Monument Man Washington Insider John Podesta’S ‘Hidden Hand’ Has Guided the Environmental Achievements of Presidents for Two Decades by Elizabeth Shogren

Home , Carol Browner, Gateway Pacific Terminal, John Podesta, Tony Podesta

TRANS-PACIFIC TRADE | 5 | DIVERSION ON THE GILA | 6 | SAN FRAN COYOTES | 8

High Country ForN people whoews care about the West Monument Man Washington insider John Podesta’s ‘hidden hand’ has guided the environmental achievements of presidents for two decades By Elizabeth Shogren. Page 12. MAY 25, 2015 | $5 | Vol. 47 No. 9 | www.hcn.org No. 47 | $5 Vol. 25, 2015 MAY CONTENTS

Editor’s note Politics of the possible

Bruce Babbitt loves to tell this story: At a White House social function in the late 1990s, Babbitt, who was Bill Clinton’s secretary of the interior, finally got a brief moment alone with his boss. He used it to pass him a note that read: “tR: 230 million acres, WJC: ??” it was a shorthand way to compare Clinton’s public-lands conservation record with that of theodore Roosevelt. Babbitt caught Clinton at a good time; it was the president’s second term, and he was eager to establish his legacy, and also, if possible, to divert attention from his administration’s simmering scandals. By the time Clinton left the White House, he had created or expanded 22 national monuments, covering some 6 million acres in the West. He did this by wielding the executive authority that tR himself had signed into law — the 1906 Antiquities Act. that presidents enjoy using their executive authority should come as no surprise, especially when they’re facing a Congress that reflexively op- poses almost everything they do. in the past two years, Barack obama has used his own power to John Podesta. keep immigrant families together, to sign a treaty CHiP SoMoDEvillA/GEttY iMAGES with China reducing greenhouse gases, and, yes, to create a bunch of new national monuments in the FEATURE West. Most of them, like Clinton’s, are managed by the Bureau of land Management. When our 12 Legacy Maker new Washington, D.C., correspondent, Elizabeth Shogren, examined the striking similarities between On the cover Washington insider John Podesta’s ‘hidden hand’ has guided the conservation policies of the Clinton and obama President Barack the environmental achievements of presidents for two decades administrations, she uncovered an important com- By Elizabeth Shogren Obama and White mon denominator: John Podesta. House counselor Monumental changes? Podesta, who served both presidents during John Podesta walk their second terms, is an incredibly influential 16 Still quiet at Canyons of the Ancients near the Washington behind-the-scenes practitioner of the power game. Monument last May. 17 Timeline: Antiquities Act: A power tool for presidents the idea of playing “three-dimensional chess” has Podesta is behind 18 many second- Controversy grazes Missouri Breaks become a political cliché, but according to Carol term conservation 26 Essay: Making a monument from scratch By John Hart Browner, obama’s former climate czar, Podesta is a achievements for both genuine master of the art. Obama a nd Podesta was raised on the streets of Chicago Bill C linton. CURRENTS and has spent most of his life inside the Beltway, PABlo MARtinEz MonSivAiS/ AP PHoto and yet his most enduring legacy is likely to be out 5 Trade winds blow through the West here, in the West. (Podesta is not quite done with 6 Water for later politics; he’s currently directing Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.) in this issue, we feature 7 The Latest: Lake Mead’s water level Shogren’s profile of Podesta and give a brief his- 8 Canis Sanfranciscans tory of the Antiquities Act. We also take a look at 8 The Latest: Border Patrol and borderlands Clinton-era monuments in Colorado and Montana and a potential new one in California. one lesson is clear: Bold White House proclama- DEPARTMENTS tions don’t automatically change how these pieces Complete access of public land are managed. Conflicts over grazing to subscriber-only 3 HCN.ORG NEWS IN BRIEF or energy development or archaeological preserva- content 4 LETTERS tion tend to persist, partly because the new monu- HCN’s website ments try, and fail, to please everyone involved. But hcn.org 11 THE HCN COMMUNITY Research Fund, Dear Friends as John Hart’s essay on the proposed Berryessa- Digital edition 20 MARKETPLACE Snow Mountain national Monument observes, hcne.ws/digi-4709 simply calling a place a national monument some- 24 BOOKS iPhone app how opens our eyes to its natural wonders. And in hcne.ws/wuzsWu Into the Savage Country by Shannon Burke. Reviewed by Jenny Shank a world increasingly dominated by human activity, iPad app Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth. Reviewed by Annie Dawid that’s a worthwhile legacy for anyone. hcne.ws/nGtBYx 28 HEARD AROUND THE WEST By Betsy Marston —Paul Larmer, executive director/publisher

2 High Country News May 25, 2015 HCN.ORG NEWS iN bRiEf

Drought shrinks Sacramento Trending Delta protections Recapture California Gov. Jerry Brown in April announced Canyon verdict that a plan to transport Northern California water A federal court has south, via twin tunnels, would be accompanied found Phil lyman, by just a third of the originally planned habitat a San Juan County protection. In doing so, he reignited a debate commissioner, and over how to allocate the water of the Sacramento- Monte Wells, a local San Joaquin Delta, which harbors one of the blogger, guilty of largest swaths of the state’s remaining wetlands conspiring to operate and is home to the federally endangered Delta off-road vehicles on smelt. The Delta also supports a $500 million public lands closed agricultural industry and supplies drinking to motorized vehicles, water for two-thirds of the state. The conflict pits and of operating Central Valley farmers and southern cities against vehicles on said Delta farmers, cities and environmentalists. lands. Two other The plan for the two Delta tunnels, first put defendants were forward almost nine years ago, originally included found not guilty. $8 billion dollars of state and federal funds The charges stem for 100,000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat from a 2014 protest restoration and protection. Brown’s new plan organized by lyman includes 30,000 acres of habitat to be restored or in southeastern protected over five years.Kate sChimel Utah’s Recapture Sandhill cranes in the Stone Lakes refuge in the northern reaches of the Delta. JUSTINe BelSON/USFWS hcne.ws/SacraDelta Canyon. Jonathan thompson

