of their former earnings for up to viding predictable coal-price changes benefits better said it will continue to make retiree ben- two years, and healthcare continues de- for companies and collecting funds that protected. efit payments after filing for bankruptcy. spite job loss. could be set aside to help communities But the company’s executives also paid In remote Svalbard, Norway, small and workers. themselves exorbitant bonuses despite coal-mining communities are surviving “Regardless of regulation, the market the bankruptcy announcements. For laid- thanks to government help. Payments of and outlook for coal is grim, and it’s unfair off workers, Arch is offering between four about $66 million helped the state-owned and unwise to rely on a rebound,” Morris and 26 weeks of severance pay. mining company, Store Norske, concen- says. “It’s going to take a lot of money, Behind decisions over unions, retire- trate operations in one expanded mine- and our (national and state) budgets are ment and support services, notes Godby, while closing down others, giving wholly unsuited to the kind of ambition is a larger debate over what citizens ex- the community time to develop alterna- we need to help revitalize these areas. But pect from governments. In Europe, gov- tive industries. The company and gov- it’s much easier said than done.” PHOTO BY MARK HARVEY BY PHOTO PHOTO BY MARK HARVEY BY PHOTO

“High Country News continues my work and my vision of providing the best information possible about this place we all care so much about. I would like to see it carry on that vision long a er I am gone.” —Tom Bell, founder High Country News

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PLANNED GIVING PROGRAM, CONTACT: Alyssa Pinkerton e-mail: [email protected] SUSTAIN INDEPENDENT MEDIA for future generations of people who call: 800-905-1155. Or visit our website, care about the West with your legacy gift to High Country News. hcn.org/support/planned-giving

PHOTO BY MARK GOCKE

www.hcn.org High Country News 23 Inaugural Tour from High Country News Travel A Journey through Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota September 16-26, 2016

Journey through some of the West’s most iconic scenery and wildlife habitat with award-winning High Country News as your intellectual guide. Encounter great predators, including grizzly bears and gray wolves, as well as its magnificent grazers, such as pronghorn antelope and bison. Visiting a variety of wildlife preserves and sanctuaries, you will learn about different approaches to protecting wildlife in the modern world and how to strengthen your commitment to conservation and our collective future. Join us on the wild road!

For more information, visit: hcn.org/wildroad Call toll-free: 877. 992. 6128

10 percent of all proceeds from this tour will be donated to the sanctuaries and preserves we visit. WRITERS ON THE RANGE

“You ready to make the world a better place?” Judy Hopps asks an unimpressed group of megafauna and predator police o cers in Zootopia. DISNEY Real predators don’t eat popsicles