You say Tesla’s powerplay gary harmon: elon Musk, the CeO of Tesla Motors, That would help them overcome the challenges “every time I hear 7.5 Number ofmillion acres stripped of vegetation announced May 1 his company will soon begin of potential over-generation of power during a conservative com- between 2000 and 2012 due to oil and mass production of the Powerwall, a hip, sleek the early afternoon, when demand is relatively plain about ‘private gas development (the equivalent of three home battery. Individually, the solar-charged low, and a subsequent spiking of demand, property rights,’ they Yellowstone National Parks). battery could cut homeowners’ bills. But its in the late afternoon and evening, which immediately start bigger impact would be at scale, or if its giant requires firing up natural gas plants.Jonathan talking about their cousin, the Powerpack, gets used by utilities. thompson hcne.ws/teslabattery The fraction of 2013 wheat rights to “public 13%exports that 7.5 million acres could have land.” As if the two produced. Net demand, March 31 were the same thing. I am part owner of A study recently published in the journal the Sierra Nevada Science sought to quantify ecosystem even though I live in services lost to oil and gas development. The New Mexico, just as study combined a large dataset on new wells someone from Cali- drilled throughout the study region — the fornia is part owner central U.S., including the Intermountain of the Rockies. The West — between 2000 and 2012 with wilderness I live next annual satellite measurements of plant to does not belong growth. Big as the above numbers seem, to the county I live they’re relatively small, compared to the in, even though the total landmass studied. But if current trends county commission continue for another 10 or 15 years, the loss thinks so.” of vegetation could be more consequential. SOURCe: CAlIFORNIA ISO suzi lewis: Cally Carswell hcne.ws/OilGasImpacts “Transferring public lands would be one of the worst decisions in history. ” Photos Charley wrather: Two tribes and coal “They are not above The lummi and Crow Nations, 1,000 the law.” 5 miles apart, have opposite stakes in hcne.ws/RecapCanyon Number of chemicals the ePA has regulated whether a coal terminal is built off the Young football and facebook.com/ in the 40 years since Washington coast. The Crow, who sit players walk highcountrynews the Toxic Substances atop a thick coal seam in Montana, down the street Control Act was have much to gain. The lummi, who in Lodge Grass, passed. Number live along Puget Sound, where the a small town on since 1990, when it Gateway Pacific Terminal would be the Crow lost a court case to built, fear for their fishing grounds and Reservation in regulate asbestos: zero. ancestral sites. hcne.ws/TerminalCoal southeast elizabeth shogren Montana. hcne.ws/Udallbill DANIel KUKlA 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 WAGONS AROUND bAllONA exeCutive direCtor/publisher Paul Larmer Articles about this precious Southern managing editor California ecosystem are always wel- Jodi Peterson come, and this one delves more deeply senior editor Jonathan Thompson into the complexity of Ballona than the art direCtor typical “this side versus that side” ar- Cindy Wehling ticle, which is refreshing (“The Wetland assoCiate editor Wars,” HCN, 5/11/15). However, what is Brian Calvert online editor still missing from the discussion is the Tay Wiles realization that the lack of transparency d.C. Correspondent and accountability among the state agen- Elizabeth Shogren writers on the range cies is the reason why this ecosystem ©ARCtiC CiRClE ©2008 AlEx HAllAtt, DiSt. BY KinG FEAtURES SYnDiCAtE editor Betsy Marston remains neglected over 10 years after assoCiate designer its acquisition. Good, well-intentioned our profligate ways when it comes to bORROWED lAND Brooke Warren people can disagree about what kind of overwatering our yards and gardens. In Copy editor Thanks for doing an article on the Bisti restoration should occur. What is not many places, lawn irrigation is the Diane Sylvain Wilderness (“Strangers in a familiar Contributing editors acceptable is for members of the public largest use of water for individual resi- land,” HCN, 4/13/15). It was a good one, Cally Carswell to be deprived of the information they dences, commercial and governmental Craig Childs and I like the quote, “We are all just Sarah Gilman require to come to their own conclusions. entities. Rainwater harvesting supports visitors here.” An old Navajo lady, a Judith Lewis Mernit The Annenberg Foundation proposal, the inefficient and unsupported “unlim- Jeremy Miller member of a grazing committee not too Sierra Crane-Murdoch which is only briefly mentioned in this ited growth” mentality that gets all of us far from Bisti, used to say, “We are all Michelle Nijhuis article, had a major negative impact on into deep trouble. Josh Zaffos here on borrowed land. It is only tempo- the restoration timeline and squandered Second, if rainwater harvesting is Correspondents rarily on loan from the unborn genera- Ben Goldfarb precious time, money and credibility. It done by enough people and entities, a Krista Langlois tions, so we need to take care of it.” editorial Fellow was the classic example of money and large amount of water will no longer flow Sarah Tory politics trumping ecological common into rivers and streams, soak into soils or Alvin Whitehair interns sense. When the foundation withdrew, feed groundwater aquifers. This will have Hanksville, Utah Kindra McQuillan Kate Schimel it rendered useless the project alter- a significant effect, particularly in places assoCiate publisher natives into which so much time and like Arizona, where climate change is bUNDY AND THE lAW Alexis Halbert money had been invested. expected to create drier day-to-day and development manager Alyssa Pinkerton Now, instead of providing more seasonal weather. When it does rain, the “Checking in on Cliven Bundy” (HCN, development assistant transparency, the agencies are circling runoff will be blotted up by hundreds of 4/27/15)? Are you kidding me? The only Christine List the wagons. That is why the Ballona thousands, even millions, of rainwater- checking in we need with him is from subsCriptions marKeter Wetlands Land Trust filed a lawsuit harvesting systems, large and small. his cell, when he’s finally brought to jus- JoAnn Kalenak web developer against the Santa Monica Bay Restora- Rivers and streams, landscapes, aquatic tice for making a mockery of federal law. Eric Strebel tion Commission for its failure to dis- and terrestrial wildlife, and groundwater Mark De Gregorio Community engagement close critical information about the res- levels will take the hit. Masonville, Colorado Gretchen King toration planning process. In response FinanCe manager In dry areas like Arizona, it is far Beckie Avera to our push for greater transparency, better to use desert plants for landscap- aCCounts reCeivable the public commission is on the cusp of ing. After all, the residents live in a des- WARM NORTHWEST Jan Hoffman shifting local responsibility for Ballona ert. Adapt to the desert. Don’t fight it. CirCulation manager “A crystal ball for the Pacific Northwest” to its private partner, the Bay Founda- Tammy York Brandt Mannchen (HCN, 4/27/15) gives us a good summary tion, which has adamantly resisted calls CirCulation systems admin. Houston, Texas of what may happen to precipitation in Kathy Martinez for transparency, despite being funded the Pacific Northwest in coming years, CirCulation almost entirely by public money. Doris Teel CHANGiNG bASEliNE but says little about what may happen If we can establish reasonable levels Kati Johnson to temperatures. However, the Oregon advertising direCtor of transparency and accountability, Without using these exact words, editor Climate Change Research Institute David J. Anderson the right restoration plan will follow. Sarah Gilman refers to the changing advertising sales makes it clear: “Every global climate Until then, it is just going to be more baseline (“Knowledge, a wrecking ball,” Jenny Hill model used by the Intergovernmental Margaret Gilfoyle polarized back-and-forth. HCN, 4/27/15). Each generation thinks Panel on Climate Change projects an grantwriter that life began when its awareness Janet Reasoner Walter Lamb annual temperature increase for the began. The children of the generation Founder Tom Bell Ballona Wetlands Land Trust Pacific Northwest over the 21st cen- before Sarah roved an empty mesa Culver City, California tury.” The amount ranges from about 3 [email protected] near Boulder and perhaps mourned its [email protected] degrees Fahrenheit, under low emis- loss. As a young adult, I roamed the side [email protected] sions, to about 9 degrees, under high, [email protected] WATER-HARvEST WARNiNG canyons of Lake Powell and thought I by 2080. Even if precipitation does not was in heaven. Years later, I attended board oF direCtors It is very sad that a man of science, decrease, what looks like an undoubted Katie Lee’s talk and slideshow about John Belkin, Colo. Brent Cluff, believes that “water harvest- major increase in future temperatures Sean Benton, Mont. Glen Canyon, and I cried the entire ing could support unlimited growth.” will have major effects on the region’s Beth Conover, Colo. time, mourning what had been taken Jay Dean, Calif. In “Tucson’s rain-catching revolution” environment. from me before I could experience it. Is Bob Fulkerson, Nev. (HCN, 4/27/15), rainwater harvesting is Wayne Hare, Colo. it better to not know? Is the changing Peter Bridges touted as a way to conserve water. It is Laura Helmuth, Md. baseline a blessing rather than a curse? Crested Butte, Colorado John Heyneman, Wyo. a step in the right direction, but only a Nicole Lampe, Ore. Wendy Pabich, Idaho step, and it has several negative impacts. Jeanmarie Haney Marla Painter, N.M. First, it allows us to continue Cottonwood, Arizona Lou Patterson, Colo. Dan Stonington, Wash. Rick Tallman, Colo. Luis Torres, N.M. High Country News is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) (iSSn/0191/5657) is published bi-weekly, 22 times a year, by High Country news, 119 Grand Ave., Printed on Andy Wiessner, Colo. High independent media organization that covers the issues Paonia, Co 81428. Periodicals, postage paid at Paonia, Co, and other post offices. PoStMAStER: recycled Florence Williams, D.C. that define the American West. Its mission is to inform Send address changes to High Country news, Box 1090, Paonia, Co 81428. 800-905-1155. All paper. Country and inspire people to act on behalf of the region’s rights to publication of articles in this issue are reserved. See hcn.org for submission guidelines. News 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 25, 2015 Currents Trade winds blow through the West The Trans-Pacific Partnership could pipe in new business for the Western gas industry

by Joshua zaFFos

ifle, Colorado, a quintessential West- practice measures and currency-manipula- the Natural Resources Defense Council’s An artist’s R ern energy boomtown, has fallen tion rules be tied to fast-track support. International Program. conception of the on hard times. High natural gas prices Analysts agree that energy, particu- The two terminals would likely receive proposed Jordan spurred a drilling boom in the surround- larly natural gas, will be a major focus of gas through the Northwest Pipeline, a Cove liquid natural ing Piceance Basin in the early aughts. the agreement. Japan phased out nearly 4,000-mile network of lines that crosses gas terminal in Then, in 2008, prices crashed due to an all of its nuclear power after the 2011 Fu- six Western states and reaches into Cana- Oregon. The project already has an oversupply of natural gas in the North kushima meltdown, replacing much of it da. That system plugs into the under-uti- Energy Department American market, and Rifle slumped into with electricity from natural gas, nearly lized Ruby Pipeline, a 680-mile delivery permit, but future a bust from which it still hasn’t recovered. all of which it must import. Due to market route stretching from western Wyoming to terminals may The next bonanza could be just around inefficiencies and Asia’s still-developing southern Oregon, and the Rockies Express be automatically the corner, though, thanks to the contro- pipeline capacity, gas prices across the Pa- Pipeline, a north-south system that goes approved if the versial Trans-Pacific Partnership — the cific have been four to eight times higher from Wyoming into New Mexico. That Trans-Pacific largest international free-trade agree- than in the U.S. should mean an uptick in business for gas Partnership goes ment that the United States has ever ne- The overseas market, in other words, is drillers and communities along the way, through. gotiated. By slashing tariffs and lowering thirsting for cheap and abundant U.S. nat- especially in western Colorado’s Piceance JoRDAn CovE lnG regulatory hurdles, the TPP could make it ural gas. But before it can get there, it must Basin, the San Juan Basin on the Colora- easier to sell Western natural gas to Ja- be supercooled and turned into liquefied do-New Mexico border, and the Uinta Ba- pan, potentially igniting another boom. natural gas, or LNG, in special terminals, sin on the Colorado-Utah border. A 2014 The agreement could also affect Western then loaded onto refrigerated tankers for report by Mercator Energy, a Colorado ranchers, who face both pros and cons: op- shipping. The only existing U.S. Western gas broker, notes: “The predictability of portunities for bigger beef markets, but LNG export terminal is a relatively small Piceance Basin reserves and abundant … also the threat of increased competition facility in Kenai, Alaska. Construction of pipeline export capacity should be very at- from producers in member nations. new facilities involves billions of invest- tractive to any foreign country or foreign In the works since 2008, the TPP in- ment dollars and the regulatory approval of consumer of LNG.” Wyoming, with 20,000 cludes 12 countries: the U.S., Canada, Mex- both the Federal Energy Regulatory Com- planned new oil and gas wells, has spent ico, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, mission and the Department of Energy. the last two years studying how to further Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Currently, there are only seven termi- increase LNG production and storage and by slashing tariffs Peru. Those nations’ economies comprise nals in the country operating or fully ap- its pipeline capacity and connections. nearly 40 percent of the global gross do- proved, though there are 54 applications Increased trade with Japan could also and lowering mestic product, a bloc second in trade vol- for building new LNG production facilities benefit ranchers, says David Salmonsen, regulatory ume only to the European Union. That’s and export terminals. A company called senior director of congressional relations led critics to dub the TPP “NAFTA on ste- Oregon LNG proposes to build a termi- for the American Farm Bureau. Produc- hurdles, the roids,” referring to the 1994 North Ameri- nal in Astoria, Oregon, near the mouth ers now face steep tariffs on meats and trans-pacific can Free Trade Agreement, which has been of the Columbia River, which would ship dairy in Japan and Asia, but reports from blamed for the immigration rush, the crash up to 9.6 million tons of LNG annually — negotiation talks indicate Japan would partnership could of American manufacturing, and the rise of enough to supply hundreds of thousands chop its current 38.5 percent tariff on beef make it easier industrial farming and mining in Mexico. of American-sized homes a year. And Cal- to just 9 percent. The nations are still hammering gary-based Veresen Inc. is also seeking ap- But some Western ranchers are wor- to sell western out the details — much of what’s known proval for its planned Jordan Cove export ried because the trade deal would also natural gas to has come through leaked drafts posted terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, and expects increase U.S. beef imports. “The United on WikiLeaks — but President Barack to ship 6 million tons a year. States keeps mounting a horrendous Japan, potentially Obama has made its approval a priority. Environmentalists, along with many deficit in the trade of live cattle, beef, and igniting another In late April, Senate and House com- locals, oppose both projects. The two ter- processed meats,” says Bill Bullard, CEO mittees approved “fast-track” legislation minals are awaiting a Federal Energy of R-CALF, a Billings, Montana-based in- boom. for the TPP, meaning that Congress would Regulatory Commission permit, but have dependent-rancher advocacy group. Plus, surrender its right to amend the pact once already received approval from the Energy Bullard says, global trade deals typically it’s negotiated and presented for approval. Department, which determines whether weaken domestic food-safety rules. Both chambers of Congress are expected export to countries lacking free-trade With so many details still unknown, to vote on the bill soon, with Republicans, pacts are in “the public interest.” If the some ranchers as well as environmen- shockingly, behind the president. The Demo- TPP is approved, however, future projects talists who have come to loathe NAFTA crats, however, are split, with some senators exporting to the Asia Pacific will no longer see the TPP as a scary extension of “free insisting that tougher child-labor and trade- need Energy Department permits. Under trade.” But for Western energy produc- the agreement, “every LNG facility would ers in the Piceance and other drilling Joshua zaffos (@jzaffos) writes in Fort Collins, be de facto approved (by the Energy De- hotspots, the deal looks like it’s coming Colorado. partment),” says Jake Schmidt, director of down the pipe just in time.

www.hcn.org High Country News 5 Water for later On New Mexico’s Gila River, a contentious diversion decision

by sarah tory

ate last year, New Mexico’s Interstate scale proposal to develop 14,000 acre-feet mittee, is a leading diversion proponent. l Stream Commission voted to proceed of water from the last remaining stretch of During deliberations late last year, he with planning for a large diversion and the wild Gila, garnering an extra $34 mil- said the fear of losing the water trumped storage project on the upper section of lion in federal funds in the process. all other concerns. the Gila River, something that will, de- As part of their role, the commission “Just look at Phoenix and Tucson,” pending on whom you ask, either save a also approved funding for a few conserva- he said. “Those cities are screwed if they drought-prone region or destroy one of the tion projects, but the big-ticket item was don’t find water somewhere.” For him, Southwest’s few remaining wild rivers. the diversion, with the 4.5 billion gallons approving the diversion was like buying For a decade, people have been fighting of water per year that proponents hope drought insurance for New Mexico. The over how to spend money from the 2004 it could supply. And though it’s not that most important thing was for the state to Arizona Water Settlements Act, which much compared to, say, the 110,000 acre- secure the right to develop the water, even gave New Mexico $66 million in federal feet diverted from the San Juan River for if all the details aren’t fully worked out. funding to help improve the water supply northern New Mexico’s use, its impact “We can figure out how to get it later on.” The Middle Fork in the state’s southwestern corner. The could be tremendous: The Gila is not a But major questions remain: How of the Gila River in New Mexico winds commission considered 15 different pro- big river. In its upper reaches, it tumbles much water would a diversion actually west toward Arizona. posals, some conservation-oriented and through box canyons high in the Gila yield, for example, and would anyone here JoE BURGESS/FEDERAl others with considerably larger ambitions. Wilderness, Aldo Leopold’s old stomping be able to afford it? According to Norm HiGHWAY ADMiniStRAtion Ultimately, it decided in favor of a large- grounds, before it paints a ribbon of green Gaume, who served as director of the In- across the arid Cliff-Gila Valley. terstate Stream Commission from 1997 to The diversion matters because the 2002 and has since become its loudest crit- Gila’s ecosystem is so intimately shaped ic, the water would cost $8,000 per acre- by its floods, from light trickles to heavy foot. That means that a typical household deluges. They all play critical roles along in Deming would see its water bill rise the river, spreading nutrients across the from about $14 per month to more than floodplain and recharging groundwater $170. Meanwhile, environmental groups reserves. They water cottonwoods for the and scientists worry about the impacts endangered southern willow flycatcher on the river’s fragile ecosystem. “The proj- and provide habitat for the threatened ect will provide little to no water and will Gila trout, as well as for the endangered harm the wildlife of the Gila River,” Ally- loach minnow and spikedace. Diverting son Siwik, director of the Gila Conserva- water would permanently alter the Gila’s tion Coalition, said. flows, diminishing the seasonal floods The commission argues that a diver- along with the ecosystem that has evolved sion will actually improve the river’s ecol- to rely on them. ogy, by allowing the release of water from So the commission’s decision to build storage into the river during dry spells. the diversion angered many environmen- Plus, supporters say, it will provide more talists, who see it as the product of an out- water for drought-stressed farmers. Craig moded way of thinking. “There are folks Roepke, the commission’s deputy director saying you have to grab this water,” said and an avid river runner, says critics are Adrian Oglesby, director of the University missing the big picture. “If I had nothing of New Mexico’s Utton Transboundary else to consider, personally, other than na- Resources Center and a former attorney ture, I probably wouldn’t divert any water for the commission, “because if you don’t from the Gila,” he said. “But you have to grab it now, you’re never going to get it. No consider other interests as well.” matter the cost, and even if we don’t know Gaume remains unimpressed by the what we’re building yet.” commission’s arguments. In his mid-60s, The decision raises questions around Gaume has watery blue eyes, a white goa- one of the West’s oldest and most intrac- tee and the exasperated air of a man who table issues, and whether new conserva- has run out of patience. “Even if you as- tion ideas might have an impact on water sume best-case scenario, it barely works,” management. The answer, at least here, he said. “Don’t people deserve to know appears to be no. Given the Southwest’s this?” pervasive drought, old instincts rise to the Before he left the commission, Gaume surface: Get as much water as you can, had dismissed similar diversion proposals from wherever you can, and worry about as unrealistic. Three previous attempts to the consequences later. build a dam on the Gila had failed: The costs, both financial and environmental, nthony Gutierrez, the chairman of far outweighed any benefits. Diverting A the commission’s Gila River subcom- water from the river and storing it in side canyons would be no different, Gaume Sarah tory (@tory_sarah) is an HCN fellow. said. “It’s common sense that there’s no

6 High Country News May 25, 2015 THE lATEST Backstory Former las vegas water boss Patricia Mulroy made numerous deals to keep water flowing from lake Mead to her city and installed two water intakes deep in the reservoir. During her quarter- century tenure, the nation’s once-largest reservoir plummeted drastically, but never hit 1,075 feet, the level that triggers mandatory water- delivery cutbacks for Arizona and nevada (“Unite and Conquer,” HCN, 3/2/15).

Followup in early May, lake Mead hit a record low — 1,078 feet. Drought in the Colorado River Basin has reduced the reservoir to 140 feet below what it was 15 years ago. A third intake, scheduled to Former Interstate Stream Commission director Norm Gaume speaks out against proposals that call for the diversion of a portion of the Gila River go online this summer, during a rally outside a commission meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last November. SUSAn MontoYA BRYAn/ AP PHoto will reach even deeper into the shrinking supply. Water place to store it, and it’s going to be super- which would result in no available usable Building and operating the kind of cutbacks won’t start expensive, even without the calculation of water from the project,” the report said. project the commission has in mind would unless Mead is lower yield.” “In our opinion, several project compo- cost somewhere around $1 billion, Gaume than 1,075 feet in The commission’s preferred plan nents were not adequately addressed in and other experts estimate, far more than January, though, would start with an intake structure at the (preliminary engineering report), and federal funding would cover. The commis- and the bureau the top of the upper Gila Box Canyon less it is currently unknown if these compo- sion proposed issuing bonds to pay for it, of Reclamation than a mile from the wilderness boundary. nents represent fatal flaws.” but critics say that the current financing predicts that lake Water would be diverted through a screen- The commission’s consultants have plan relies on unrealistically low cost pro- depth could rise or like infiltration device into a tunnel, then suggested coping with the seepage by jections. even drop further by then, depending into a series of pipelines that would con- draping the canyons in a layer of clay Now, the commission has until the on precipitation and vey the water to four reservoir sites in side and a plastic liner. But, as Gaume noted, end of this year to draft a more concrete water releases from canyons. But Gaume says those canyons there’s no clay in the area. It would have plan for a diversion so the Bureau of Rec- upstream lake Powell. are made of a kind of rock, known as Gila to be trucked in — 26 million cubic feet of lamation will sign off on the project. If the elizabeth shogren conglomerate, that is very prone to seep- it, the equivalent of 100,000 dump-truck commission succeeds, the next step will be age — and they might not hold any water. loads — at enormous cost. the federal environmental review process, The commission has not publicly dis- The whole process has left many New which could last another four years. closed the amount of water a diversion Mexicans wondering what the commis- Altogether, the commission has spent would yield, but at a May meeting, Roepke sion was thinking when it approved a $5 million studying the diversion pro- acknowledged that getting the full 14,000 project that appears to be so flawed. “It’s posals and anticipates spending millions Low water at Lake Mead. acre-feet of water entirely off the Gila like religion,” Gaume said. “People aren’t more, in the hopes of bolstering what crit- would not be possible without causing rational about water development.” ics believe was a predetermined conclu- “severe environmental problems.” If New sion: that developing more water from the Mexico is going to enjoy the full allotment, ast April, the commission allowed Gila is not only possible, but advisable. he said, another water development proj- l Gaume to present his concerns at a The problems are manageable, supporters ect in another part of the Gila Basin will public meeting in Tucumcari, a remote say, and besides, any technical and envi- likely be needed. town in eastern New Mexico. Few people ronmental concerns are missing the point. An earlier report by the commission’s attended and no media were present. In a drying region, the chance to grab new own consultants echoed concerns that the Afterwards, no details of Gaume’s criti- water — no matter what the cost — is too diversion would not yield enough water to cisms appeared in the minutes — includ- precious to pass up. make the project worthwhile. The expect- ing his questions about the actual cost “Who knows what it’s going to be ed seepage and evaporation losses “could of the project and a realistic estimate of like in 50 or 100 years?” Gutierrez said. equal or exceed the planned minimum the amount of water it would gain for the “I think that we want to try to eliminate

annual diversion yield of 10,000 acre-feet, state. that risk.” Fli CKR RiCHARDS/CC CHRiS