The movie starts with a roar. Then we At her first press conference, she that some native plants are browsed too hear the words “fear,” “treachery” and issues a warning about predators. “We heavily to grow back. When the deer “bloodlust.” Disney’s latest offering high- may be evolved, but deep down we are problem first became apparent in the lights the relationship between preda- still animals,” Hopps says. She implies 1940s, and conservationist Aldo Leo- tors and prey. Curious to see how they’d the attacks might have something to pold wanted to change hunting rules, spin this for kids, I bring my daughter do with “biology.” Yet the movie exists his opponents used a powerful symbol to a spring break showing. At first, in to prove her wrong. It is, as reviewers against him, a movie that had just been Zootopia, they don’t pretty things up. pointed out, a metaphor for civil rights released: Bambi. Someone is about to get eaten. — the opposition faced by women and Over the years, my family has Then the camera pulls back to people of color as they joined police and absorbed my concerns. The credits roll reveal a school play about the distant fire departments. And, as such, it’s topi- and my daughter wonders, “Where did OPINION BY past. “Over time we evolved and moved cal and convincing. But isn’t biology the the reptiles live?” My husband, when KIM TODD beyond our primitive savage ways,” a key? Isn’t Hopps right? I describe the characters later, asks, narrator intones. “Wait, who did?” I “What did they eat?” For a movie all think. “The tiger? The kid two rows over about diet, not much. The rabbits ate eating a hot dog? Don’t carnivores still Predators matter. And what carrots. The predators drank soda and deal with blood and sharp teeth?” ate popsicles, donuts and a few blueber- Ecological inaccuracies in kids’ mov- matters is their biology, their teeth ries. The question of protein was politely ies push my buttons, I admit. The New and the blood that gets shed. ducked. Predation is still seen, as it was Yorker’s suggestion that SpongeBob in the 1920s, as “savage,” “cruel” and SquarePants is an actual sea sponge “destructive.” triggered a rant about how he must Using animals as a metaphor with- be polyurethane because his pants are The early 20th century was marked out reference to reality in the wild is a square. And don’t get me started on Dr. by efforts to sanitize nature, to make our challenge because the animals’ beastly Dolittle 2, where a bear that looks like national parks into “zootopias.” Though nature is difficult to disguise. Adults a grizzly roams a forest outside San many predators were killed off, Yellow- get the racial profiling references, but, Francisco. stone and Glacier allowed a few to linger. according to an article in the Los Angeles Clearly, I need to calm down. These According to Yellowstone’s superinten- Times, kids are already clamoring for are just fantasies. No one confuses the dent in 1925, “In great wilderness areas pet fennec foxes, like the cute sidekick creatures cracking jokes on screen with such as these parks are, we can afford in Zootopia. real animals, do they? the luxury of a few of even these cruel Movies, particularly the most ar- Zootopia tells the story of Judy and destructive beasts.” tistic, feed our sense of the wild. That Hopps, the first rabbit on the police And the lesson from these efforts vision shouldn’t be that of a zoo or a department of the city of Zootopia, to create a real-life Zootopia? Preda- utopia. Our biologically rich, morally where predation no longer exists and tors matter. And what matters is their complex world is fantastic enough, and ecosystems (Rainforest District, Sahara biology, their teeth and the blood that it is humans, not predators, who will Square) are connected by rail, in a layout gets shed. It’s a lesson many in the West have to adapt and evolve in order for it that looks suspiciously like Disneyland. have learned as carnivores struggle to to flourish. Despite the lion mayor’s “mammal make a comeback: We ignore wildlife inclusion initiative,” the police depart- ecology at our peril. The issue of how to Kim Todd writes in Minneapolis. ment is full of hulking, male carnivores: respond still roils many communities, leopards, tigers, polar bears. Judy meets but everyone can agree that waiting for WEB EXTRA Writers on the Range is a syndicated service of To see all the current with sneers and gets assigned to ticket meat-eaters to evolve to prefer kale isn’t High Country News, providing three opinion col- Writers on the Range parked cars. But when several meat- the solution. umns each week to more than 200 media outlets columns, and archives, eaters revert to their savage ways, In the East, forests lacking preda- around the West. For more information, contact visit hcn.org Officer Hopps is on the case. tors are so overrun by white-tailed deer Betsy Marston, [email protected], 970-527-4898.