www.hcn.org High Country News 7 sonal research tools. Recently, she’s been using them in conjunction with Google Canis Sanfranciscans Maps to better understand what she calls “trekking” patterns –– how the coyotes Janet Kessler tracks urban coyotes navigate the city. Kessler’s obsession can be traced back Organ Pipe Cactus by leath tonino to a seemingly random incident: In 2006, National Monument. GooGlE StREEt viEW she cut her finger on a can of black beans t’s a typical late-summer afternoon in ging his pit bull, a poodle in the lap of a and had to quit practicing the pedal harp i San Francisco, chilly and damp, the sky prim, curly-haired old lady. Similarly, for two hours each day, as was her habit at a low ceiling of cloud. I’m sitting at the edge Kessler is thin, quick and hyper-attentive. the time. One afternoon during her recov- THE lATEST of a golf course fairway with Janet Kessler She dresses in various shades of muted ery, while walking her dog on Twin Peaks, Backstory — waiting, watching, listening. The soft green to better blend with her surround- a semi-wild ridge at the heart of the city, thwock of a well-struck ball sounds from Millions of acres of ings: mossy jeans, fern-colored fleece, olive she happened upon a hunting coyote. En- public land along behind a screen of Monterey cypress at ball cap with a coyote standing just above tranced by its behavior, she returned the the Arizona-Mexico our back. A red-tailed hawk alights on a the brim. A brown-gray ponytail hangs to next morning with her camera. Soon she border have been nearby branch. “It’s funny,” Kessler says, the small of her back, resembling — as the had self-published a little album, Myca of damaged by the scanning the expanse of cropped grass name suggests — a tail. Twin Peaks, and was feeling an entwined U.S. Border Patrol’s before us. “People are always asking me There is a surefire way to identify sense of wonder and responsibility –– an activities, including how to see a coyote in the city. I tell them Kessler as human, though, and that’s the obligation to share her newfound appreci- organ Pipe Cactus the coyotes are right here, right in front of massive camera in its case, slung across ation of the city’s lesser-known denizens. national Monument you. You just have to look.” her chest like a beefy camo-patterned Occasionally, coyotes in urban and and Cabeza Prieta And so we look. infant. “I don’t have an encounter every suburban settings have attacked dogs national Wildlife Refuge, home to Thwock. time I come out, but if I do, I’ll easily get and even people, but Kessler says that the rare Sonoran An amateur naturalist, self-taught 600 photos,” she says. “My camera is my such antagonistic interactions are avoid- pronghorn, desert urban wildlife photographer and long- notebook. It records time, place, weather, able. She’s adamantly opposed to trapping bighorn and time resident of San Francisco, Kessler, behavior, everything.” Her images have and killing programs, and helped found a desert tortoise. in 65, has spent the better part of the last been published in Bay Area magazines volunteer group –– Coyote Coexistence the post-9/11 decade tracking, studying, documenting, and shown at local museums and galler- –– to educate the public about how to live security buildup, and generally enjoying the heck out of ies, but they are first and foremost per- alongside the species. (Rule number one: environmental her favorite neighbor, Canis latrans. She laws were shoved spends a minimum of three hours a day, aside to give usually at dawn or dusk, checking up on agents unfettered access to public individual animals and family packs. By land, including her estimate, several dozen coyotes live in fragile desert the overgrown chinks in the metropolis’ ecosystems (“Border concrete armor: “McLaren, Lake Merced, out of Control,” HCN, Golden Gate — they’re in all the parks.” 6/9/14). This golf course, sandwiched between a neighborhood known for its Chinese res- Followup taurants and a cliff band that drops steep- now, Sen. John ly to the Pacific, is one of her go-to sites. McCain, R-Ariz., She points to a tee box on a slight wants to further rise to our left. “Goggles usually comes increase border out around 6 or 7 p.m., though I’ve seen Patrol access to borderlands in his him as early as 4 p.m. He’s the coyote I’ve state and parts known the longest, almost eight years. He of California. on looks a little like he’s hanging on his bones May 7, a Senate now. He walks stiff. But hey, we all get committee passed the old, right?” “Arizona borderland Thwock. Protection and Two border collies approach with a Preservation Act,” young guy in tow. “Have you seen the coy- which would give ote?” Kessler asks. security agents “All the time,” the guy says. “It yells “immediate” permission to at us.” He plays a video on his phone of patrol and deploy a coyote standing beside a log, framed by equipment on shrubs, barking. The border collies turn 10 million acres their heads, intrigued. of public lands, “Oh, yeah, that’s Goggles all right,” including national Kessler says. “I recognize my coyotes by parks and monuments, facial structure and expressions, not by within 100 miles of their fur. It’s the same with humans. We the Mexican border. hardly ever forget a face.” Critics call the bill unnecessary, given Some people take on their dog’s ap- the existing waiver of pearance and mannerisms after enough most environmental years together — a pit bull of a man jog- protections along the border. leath tonino writes in San Francisco and edits sarah tory poetry for the Afghan Women’s Writing Project.

8 High Country News May 25, 2015 Uncommon Keep your dog leashed.) “In every commu- Westerner nity, there’s one group that wants to kill them, one that wants to save them,” she Name Janet Kessler says. Coyotes As Neighbors — the title of the 30-minute slideshow she produced for Hometown San coyotecoexistence.com — is an apt sum- Francisco, California mary of her hopeful vision. Thwock. vocation Urban coyote And now here comes one of those observer. Retired “jack neighbors: Goggles. of various trades” Kessler is on her feet in an instant, (art gallery manager, camera out, shutter clicking maniacally. magazine editor, legal Goggles, so named because his eyes are assistant) “a little puffy,” strikes me as more robust and handsome than previously described. She says “People think Trotting along the far side of the fairway, habituation is a dirty he stops and ponders the ground. His word, like if coyotes head tilts. “Pay close attention,” Kessler aren’t scared of us they’ll whispers. “You might witness a pounce get too close and cause any second now; gophers and voles, that’s problems. that’s silly. All what he wants.” But the pounce never species share a world. comes. For 15 minutes, we trail Goggles We all get used to one at a respectful distance of 50 feet. Then another and live side-by- he turns, looks directly at us — click, tERRAY SYlvEStER side.” click, click — and disappears into heavy brush. Once, she observed snoozing siblings pounces, all unsuccessful. Kessler says Favorite things The afternoon dimming into evening, for 13 hours. (They stirred occasionally that she usually heads home when she about coyotes their we wander the back nine, poking about to harmonize with howling ambulance can no longer see to shoot — click, click, intelligence, curiosity in thickets, enjoying the exploration. Kes- sirens.) Another time, determined to travel click — and both of us chuckle. If that and fun-loving attitude. sler recounts story after story as we stroll. through the night with a particularly wel- were true, we’d have been out of here a their rivalries and coming coyote, she told her husband not half-hour ago. affections. their unique to worry if she wasn’t back before sunrise. Minutes later, it’s full-on night, and personalities. (The coyote ditched her earlier than ex- Goggles is all but gone; I can just make pected.) She’s seen just about everything him out curled up in a ball, five feet from Websites Maintains in the field, from coyotes that have been a paved cart path. Kessler and I sit in si- both a blog, hit by cars to one that understood traffic lence, squinting into the dark, not quite coyoteyipps.com, signals and would wait patiently for the ready to leave. “We could call it quits,” and a photo archive, light to change before dashing across the she says. “Or, if you’d like, we could play urbanwildness.com, street. with my night-vision goggles.” She pulls celebrating the wildlife Eventually, inevitably, I raise the obvi- what looks like a regular pair of binocu- of her home city and ous question: Why? Why would a woman lars from her backpack and hands them to arguing for its protection. with a master’s in art history and no for- me. In a flash, it’s daylight again, a weird mal biological training dedicate the prime pale key-lime sort of daylight. The fairway of her retirement to the pursuit of an ani- is a ghostly wash, with Goggles a coyote- mal that many folks consider a pest, and shaped splotch of ink. The perspective is that others say has no business living any- magical, as if I’ve been sucked through a where near a city? portal and granted access to a secret San “You get to know them,” Kessler of- Francisco. fers. “Their world opens up, the details of “Here come some people,” Kessler says, their days. It’s a soap opera: ‘Wow, am I excited and tense. “Keep your eye on him. going to see that youngster again? Is his See what he does.” I pan right, and five sister going to be around? Is Dad going to teenage girls stroll into view. They follow be aggressive with him?’ There’s always the cart path, heading directly toward a cliffhanger.” Though she’s collected scat Goggles, totally oblivious. He raises his samples for a UC Davis professor study- head, just barely, and my chest tightens. ing coyote DNA, consulted with groups Four, three, two steps away. The girls in Texas and Georgia that are trying to are closing in, chitchatting, near enough establish coexistence management plans, to feel a coyote’s wild breath on their and is writing a book based on her coyote ankles if only they were to remove their observations, it’s this multigenerational socks. Goggles flicks his ears and puts his family saga that keeps her coming back, chin back down on the ground. He knows this melodrama playing out across the they don’t know he’s there. He knows that years in her own backyard. “It’s like with this is his turf, his zone. He knows there’s WEb EXTRA See more the pedal harp,” she says. “You get lost in no issue, no problem, no need to react. of Kessler’s coyote photos the music. It absorbs you. You become part The girls pass by, none the wiser, and at www.hcn.org. of it and nothing else exists.” I pull off the goggles. Everything goes Returning to the fairway, we’re sur- murky — for a moment, I’m blind. “The A coyote enjoys prised by the sight of Goggles, hunting, only thing we’re missing now is a howl,” the sunlight in San exactly where we first spotted him. This says a voice beside me. “Then we’d have Francisco, left. time, he treats us to a number of acrobatic the perfect outing.” JAnEt KESSlER

www.hcn.org High Country News 9 the hCn Community

RESEARCH FUnD Thank you, Research Fund contributors, for helping us encounter the wild

The local-federal tug-of-war Less than a week into his 2,668-mile journey on the Pacific On Saturday, June 6, High end of August 2014. Amy is a Crest Trail, Casey Gannon pauses to watch the sunset over Country News will convene a consulting hydrologist at Daniel the mountains of Southern California’s Anza-Borrego panel of experts in our home- B. Stephens & Associates Inc., Desert. Colin ARiSMAn town of Paonia, Colorado. We’ll in Albuquerque, and Kerry ONlY THE ESSENTiAl: A HiKE FROM MEXiCO TO explore — through the lens of works for the U.S. Forest Ser- CANADA ON THE PACiFiC CREST TRAil two hot local issues, oil and gas vice as the trails and wilderness Colin Arisman development and the listing program manager on the Sandia 40 minutes, DvD: $10. of the Gunnison sage grouse Ranger District in Tijeras, New www.onlytheessential.com, 2014. — the limits of collaboration Mexico.” Thanks, and sorry we and confrontation between the missed noting your visit! in 2013, filmmaker Colin Arisman set out from Campo, Cali- federal agencies that manage laine Dobson moved here in fornia, just north of the Mexican border, to hike the Pacific a large chunk of our lands and Crest trail with a friend. Motivated by a desire to reconnect March from Greeley, Colorado, with the natural world, the two spent five months on the the communities and industries and is building a house with his trail, taking on the nicknames “Miracle zen” and “Wabash” that depend on them. Please wife and kids. Laine works in and documenting their daily progress. the resulting film, join us at the Paradise Theatre, software, printers and docu- Only the Essential, vividly displays the dramatic vistas, 215 Grand Ave., at 7 p.m. The ment management solutions for perturbed rattlesnakes and slippery stream crossings they event will be followed by an ice a company on the Front Range. encounter. But much of the screen time is devoted to the cream social at which you can He’s also a watercolor painter. two friends’ primary activity: just putting one foot in front meet and bend the ears of HCN He discovered us the old-fash- of the other. Only the Essential, which takes its name from a staff and board members. ioned way: by strolling down quote by Henry David thoreau, celebrates the act of boiling Grand Avenue and checking out down life to its sparse necessities and exploring the joy that minimalism can give. vOTE iN HCN’S local businesses. ‘bATTlE OF THE lANDS’ From Bellingham, Wash- In the spirit of sparking a good ington, came Gary ingram, a ol’ verbal wrestling match — longtime subscriber who was lisa & John ragsdale | Prairie village, KS robert shipp | los Angeles, CA while celebrating the West’s in town for technical sales and glena & John records | Paonia, Co mary sibley | Renton, WA extraordinary places — HCN design training at Solar En- marcia rider | Santa Cruz, CA anne & John singleton | Pittsburgh, PA invites you to vote in “Battle of ergy International. He says the martha roskowski & John waitman | benjamin & Kathleen smith | Aiken, SC the Lands,” a bracket-style tour- instructors are excellent, and Boulder, Co Jerry smith | San Jose, CA nament to crown our readers’ fa- his fellow students come from bruce & Jill sanchez | Seattle, WA pat smith | Denver, Co vorite recreation spots. Whether all over — Florida, California, donald v. shaff | Boise, iD delaine spilsbury | McGill, nv you’re a rafter or a powerboater, even India. Before returning to gil sharp & anne saxby | Hood River, oR marilyn starrett | Denver, Co fly-fisherman or mountain biker, Washington, he plans to summit michael J. strieby | Evergreen, Co larry stephenson & Carolyn bates | Payson, Az backpacker or motorhead, we Pikes Peak, a 14,114-foot moun- bill & gloria stuble | Cora, WY bruce & meredith sterling | thompson Falls, Mt want your help in winnowing 32 tain on Colorado’s Front Range. edward a. sullivan | San Francisco, CA herbert e. stockman | laguna Hills, CA beloved parcels down to a single Evelyn Hess traveled to the stacey sullivan | Berkeley, CA Kathleen streid noe | Boulder, Co champion. The fun begins May North Fork Valley from Eugene, donald & sara swartz | Ridgway, Co martha tableman | Dillon, Co 28 — please vote at hcn.org/ Oregon, taking the train to will & Jennifer swearingen | Bozeman, Mt steven talbott | Moscow, iD events/public-lands/vote. Flagstaff and driving up here. michael C. swift & anne walter | northfield, Mn bernice tannenbaum | Kirkland, WA We’re also running an essay She’s interviewing people about contest: Tell us why your favor- coal and environmental advo- Karen & henry teague | Basalt, Co Ken & Joanne tarbell | Show low, Az ite public-land hangout rocks! cacy for a book, and came to see doug & Catherine thayer | Santa Fe, nM walt & nancy taylor | Flagstaff, Az See hcn.org/events/public-lands/ HCN’s archives, which stretch byron thomas | Scotts valley, CA mikki teresin | Billings, Mt essay. back to our founding in 1970. doug thomas & Carol zazubek | t.r. thompson | Santa Fe, nM Bloomington, Mn Evelyn’s first two books, To the emily tracy | Breckenridge, Co Kim marie thorburn | Spokane, WA A SPRiNG FlOOD OF viSiTORS Woods and Building a Better les tumidaj & Kamala bremer | Portland, oR alan timberlake | new York, nY March and April brought more Nest, were about her time spent dave upchurch | Whitewater, Co John triplett | Bethesda, MD folks to our headquarters, living in a tent and a trailer becky & dale utt | Grand Junction, Co albert v. & Kathryn g. vogel | Crested Butte, Co including one virtual visitor. A on a plot of land southwest of sue vanhoose | Clarkdale, Az william walker | Holladay, Ut while back, we asked visitors Eugene. It took her and her hus- tom vanzandt | Boulder, Co Judy walton & stephen Frenkel | Portland, oR who had yet to see their names band nearly 15 years to finally Catherine viele | ojo Caliente, nM david weinstein & lauren m. ockene | in this column to contact us. We build a house on it. “We’re very Jamaica Plain, MA dale vodehnal | Denver, Co got a note from some late-sum- slow at projects,” she laughed. andy wiessner & patsy batchelder | barbara volkmann | St. lewis, Mo mer guests: “We (Amy Ewing We know the feeling! Snowmass, Co John walenta | Seattle, WA and Kerry Wood) came by at the —Jodi Peterson for the staff Jack l. williams | Clackamas, oR george & nancy wallace | Fort Collins, Co Jamie & Florence williams | Washington, DC Fred walls | lafayette, Co James & brenda wurz | Fort Collins, Co david watson | Colorado Springs, Co heidi & Clifton youmans | Helena, Mt John watson | Durango, Co anne & dennis wentz | Bozeman, Mt FRiEND david werner | Palmer, AK in memory of richard Canonica | Concord, CA susan williams | Santa Fe, nM in memory of theo decker Colborn | Paonia, Co mary & John winkley | Aztec, nM in memory of norman elson | Bozeman, Mt dave wood | Quincy, CA Gary Ingram visits in memory of margaret davis hayden | mary lee wood | Parma, iD High Country News Evergreen, Co robert workhoven | tijeras, nM while taking solar in memory of Chuck Kroger | telluride, Co shelley yorke rose | Waterford, Mi energy classes in in memory of Josephine patricia patry | hugh zackheim | Helena, Mt Paonia, Colorado. Redondo Beach, CA david s. ziegler | Carson City, nv AlYSSA PinKERton www.hcn.org High Country News 11 FEATURE By ElizABETh ShogREn Legacy Maker Washington insider John Podesta’s ‘hidden hand’ has guided the environmental achievements of presidents for two decades

hat winter’s day, as she headed every step of the way. Think of him as the And yet, John PodestA rArely talks to the White House, Gina Mc- Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz, telling about how an inside Washington guy like Carthy undoubtedly steeled Obama’s Dorothy that she always had the him became an environmental crusader. herself for a confrontation. It power to do what she wanted; she simply His office at the Center for American was 2014, and McCarthy, the had to tap her heels together three times. Progress, the think tank he created in head of the U.S. Environmental As the 66-year-old Podesta embarks 2003, is small, and the pictures on the ProtectionT Agency, was about to make her on yet another adventure — this time as walls aren’t the serious images you’d Monumental case for blocking the controversial Pebble Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager for expect –– photos of him standing with a changes? gold mine planned for Alaska’s Bristol the 2016 election — he can list some re- president on the edge of some majestic Bay watershed, home to one of the world’s As the Obama markable achievements: He directly had canyon somewhere. Rather, they show most prolific salmon fisheries. But she a hand in six of 16 national monuments him engaged in various antics at the administration knew that the lawyers, economists and po- Obama has created or expanded so far by White House — riding in the cherry-pick- winds down, a litical advisors assembled in the Roosevelt executive order, including New Mexico’s er of a hybrid-electric utility truck over look at the state Room would make Swiss cheese out of her Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Colora- the West Wing, for example, or floating of the national plan. The decision would inflame the Re- do’s Browns Canyon, Southern California’s over the White House lawn in a helium monument system publican Congress, they’d say, hamper eco- San Gabriel Mountains, and the country’s balloon. nomic growth and likely provoke a lawsuit largest marine reserve, the Pacific Remote “I was standing in the Oval Office 16 Still quiet at from industry. Then they’d send her on her Islands National Monument; and steered with Clinton and I could see them test- Canyons of the way without an answer. a landmark climate deal with China to ing the balloon, and I said, ‘Mr. President, Ancients But McCarthy also knew there would control greenhouse gas, as well as the first I’ve got to make sure this thing is go- 17 Timeline: Antiquities be a new player in the room. Longtime proposal to regulate climate emissions ing right,’ ” Podesta says, laughing. “Of Act: A power Democratic operative John Podesta, Bill from U.S. coal-fired power plants. course, the president wanted to do it, too, tool for presidents Clinton’s former chief of staff, had just Add in his record under Bill Clinton and the Secret Service said, ‘No way are 18 Controversy grazes returned to the White House as counselor — the sweeping 2001 “Roadless Rule” we letting you go up in a balloon above Missouri Breaks to Barack Obama. And Podesta had a protecting 58 million acres administered the White House.’ ” reputation for bold conservation policy. by the U.S. Forest Service, and the 19 Podesta has a quirky sense of humor 26 Essay: Making a Shortly before the meeting, in fact, national monuments and conservation and is famously fascinated by science fic- monument from Podesta pulled aside Mike Boots, the act- areas, many in the West, that Clinton de- tion — especially UFOs. One of his last scratch ing head of the White House’s Council on clared in his second term in office — and tweets before leaving the White House Environmental Quality. He said: “Maybe Podesta can claim a green legacy that this year was: “Biggest failure: Once it’s time for me to show people it’s going even Teddy Roosevelt would be proud of. again not securing the #disclosure of the to be different,” Boots recalled. “Nobody in the 21st century in U.S. UFO files.” Even people who’ve worked And 10 minutes into the conversation, government has had the influence that with him for years aren’t sure how seri- Podesta broke in. He said that he and the he has had on public lands and climate ous he is about this particular obsession. president endorsed McCarthy’s plan, and change,” says Douglas Brinkley, a Rice “He wants it that way,” says Ana Unruh then laid out exactly how the announce- University professor of history. Cohen of the Center for American Prog- ment would roll out. McCarthy left the Podesta rarely gets public credit, ress, a longtime colleague. room, dumbfounded and elated. “Was that but those who do — from the presidents The roots of Podesta’s passion for the the Roosevelt Room that I was just in?” she he has served to Cabinet members and environment are equally murky to many asked, according to a White House staffer, agency heads — are quick to acknowl- who have worked with him. Why does he who asked to remain anonymous. “I’ve only edge his contributions. care so much about this issue? ever been handed my ass in that room.” Says Bruce Babbitt, Clinton’s Interior “It’s not from my upbringing,” he The Pebble Mine decision was just secretary, “The hidden hand of John Po- replies with a smile. “I spent most of my Illustration of the start of a yearlong presidential sprint desta is involved in every environmental time standing on street corners.” Pod- John Podesta by to advance conservation and climate advancement accomplished in the Clinton esta’s parents both worked in factories Joe McKendry. change goals. Podesta has been there and Obama administrations.” when he was growing up in Chicago. 12 High Country News May 25, 2015 www.hcn.org High Country News 13 More seriously, he adds, “I have two It’s not surPrIsIng that Podesta an- we shouldn’t spring this on people. We grandchildren, hopefully more. It comes swers by quoting someone else; after all, should spend more time, listen more a little bit from, I’m kind of a Pope Fran- he’s spent much of his career talking thoughtfully.” cis Catholic: I’m someone who just cares about what his bosses believe. But while Podesta never forgot. In early 2014, about the future.” words might elude him, actions don’t. His when a group of Western senators, frus- Podesta says he fell in love with wild effectiveness as a White House insider, trated by the lack of progress in preserv- places during college-break visits to the honed during the Clinton years, is un- ing public lands, invited Podesta to Capi- Colorado Rocky Mountains in the 1960s. rivaled. Not surprisingly, he’s attracted tol Hill, he first asked if they had public Now he and his wife of 36 years, Mary, a critics. Some allege conflicts of interest support for their proposal. New Mexico retired lawyer, own a vacation house in with wealthy donors or accuse him of Sen. Martin Heinrich cited a broad coali- Truckee, California. overusing executive powers. Others say tion of local residents, who had spent “My wife and I took up cross-country that his policies are not green enough. decades trying to get Congress to protect skiing as geezers, and I’m a fanatic snow- His colleagues defend his motives and a rough-and-tumble chunk of mountains, shoer,” says Podesta. He has the ultra- point to his accomplishments, crediting canyons and grasslands outside Las lean frame of a long-distance runner, his his uncanny political skill. “In politics, Cruces as a wilderness area. Would the clothes floating around him as if they’re some people are out there playing check- president consider creating a national still on a hanger. ers. Some people are playing chess. And monument there now? Podesta’s political philosophy was he’s playing three-dimensional chess,” Some Cabinet members hesitated, un- shaped by his time at Knox College, a small says Carol Browner, who headed Clin- willing to promote new monuments that liberal arts school in Galesburg, Illinois, ton’s Environmental Protection Agency were guaranteed to anger the powerful where he joined Vietnam War protests and and was the White House “climate czar” Republicans who controlled the federal civil rights demonstrations. His first major during Obama’s first term. budget. political experience involved working on Browner vividly remembers how the “The secretaries knew they were in playing field shifted when Podesta be- for it with their congressional overseers,” came Clinton’s chief of staff in 1998. Over says Podesta, “and I think they weren’t the Fourth of July in 2000, Browner says, certain about whether the president she went camping with her family. A park would back them up. I tried to reassure ranger came to their campsite. “He says, them that indeed he would.” ‘We’re looking for Carol Browner. There Within a few months, President are these people (on the phone — this is Obama had designated the half-million- before cellphones were standard gear). acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks They say it’s the White House.’ ” National Monument. Sen. Heinrich gives It was Podesta, who had called to Podesta credit for getting “the wheels warn her: Congress had launched a turning within the White House” to make stealth attack on her agency’s upcoming it happen. “He personally gets these is- rule to regulate the amount of pollution sues and he understands the West and in the nation’s waterways, known as the he understands the importance of lands Total Maximum Daily Load. At the last issues,” Heinrich says. minute, an unidentified legislator insert- Podesta also understands how public ed a measure into an emergency spend- lands can be leveraged to benefit his boss ing bill to prevent the EPA from spending and political party. Toward the end of the any money on the new rule. Clinton administration, he supported Browner replied: “You have to veto Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck’s this. This is outrageous.” Podesta said the proposal to permanently protect the president had to sign the spending bill –– it remaining roadless areas on national funded crucial disaster relief –– so they forests from logging, mining, drilling and had to find another way. And so, while the other development. He saw it as another president used his 10-day cushion to delay piece of Clinton’s environmental legacy. John Podesta the doomed 1972 presidential campaign signing, EPA staffers worked around the Dombeck, who had previously had little shows his lighter of liberal Democrat George McGovern. In clock to finish the new rule, months ahead influence in the White House, suddenly side as he gets 1976, he earned a law degree from George- of schedule. In the end, the rider had no im- found himself attending meetings in the strapped into a town University. It wasn’t until 1990 that pact because the rule was already in place. West Wing, with Clinton himself popping helium balloon his passion for the environment really Other Cabinet members benefitted in to check on progress. and floats up caught fire, though, when he worked on from Podesta’s knowledge and influence. Podesta was deeply interested in the by the National that year’s Earth Day celebration. And Podesta learned as well. Interior Monument. details, Dombeck recalls, and drove the “Of course, the Podesta and his brother, lobbyist Tony Secretary Babbitt worked with him to decision to add forest lands excluded from president wanted Podesta, organized a Washington, D.C., create a series of new national monu- the original proposal, including the Tongass to do it, too,” event from the basement of a townhouse ments, mostly on underappreciated Bu- in Alaska, the Black Hills in western South he says of Bill on Capitol Hill. It drew hundreds of thou- reau of Land Management holdings in Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, and Clinton. (The sands of people to the National Mall, in- the West. Wielding the 1906 Antiquities the Pacific Northwest forests where the Secret Service cluding celebrities like Tom Cruise, John Act to get around Congress, Clinton first northern spotted owl lives. The plan topped nixed that idea.) Denver and Olivia Newton-John. designated the 1.9 million-acre Grand out at 58.5 million acres, more than a quar- CourTESy WilliAM J. “It was a life-transforming experi- Staircase-Escalante National Monument ter of all the national forest lands. Podesta ClinTon PrESidEnTiAl ence,” recalls Tony Podesta. liBrAry in southern Utah months before the 1996 maneuvered the proposal through a gantlet An “Earth Day 1990” poster adorned election. The move provoked loud protests of other agencies and the White House John Podesta’s various offices at the White from locals and their elected officials, who Office of Management and Budget in the House, yet Podesta has trouble articulat- denounced it as a federal land grab and weeks before George W. Bush moved into ing what drives his own environmental- complained they were never consulted. the White House. It was signed just a week ism. “You ask me, ‘What’s my commit- That experience taught Babbitt to before Clinton left office. ment?’ ” he says. “It’s kind of like when use the Antiquities Act more carefully. “We’d have never gotten it done with- wandering around in the Rocky Moun- “Everybody from the administration is out him,” says Dombeck. tains — you never forget it. You become still quite proud of having designated How does Podesta get such controver- connected to it. Wallace Stegner described Escalante,” Podesta says. But “Secretary sial conservation initiatives past the fin- it as the geography of hope.” Babbitt came away from that saying, ish line? “It’s just good management,” he