www.hcn.org High Country News 25 BOOKS Past and present fauna

ome environmentalists and scientists MFA. Cokinos makes the case that “the have begun calling our current epoch empiricism of science, the imaginative and Sthe “Anthropocene” to acknowledge the cognitive leaps of poetry, the close observa- gross changes humans have induced in tion of both … we need it all.” The Sonoran global ecosystems. But the biologist and Desert is not just a field guide, but also an author Edward O. Wilson has proposed anthology of prose and poetry about the an alternative name: “Eremocene,” or the Arizona Upland. As in earlier “literary field Age of Loneliness, a name that alludes guides” such as Califauna and Califlora to the fact that we are in the midst of (Heyday 2007, 2012), each species’ passage a sixth mass extinction, one for which is accompanied by an essay or poem, an humans are primarily responsible. The illustration, and a spirited description of its impending loss of so many of our fellow morphology, habitat and life history. creatures means that humanity faces The 63 literary stewards of the So- what can best be described as a kind of noran Desert were mostly recruited dur- “species loneliness.” Regardless of what ing the National Geographic BioBlitz in we call this new epoch, there are witness- Saguaro National Park in 2011, an event es emerging — writers attuned to their where citizen scientists teamed up with environment — who are keenly aware of professionals to develop a 24-hour species the implications of species loss, and who inventory. The resulting anthology is Giant Sloths and vow to bear witness to the songs of past varied — a blend of witness and imagi- Sabertooth Cats: beings and savor the life that remains. nation, intention and happy accident, Extinct Mammals In Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats: anthropomorphism and zoomorphism. In and the Archaeology Extinct Mammals and the Archaeology of a single-sentence piece about the broad- of the Ice Age Great the Ice Age Great Basin, zooarchaeologist billed hummingbird, Arizona’s first poet Basin Donald Grayson surveys North America’s laureate, Alberto Alvaro Ríos, writes: Donald K. Grayson last mass extinction, which occurred “Hummingbirds are quarter notes which 320 pages, at the end of the Rancholabrean North have left the nest of the flute.” Elsewhere, softcover: $24.95. American Land Mammal Age in the Late Alison Hawthorne Deming observes, “The University of Utah Pleistocene. In all, the last ice age wiped saguaros all hum together like Tibetan Press, 2016. out 37 genera, and Grayson pays particu- or Gregorian monks / one green chord lar attention to the 20 genera — mostly that people hear when they drive.” Such megafauna — that once populated what’s synchroneities abound in The Sonoran known today as the Great Basin, which Desert. As Cokinos writes, it becomes a covers most of Nevada and parts of five “form of literary biomimicry,” tandem adjoining states. He compiles incisive obit- imitations of nature’s patterns. uaries for each bygone species, including Many of these species’ life histories mammoths, mastodons, sabertooth cats are implicitly authored by the Tohono and the largest flying bird ever recorded, O’odham Nation, a tribe that has dwelt the giant teratorn, which “weighed about in the Sonoran Desert for thousands of 150 pounds, and had a wingspan of about years. “This is what the Tohono O’odham 23 feet,” analogous to “a Cessna 152 light tell us,” one passage says, “that humans aircraft.” In this chapter, these “hugest can be turned into Saguaro.” In fact, the and fiercest and strangest” of forms seem passage on Canis latrans, the coyote, is to manifest only to perish. Echoing the written by Angelo Joaquin Jr., a Tohono 19th century naturalist Alfred Russel O’odham Coyote Clan Member. Neither Wallace, Grayson says that “compared poetry nor essay, this piece functions as a to the world of the late Pleistocene, our kind of outlying mythology. world really is zoologically impoverished.” In The Sonoran Desert, creosote and The Sonoran Desert: Grayson compresses and addresses the Coulter’s lupine garner equal attention, A Literary Field Guide centuries of ignorance surrounding extinc- as do roadrunner and verdin, javelina and Eric Magrane and tion by offering a series of hard-boiled red-spotted . Likewise, celebrated So- Christopher Cokinos clarifications. His is a temperate voice, noran authors Joy Williams, Ofelia Zepeda (editors), Paul Mirocha wary of global theories of extinction. He is and Jane Miller are joined by a chorus more interested in advocating for a com- (illustrator) of newcomers, including Jeevan Narney, pendium of individual species’ histories. Aisha Sabatini Sloan and Maya L. Kapoor, 216 pages, Because it is “difficult to extract definitive who writes in her passage on ocotillo: “to softcover: $19.95. answers from the fossil record,” an extinc- live in the desert sometimes means noth- University of Arizona tion narrative must instead be singular ing more than anchoring into soil, eating Press, 2016. and idiosyncratic to each unique species. hot air, waiting for seasons of lushness.” While the fossil record preserves the Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats and story of extinct species, one can turn to a The Sonoran Desert are both significant field guide to apprehend extant species. literary offerings that illuminate the

For over a century, North American bioecology of the Great Basin’s past as MIROCHA COLLAGE PHOTO PAUL BY naturalists have been compiling field well as the Sonoran Desert’s present. For guides to aid citizen scientists in identify- those who dread the prospect of an Age of ing the native flora and fauna of particular Loneliness, these books provide excellent regions. In the case of The Sonoran Desert: company, bringing to life the precious A Literary Field Guide, editors Eric Ma- biota of the American West, both the grane and Christopher Cokinos are both species that have long since vanished and guides and anthologists; this is a Sonoran those that still survive, at least for now. Desert tour led by a park ranger with an BY LAWRENCE LENHART Dreaming down Rain. the Dreaming 26 High Country News May 16, 2016 Alo ESSAY BY RENEE GUILLORY