14 High Country News May 25, 2015 says. “If you want to get something done, economy standards for cars. you pay attention to it.” Podesta’s Center for American Prog- Colleagues say Podesta’s generally ress lobbied Congress to do the same, an affable and supportive manager. But commissioning a poll that showed public as the point man for the many scandals support for boosting fuel economy. Dan- that plagued the Clinton White House, he iel Weiss, who worked for the center at got a reputation for having an evil twin the time, says the poll helped persuade known as “Skippy,” who could be harsh House Democrats to vote for the 2007 and unusually direct. “I’ve had some Energy Independence and Security Act, Skippy sightings, (but) not in a while,” which required automakers to raise fuel says David Hayes, who was deputy secre- economy standards to 35 miles per gallon tary of the Interior Department for both by the model year 2020. President Bush Clinton and Obama. By 2007, when Dan- signed the bill into law. iel Weiss joined the Center for American As the 2008 election approached, Po- Progress, he says Skippy “was more leg- desta continued to think and act like the end than fact.” That’s not to say Podesta’s chief of staff of a Democratic White House not still very exacting. “He’s very commit- in waiting. With Todd Stern, his think- ted to his friends,” Carol Browner says. tank colleague, he released a clean energy But “it doesn’t mean he’s not a hard-ass blueprint for the next administration. Al- sometimes. He calls it as he sees it.” though Podesta supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries, Obama embraced clean When the rePublIcAns took over the energy as a centerpiece of his campaign, White House in 2001, Podesta and some and long before it was clear whether he colleagues decided to create a progressive would win, he asked Podesta to lead his think tank that would be tough enough to transition team. Despite a multitude of ES compete with those on the political right. competing priorities — including select- g They called it the Center for American ing a Cabinet and White House staff — Progress, and it grew into a revolving-door Podesta continued to press conservation powerhouse that harnessed the intellec- measures. In TV appearances, he urged tual and political capital of the academic, the cancellation of 77 oil and gas leases NGO, philanthropic and government com- near Canyonlands and Arches national gETTy JAFFE/AFP/ iMA munities, often shuttling people in and parks in Utah, an idea Interior Secretary out of key positions in all these realms. Ken Salazar eventually implemented. He TEP hEn In 2012, the group had a budget of more also readied an economic recovery bill that S than $39 million, according to its IRS 990, invested $90 billion in renewable energy and today, it boasts a staff of 314 policy and energy efficiency, including programs wonks, professors and writers. like “cash for clunkers,” which paid people “Democrats and progressives did not to trade in old gas-guzzlers. Many of the have an institution dedicated to think- initiatives came straight from the Center ing up policies and finding a way to move for American Progress. them into the public sphere,” says Ana Un- Podesta returned to his think tank, but ruh Cohen, who joined the think tank in many of his allies remained in the admin- 2004 as its first director of environmental istration. Stern became a special envoy for policy. “We called it a think-and-do tank. climate change at the State Department.

We didn’t want to write just one more re- Former senior fellow Denis McDonough To port that would be sitting on the shelf.” rose through the White House inner circle Perhaps the center’s most urgent en- to become chief of staff in 2013. Jennifer

vironmental goal was developing climate Palmieri went from president of the cen- ool /AP Pho policies and building political and public ter’s political arm to assistant to the presi- support for them. The entire environmen- dent and White House communications tal movement had watched as Al Gore, director. She’s now communications direc- P Bourg,/ heeding his advisors, retreated from his tor for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Ji M fierce concern about climate change dur- Christina Goldfuss moved from public- ing his unsuccessful presidential bid in lands director at the Center for American 2000. The think tank believed that, with Progress to deputy director of the National more groundwork, climate policy could Park Service. Today, she’s acting chairman become a winning political issue. of the White House Council on Environ- Part of the groundwork included mental Quality. The list goes on. working with Republicans and business The think tank’s revolving door

leaders. In 2005, Podesta teamed up with positioned Podesta and his allies to pro- rAdio think tanks in Great Britain and Austra- mote action on climate change early in

lia to create the International Climate the Obama administration. Ana Unruh nEWS l Change Task Force. He believed the major Cohen left the center and re-joined the economies could work together to combat staff of Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., where runaway climate change. Maine Republi- she helped draft sweeping legislation to ll/F EdErA can Sen. Olympia Snowe, who has since reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The E ’Conn retired from the Senate, led the task force Democratic majority in both chambers of- o

with a British member of parliament, fered a rare window in which to push for AEl and by the end of 2007, President George the bill, which included a market-based W. Bush had adopted a similar, though strategy for reducing carbon dioxide Mi Ch watered-down, approach, launching a vol- emissions, known as cap and trade. John Podesta with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, top, and President Bill Clinton at a Cabinet meeting at the White House in 2000; center, untary effort by major economies to slow The climate bill passed the House in with Secretary of State John Kerry in Beijing, China, in 2013, at a and stop the growth of greenhouse gases. 2009, but Senate Republicans used the meeting that included discussions on global energy and environment; He also asked Congress to tighten fuel recession to successfully paint the bill as bottom, with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell last year.

www.hcn.org High Country News 15 a jobs killer, and even some Democrats “These are people who have huge audi- MonuMentAl chAnges? helped kill it. It was a major defeat for ences every morning, who are trusted, Obama and Podesta, and, for a while, who could talk about changes.” Obama retreated on the environment. Successful events like this helped Still quiet at embolden Obama, but failed to impress but there’s nothIng lIke a second term everyone in the environmental community. Canyons of the facing a Congress fully in the hands of The administration’s initial reluctance to the opposing party to change a presi- aggressively regulate hydraulic fractur- dent’s perspective. ing and greenhouse gas emissions from Ancients “With an obstructionist Congress, you the natural gas industry angered on-the- When local people first heard that Presi- … need to think about, ‘How do I use all ground activists. At a White House con- dent Bill Clinton wanted to designate a the authority of the bully pulpit, public- ference table in March 2014, a reporter’s new 164,000-acre national monument in private partnerships, executive authority, question about environmentalists’ call for the red-rock desert of southwestern Colo- a ban on exports rado, many saw the new “Canyons of the of natural gas Ancients” as a change for the worse. provoked a sharp “We thought, ‘They’re going to start response. Opposing taking away our rights,’ ” says Rodney all fossil fuels, Po- Carriker, who runs horse-packing trips on desta snapped, is a the public lands involved. “completely imprac- At the time, the Bureau of Land Man- tical way of moving agement gave access to pretty much ev- towards a clean eryone: 95 percent of the land was leased energy future.” for grazing and 80 percent for drilling oil Liberal pundits and gas, as well as for deposits of carbon and mainstream dioxide, which is injected into oil deposits journalists have to enhance their recovery; mountain bik- occasionally ques- ers explored it largely unrestricted; and tioned Podesta archaeologists raced against pothunters about his think for the artifacts scattered across the rug- tank’s financial ged landscape. and policy ties to Carriker and his neighbors believed a its energy, defense new monument would mean new restric- and pharmaceu- tions, and they brought their fears to com- tical company munity meetings and the local newspaper funders. But his opinion pages. Montezuma and Dolo- most aggressive res county commissioners filed formal critics are on the protests, joined by various user groups. right. Following “The folks who were against it were Podesta’s return regulatory authority to try to make the to the White House, right-wing bloggers John Podesta poses country a better place?’ ” Podesta says. and reporters honed in on one of the cen- cism. “He agrees with those views, is an with Center for Although not officially part of the ter’s board members and major donors, effective advocate, and they (philanthrop- American Progress White House, Podesta was never far Hansjörg Wyss, a billionaire businessman ic donors) fund his research on issues President Neera away, visiting 139 times between 2009 who, for two decades, has financed efforts they care about,” he says. “That’s how the Tanden, center, and and the end of 2013, according to the to conserve public lands. Podesta’s finan- nonprofit sector works; that’s how think Hillary Clinton at a White House visitor log. Podesta wasn’t CAP event in 2013. cial White House disclosure showed he tanks work.” Then, referring to another, yuri griPAS/rEuTErS always a cheerleader; he urged the White collected $87,000 in 2013, for consulting more famous pair of brothers, the fossil AMATion

House to do more on income inequality, for the HJW Foundation, a Wyss philan- fuel industry billionaires who fund GOP d ACTE Cl 30 clean energy and climate, and he joined thropy. The conservative Daily Caller campaigns, he adds: “Did you expect the ro BT r Babbitt in criticizing the Obama adminis- website accused Podesta of violating White P Koch brothers would fund John to stop l tration for drilling more public land than House ethics rules for taking funds from drilling” in Alaska’s Arctic National Wild- it had protected. Wyss and then pushing Obama’s proposal life Refuge? d or Su With Podesta’s input from the side- to expand the area off-limits to oil and dd E ESid EnTiA

lines, Obama began using the Antiqui- gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National PodestA’s Most IMPortAnt contribu- A Pr ties Act to designate monuments. The Wildlife Refuge — a priority for the Wyss ) tion during his year in the White House y president issued executive orders to get Foundation. may have been his role in negotiating a 20

agencies to consider climate change im- Nothing ever came of the accusations. climate agreement between the United illion S pacts and announced regulations to curb A spokesperson for Podesta said: “While States and China — the world’s two STEMB greenhouse gases. After he announced Mr. Wyss and Mr. Podesta share a passion greatest emitters of greenhouse gases. (in M

his Climate Action Plan, Obama brought for conserving America’s most precious Drawing on long-term relationships with gE

Podesta back formally as a senior advisor landscapes, his consulting work involved Chinese leaders and experts, Podesta en- EA to implement it, “both in substance and r a separate philanthropy focused on social tered negotiations with a well-conceived Sy onuME nT AC

communication,” Boots says. justice issues. He observed all applicable plan. One key to getting China to agree M l E iv E Podesta immediately saw a chance rules, and there was no conflict.” to a robust pledge, he says, was showing A

AT 10

to make a splash with the National Cli- Together, HJW and Wyss Foundation that the U.S. was taking serious action on ion ul

mate Assessment, due out in May 2014. donated more than $5 million to the Cen- its own: The EPA’s proposal to cut green- AT 8 n

He knew a data-filled 827-page climate ter for American Progress between 2011 house gas emissions from coal-fired pow- Cu M M 6 report would make most people’s eyes and 2013, according to a spokesman for er plants, along with policies to reduce ro glaze over, so he found a way to jazz it the Wyss Foundation. The foundations climate pollution from cars and expand F 4 up by championing a colleague’s idea to merged in 2014. (High Country News has solar and wind power, demonstrated that bring meteorologists to the White House received donations from the Wyss Foun- “we were doing a lot,” he says. 2 lawn, and persuaded the president to do dation, including funding for news cover- Podesta hopes the deal will lead to 0 one-on-one interviews with national and age from Washington, D.C.) a new international climate agreement, local TV weather forecasters, says Boots. Tony Podesta brushes off the criti- Please see Legacy Maker, page 19

16 High Country News May 25, 2015 MonuMentAl chAnges? really passionate, even to the point of, visitor’s center, for instance, is housed at at times, being a little threatening,” the Anasazi Heritage Center, in a building recalls archaeologist Mark Varien, who deeded to BLM by the Bureau of Reclama- Still quiet at has worked in the area for 36 years. But tion, and is staffed by volunteers. (The Clinton, undeterred, designated the new monument recruits about 200 annually.) Canyons of the monument in 2000. People who live near Sand Canyon com- Today, 15 years after that designation, plain about cars from the tiny trailhead and five years after the BLM implement- parking lot spilling onto the highway, but Ancients ed a new management plan, much of that Eaton says traffic overall has grown very anger has died down. “(People) antici- little, staying between 30,000 and 35,000 80000000 kr pated the most wicked things happening, visitors per year. She doesn’t know ex- and they haven’t,” says John Sutcliffe, actly how much visitation has increased,

a winemaker who lives across the road though, because the agency does not have /CC Fli C

from the popular Sand Canyon trailhead. the infrastructure, like monitored entranc- gli A Little has changed on the ground. “We es, to formally track visitation. Mir A manage grazing the same, we manage oil Eaton says the monument is not that and gas the same, and we manage recre- popular a destination. “People come to Eri C ation the same,” says monument manager see Mesa Verde National Park,” she says. soil darkened by the fungi, bacteria and Painted Hand 70000000 Marietta Eaton. “We use the same regula- “Then, if they’ve heard about Canyons of tiny mosses and liverworts that form its Pueblo in Canyon of tions and laws that the rest of the BLM the Ancients, they might check out Lowry living crust. Ahead, the ground falls off the Ancients uses. It’s still a multiple-use area; we just Pueblo or Painted Hand.” into a shallow canyon, where, unmarked National have conservation now in addition.” The modest increase in visitation and by signs, a circular stone tower rises, sur- Monument in The conservation overlay in the 2010 attention brought by the monument des- rounded by rubble and bits of pottery. southwest Colorado was management plan has led to a few chang- ignation may actually be helping protect A family of seven appears on the far designated by es: The BLM has reduced the number of the area’s valuable archaeological trea- rim, and two boys and a girl scale down President Bill grazing permits by about one-fifth, and sures. Varien says the monument sees less a ladder of boulders, followed by a man Clinton in 2000. 60000000 imposed stricter environmental and cul- large-scale looting than in the past, likely with a younger boy who chatters enthu- tural oversight of new drilling proposals. because looters fear greater scrutiny. “Of siastically about the Ancestral Puebloan Eaton says the agency has added a course, visitors are guilty of a little bit of people who lived here 800 years ago. The second enforcement officer and pursued a what I call ‘loving it to death,’ ” he says. Francis family came from Riverton, Utah, handful of conservation-oriented projects. “But I don’t believe in management by to visit Mesa Verde National Park on their These include restoring habitat for rep- secrecy. People need to learn from (these spring break, and today, on their way back tiles, removing non-designated roads, and resources).” to Utah, they’re making a brief stop at cutting junipers around archaeological On a recent spring day, a walk down Painted Hand. Now they vanish over the 50000000 sites to reduce the risk of wildfire. the narrow path that leads to Painted lip of the canyon. Soon, there’s just the But with a budget that has remained Hand Pueblo on the north end of the fading sound of a car engine and wheels basically flat at $1.2 million per year, the monument is surprisingly quiet. Lizards rolling away down an unseen gravel road. agency is still working on the cheap. The dart from rock to rock, crossing lumpy KindRA McQUillAn

tIMelIne 40000000 Antiquities Act: A power tool for presidents President Theodore roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law in 1906, primarily to and used it to protect large landscapes, periodically provoking local backlashes and legal ion

T halt the ransacking of archaeological sites in the American Southwest. This Progressive challenges. Traditionally, monuments are managed by the national Park Service, although Era act grants any president the unilateral power to protect “historic landmarks, many of those created since the 1990s are overseen by the Bureau of land Management, AMA historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest,” u.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies. Today, there are more than 110 national d ACTE

Cl 30 by proclaiming “the smallest area (of federal lands) compatible with proper care and monuments. The majority were established by presidential proclamation, though Congress ro BT r

P management” as national monuments. Many presidents have interpreted the law liberally also has the power to create them. MARShAll SwEARingEn l

30000000 PS 1932 Encouraged by the national Park Service, n

d or Su President herbert hoover tacks on a 273,000-acre national monument to grand Canyon national dd E ESid EnTiA

A Park. local ranch- Pr ) ers denounce this y 1908 After more than two decades of con- as an abuse of 20 executive power.

illion S gressional gridlock and B TEM local backlash over With the depres- AMS /nArA protecting the grand sion diverting the (in M country’s atten-

20000000 AnSE l Ad Canyon as a national gE park, roosevelt makes tion, hoover pro- EA claims four other r it a national monu-

nT SyS onuME nT large, lame-duck AC ment. At 800,000 M monuments: White

l sePt. 24, 1906 acres, it sets a new 1915 under pressure from logging interests and E iv E A President Theodore precedent for using the Forest Service, President Woodrow Wilson Sands, death val-

AT 10 ley, Saguaro and ion roosevelt proclaims the Antiquities Act reduces the size of Mount olympus national Mon- ul Black Canyon of AT 8 the first national on a landscape scale. ument by nearly half. (it was designated by roo-

n the gunnison.