Birds, including sparrows, frequently nd their way inside airport terminals, itting among travelers. RON DOWDELL

iddle feet. Wanderlust. It’s some- thing that most of us have, if we They don’t seem to mind our frenzy, our were lucky enough to grow up in leave-takings and homecomings, our theF era of American Prosperity. We leave the nest. worries or our anticipation. We travel far from home to go to school or take a job. Or just to travel for the sake of travel, on a lark, if we have a few pennies to rub together. Just because Occasionally, they startle travelers by the great wide world is there. zipping between their ersatz nests to the I grew up road-tripping in the back- floor, where they’ve spotted a feast. They seat of a VW bug, and puddle-jumping glean. They hop. They clean up after us, from Louisiana to Texas to Alabama separating our edible droppings from the visiting relatives during school breaks. bags and cups strewn on the floor. When As my family’s center of gravity the job is done, they jet off again. moved West, our bayou nest frayed, and They keep up a running commentary I developed a new migration pattern on life, , and the banishment of that spins out like a spiral from Phoenix, hunger. People don’t always notice their Arizona. I’d lift off to the Great Plains, or chatter, though, perhaps thinking it part take wing and chase work and adventure of a soundtrack –– or maybe they are in Western locales like Boulder, Sea-Tac, just too preoccupied with phone calls or Portland, Reno and Jenner-by-the-Sea. computer games to pay attention. Per- attention and concern endearing. In Occasionally, I traipse off to distant haps it’s a good thing that most people the short time I spent in Liz’s orbit, she glaciers — the Alps, Iceland — but more also don’t see the grayish-white guano fielded hundreds of questions and pla- often than not, my window seat looks out covering the ceiling beams or the metal cated dozens of angry travelers. Maybe a upon the sharp-relief vistas of the arid sculptures over a water fountain. (The few moments of watching or listening to West. maintenance staff always pay special at- the birds is, for her, a relief. Along the way, I’ve come to love Phoe- tention to that water fountain. Good job.) For a while, during my unsettled nix’s Sky Harbor, my home airport, even I once asked a pilot on his way to 30s, I experienced a physical terror of though I deplore its crowds and noise and catch a flight — well, I guess he would flying that couldn’t be explained by my cramped quarters. For me, air travel is have been on his way to “fly” a flight — if own experience. I’d never been in an one long opportunity to practice mindful- he thought the birds were jealous of the accident on a plane; there had been no ness. planes. He laughed and said he thought recent news reports of planes dropping But in Phoenix, there’s one sweet note they were just trying to get out. out of the sky. During that jittery time of relief: Birds roost in some concourses But he was wrong about that, said in my life, the only thing that calmed of the airport. They fly in through the Liz, a friendly gate agent in Concourse D. me while flying was to imagine that my jetways, which open just long enough for She told me that the birds get shooed out plane was overtaken by a real bird, one them to zoom in. I think they’re spar- of Sky Harbor every now and then by the with sleek feathers and keen, kohl-black rows, but there are few people worse at maintenance staff, but that they always eyes. Cheesy, yes. But it worked, perhaps identifying birds than I am. Let’s just sneak back in. She feels sorry for them, because I trust feathers and blood and agree to call them “birds.” They fly be- and so she puts out water dishes. Liz also birdsong — wherever they may be. tween the ledges of the enormous picture says they love popcorn. windows, and have interloped at Sky I got the feeling that Liz really likes Renée Guillory hails from the Sonoran Harbor for so many years now that the having them around. Whatever the cor- Desert. Forthcoming works include essays concourse staff have installed birdhouses. rect attitude is about feeding this popula- on the restoration of Fossil Creek, near They don’t seem to mind our frenzy, tion (which probably depends on whether Strawberry, Arizona. Follow her at our leave-takings and homecomings, our you see them as pests, pets, accidents of www.therenaissancewriter.com or worries or our anticipation. ecology or mere novelties), I found Liz’s on Twitter @noirista.

www.hcn.org High Country News 27 U.S. $5 | Canada $6

HEARD AROUND THE WEST | BY BETSY MARSTON

ALASKA If the Burning Man festival in the dusty NEW MEXICO Nevada desert conceived a love child with While its owners were away for two weeks, a a monster-truck rally in the snowy moun- parked Toyota Tundra truck in Aztec, New tains of Alaska, that would surely be the Mexico, became a bed and breakfast for a “Arctic Man” gathering, says the Guardian. rat. Vicky Ramakka says she and her hus- Think 12,000 Alaskans — all heartily sick band didn’t know about the rat’s sojourn on of winter — converging on a snow-covered top of the truck’s engine until a routine truck field in the Hoodoo Mountains near Summit servicing revealed the that had Lake, a place that’s usually in the middle occurred during their absence. A mechanic of nowhere. But this April 4-15, Arctic Man cleaned out an entire rat’s nest filled with became one of the biggest cities in the state. cactus and tree parts, as well as the remains Bundled-up participants enjoyed giant bon- of a rabbit, but “the wiring was intact, so fires that burned through the night, costume thank God for that.” Ramakka says, “We parties that featured “a guy with a bear hat were dumbfounded at this detailed mainte- made from an actual bear’s head,” souped- nance report — especially the rabbit corpse!” up snowmobile races, where drivers climbed hills at 92.3 mph, and food trucks that sold MONTANA NEVADA Cirrus angelicus. HAROLD ROY MILLER reindeer on a stick. It’s always a “booze and “A cat with a bloody human hand in its mouth” fossil-fueled Sledneck Revival,” and this must have been a chilling sight as it strolled year, the slednecks did their best to smash the evidence” proving it. “I found myself walking down a street in Bozeman, Montana. That’s Guinness World Record for the largest parade of up to the front of the room,” Havens recalled, what a caller reported to police, reports the Boz- snowmobiles. where she told elected officials that that kind eman Daily Chronicle, though the eyewitness of twisted logic had allowed rivers to become so wasn’t sure if was real. Fortunately, WASHINGTON fouled you couldn’t drink the water or swim in it wasn’t; another caller told dispatch that one Whatcom Watch, in Bellingham, Washington, them. To her surprise, the planning commission of her missing pink gardening gloves was most recently interviewed Lorena Havens, a longtime then denied the dumping permit; afterward, she likely the “hand” the cat was holding. environmentalist and co-author of the popular was told that her statement tipped the balance. classic, The People’s Guide to Mexico. The re- These days, Havens advocates for more com- CALIFORNIA porter was curious about what inspired Havens plete recycling: “We must not only stop putting Back in the 1960s, the “man in black,” Johnny to become an activist in the early 1970s. Appar- more trash in the ocean, we need to be cleaning Cash, played a series of concerts for the men in ently, it was a combination of indignation and the plastics out of the ocean and reusing that Folsom State Prison, on the edge of the Sierra common sense: Havens said that Judy Chicago, material.” Nevada mountains of California. Chris Hamil- the artist and activist, urged her to tackle local ton, a young biologist from Auburn University problems first, saying, “Go home and see what OREGON in Alabama, knew about those concerts and needs doing — and do it!” A few weeks earlier, Seventy-five goats hired to eat invasive species at loved Cash’s song, Folsom Prison Blues. So it as it turned out, Havens had seen something a public park in Salem, Oregon, had to be fired made perfect sense for him to name the all-black that needed un-doing. From her “river shack on for failing to do their job. Eenews.net reports tarantula he recently discovered near Folsom Ebey Island,” Havens saw trucks from lumber that the animals preferred to munch on tree Aphonopelma johnnycashi. Hamilton told the mills lining up to dump bark and sawdust into bark and some native plants, and instead of BBC that he also proudly sports a Johnny Cash a wetlands. That night, Havens wrote a peti- clearing entire patches of blackberry bramble, tattoo; no word on how many legs it has. tion asking the county to halt the pollution, got they fastidiously nibbled just the leaves. What’s all her neighbors to sign it, and presented it a worse, renting the goats cost the town five times WEB EXTRA For more from Heard around the West, see few weeks later to the planning commission. more than mowing or weed-whacking. Cleaning hcn.org. Her petition initially didn’t get much traction, up the goat poop also wasn’t cheap. They left she recalled; a company lawyer dismissed it, behind “a heavily fertilized area — if you know Tips and photos of Western oddities are appreciated and often shared in this column. Write [email protected] or tag saying that if dumping caused a problem, “there what I mean,” said Mark Becktel, Salem’s public photos #heardaroundthewest on Instagram. should be a stack of documents and scientific works manager.

High Too o en, the human costs of doing what’s Country right for our Earth are not considered News “ For people who care about the West. as part of the equation. High Country News covers the important issues and stories that are unique to the American West with a Wendy Beye, in her essay, “e end of coal is bringing” a wrenching transition,” magazine, a weekly column service, books and a website, from Writers on the Range, hcn.org/wotr hcn.org. For editorial comments or questions, write High Country News, P.O. Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428 or [email protected], or call 970-527-4898.

28 High Country News May 16, 2016