Cu M monument, 1,194- in 1919, Congress sevelt about 48 hours before he left office — the 10000000 M 6 first “lame duck” monument.) in 1938, Congress acre devils Tower in declares it a national ro

F makes it a national park. 4 Wyoming. park. 2 0 T. Roosevelt: 18 william h. Taft: 14 woodrow wilson: 17 harding: 10 calvin coolidge: 19 herbert hoover: 19 Franklin d. Roosevelt: 32 continued on next page —yEAr, STArTing in 1906 0 —PrESidEnT And nuMBEr oF ProClAMATionS ThAT ESTABliSh, EnlArgE, or diMiniSh nATionAl MonuMEnTS n rEPuBliCAn n dEMoCrAT www.hcn.org High Country News 17 MonuMentAl chAnges? Controversy grazes Missouri Breaks On a blustery April morning in north- But — in a nod to local input — it permit- central Montana, a dozen volunteers, ted continued grazing and hunting. including me, scramble from three jet The BLM’s management plan, boats onto a grassy bank. Five guys released in 2008, made so few changes Friends of the from the Bureau of Land Management that it even garnered the support of the Missouri Breaks just gunned us 20 miles up the Missouri Missouri River Stewards, a local group volunteer Shannon River, through a remote canyon of sand- of ranchers who had opposed the monu- Walden limbs 80000000 80000000 cottonwood cuttings stone cliffs and sagebrush bluffs. Now we ment designation. But it drew opposition and then plants grab shovels and buckets and get to work, from the Friends of the Missouri Breaks them in seven-foot- planting cottonwoods. Monument — the nonprofit group orga- deep holes along The cottonwoods on this stretch of nizing the cottonwood planting — and the river, where the river “have one foot in the grave and other conservation groups, who argued dams and grazing one foot on a banana peel,” explains Chad that the plan was too lax on roads and have diminished the Krause, a young BLM hydrologist. Most airstrips. As a result of their lawsuit, populations of new are over 100 years old, and there are settled in 2013, the BLM is moving ahead young trees. FriEndS oF 70000000 MiSSouri BrEAkS 70000000 very few younger trees to replace them. with plans to close about 200 miles of Several possible culprits have been cited backcountry routes. the monument — not for what it’s done, — upstream dams have reduced seed- But tensions remain. Even though the but for what it might do. Ron Poertner, propagating floods; winter ice flows are proclamation allows grazing, the Western a leader of the Missouri River Stewards, scouring the banks; and grazing cattle Watersheds Project, an aggressive graz- sees the Western Watersheds Project are chomping the young trees. But the ing reform group, argues that the BLM lawsuit as an ominous sign of things to impacts are clear: The BLM has warned actually has authority to restrict it in come: increased public attention and 60000000 that in a few decades, river floaters might order to protect monument “objects,” like scrutiny over local grazing practices. 60000000 have to start packing their own shade the threatened cottonwoods. That group’s “We’re always waiting for the other shoe with them, because there won’t be enough lawsuit is ongoing. to drop,” he says. trees left to cool their campsites. Glenn Monahan, who has guided this Hugo Tureck, who has a ranch on the This 149-mile stretch of river, plus 585 stretch of river for 20 years, has amassed edge of the Breaks and helped found the square miles of adjacent BLM land where evidence that livestock are primarily Friends in 2001, told me that he sees the the northern plains crumble into a fractal- responsible for the decline of the cot- monument staying pretty much the way like network of coulees and canyons, is the tonwoods and other vegetation. He also it is, maybe with slightly stricter grazing Upper Missouri River Breaks National thinks livestock have caused a drop in in the future. But one thing has changed: 50000000 50000000 Monument. And that 2001 monument the number of river visitors, from roughly “(This area) now has a stage presence designation, I’m told, is the reason the cot- 5,000 in 2009 to 3,000 in 2014. He’s that it never had before,” he says. “That’s tonwoods are now being planted. counted as many as 1,360 cattle along a what a national monument means.” President Clinton’s proclamation, in 46-mile stretch of river popular with float- Back on the grassy bank, we place a few pages of sweeping prose, describes ers, and he and his guides carry shovels each slender cottonwood cutting in a the “objects” this monument is to protect: for scraping cow patties from campsites. hole along with a watering pipe, tamp in plentiful bighorn sheep and other wild- Although the BLM says it plans to erect a slurry of dirt, river water and rooting life, traces of history left by numerous fences around some campsites, Monahan hormone, and erect a ring of wire fence 40000000 40000000 Native tribes and the Lewis and Clark thinks the agency should go much further, to keep out cows. Dark clouds build over expedition, riverside cottonwood ecosys- removing cattle from the river entirely. the white cliffs, spit rain and then clear tems and more. The proclamation also “This is now a national monument,” he to blue sky. I ask Rick Pokorny, who was laid out the terms of protection, includ- says, “and we need to start asking, ‘What born and raised in the Breaks, why he’s ing withdrawal of all monument lands is the highest use of this land?’ ” here. “To plant trees, because they need from future oil and gas leasing and a new This is why the 120-odd landowners to be planted,” he says. 30000000 30000000 travel plan to manage motorized traffic. within the monument still largely resent MARShAll SwEARingEn continued from previous page

1943 The Antiquities Act meets its greatest political challenge when Franklin 1963 When a pro- ry 1969 udall urges d. roosevelt adds the 211,000-acre Jackson hole national Monument to grand posal to establish President lyndon B. Teton national Park. Throughout the 1930s, John d. rockefeller Jr. works to Canyonlands national Johnson to act on 17 20 buy private lands to add to the national park, though angry locals protest that Park bogs down over liBrA JF k national monument it would infringe on grazing, development and tax revenue. When rockefeller boundary disputes, proposals, but in the shows signs of backing off, roosevelt steps in with the Antiquities Act, deliver- interior Secretary final hours of his ad- 20000000 20000000 ing what Sen. Edward robinson calls “a foul, sneaking Pearl harbor blow.” Con- Stewart udall unsuc- ministration, Johnson gress passes a bill to nullify the monument, but roosevelt vetoes it. The state cessfully urges John F. proclaims just four, of Wyoming then sues, asserting that the president overstepped his authority, kennedy to declare the including additions but a federal court dismisses the case. When Congress finally incorporates the area a national monu- to utah’s Arches and monument into grand Teton national Park in 1950, however, it prohibits future ment. Capitol reef. use of the Antiquities Act in Wyoming without congressional consent. 10 8 10000000 CuMulATivE ACrEAgE (in MillionS) AddEd or SuBTrACTEd FroM 10000000 6 nATionAl MonuMEnT SySTEM By PrESidEnTiAl ProClAMATion 4 2 0 FdR continued harry S. Truman: 11 dwight d. Eisenhower: 15 Kennedy: 7 lyndon B. Johnson: 5 Richard nixon: 0 gerald Ford: 2 J. carter: 17 0 0 —yEAr, STArTing in 1943 —PrESidEnT And nuMBEr oF ProClAMATionS ThAT ESTABliSh, EnlArgE, or diMiniSh nATionAl MonuMEnTS 18 High Country News May 25, 2015 Legacy Maker, continued from page 16 campaign chairman have pressed the is- warming to “the flat-Earthers,” even as a and a political shift in Congress. “I think sue: He praises California’s aggressive recent poll shows that 60 percent of Re- it had the ancillary effect of taking off new climate goals, warns of alarming new publicans believe the government should the table the argument that we shouldn’t science on melting Antarctic ice, posts a limit greenhouse gases. “If the majority do anything because the Chinese aren’t video of President Obama losing his nor- of Rs support climate action,” he wonders, doing anything, when the Chinese are in mal cool at climate deniers during a skit “when will their leaders accept the sci- fact doing quite a lot to transform their at the White House Correspondents Din- ence?” 80 energy system,” he says. ner, and shares a photo showing a polar Back in his office, Podesta can’t hide Elizabeth Shogren, That’s not to say that Podesta expects bear cub stretching to nuzzle its mother his eagerness for the fight ahead: “Politics formerly of the Los 80000000 Republican climate skeptics to concede in Alaska, where the animals are threat- is about friction. When people agree more Angeles Times and 80000000 defeat. In fact, he seems to hope climate ened by melting sea ice. than they disagree, it doesn’t rise to the national Public radio, change will be a central issue in the 2016 One tweet hints at how Podesta top. This time it could be massive.” covers Washington for election, which could pit a Republican sees the battle possibly shaping up. He High Country News. climate denier against Hillary Clinton, links to a Guardian story that quotes with Podesta in her corner. Many of his GOP candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas 70 70000000 tweets since he officially became Clinton’s comparing people who believe in global 70000000 60000000 60 60000000

50 1978 in what will The Upper Salmon River, one of the most remote parts of Kobuk Valley become known as one Monuments created through presidential National Park, which Carter first designed as a national monument in 1978. 50000000 of the greatest single proclamation using the Antiquities Act EduCATion SPECiAliST/WESTErn ArCTiC nATionAl PArklAndS 50000000 acts of conservation, CuMulATivE ACrEAgE (in MillionS) AddEd or SuBTrACTEd FroM President Jimmy nATionAl MonuMEnT SySTEM By PrESidEnTiAl ProClAMATion Carter designates 56 million acres of 2006-2009 new monuments in President george Alaska. This pushes W. Bush establishes 2011-Present 40 Congress to resolve more than 300,000 President obama uses long-standing public grand square miles of the Antiquities Act lands issues in 1980, Staircase- national monuments 16 times, protecting 40000000 Escalante A NOAA diver 40000000 with the passage of photographs a in the Pacific, more than 1.1 million the Alaska national national administered by the acres and enlarging Monument large bumphead interest lands Conser- parrotfish at national oceanic by six-fold the Pacific 1996 President Bill vation Act, which re- Wake Atoll and Atmospheric remote islands Ma- designates several of Clinton is reportedly Administration and rine national Monu- hanged in effigy in in the Pacific the monuments as na- Remote Islands the u.S. Fish and ment established by 30 tional parks, including several small utah Wildlife Service. george W. Bush — towns after he pro- Marine National denali, kenai Fjords Monument. (Marine monuments thereby creating the and kobuk valley, but claims the nearly 2 not included in graph largest marine reserve 30000000 MATThEW dunlAP/ 30000000 requires congressional million-acre grand noAA to preserve scale.) in the world. approval for any new Staircase-Escalante major monuments in national Monument Alaska. Cantwell area — the largest created residents gather in since Carter’s Alaska denali to fire off guns, monuments and the 20 build campfires and first managed by the engage in other now- Bureau of land Man- 20000000 prohibited acts — an agement. local coun- 20000000 episode called the ties sue, but a federal great denali Trespass. court upholds the national monument. Encouraged by interior Secretary Bruce Bab- bitt and John Podesta, 10 Clinton goes on to reAgAn bush create 18 more monuments in his second 10000000 1981-1993 neither Presidents 10000000 term, most managed ronald reagan nor george h.W. Bush by the BlM. use the Antiquities Act.

gerald Ford: 2 J. carter: 17 Ronald Reagan: 0 george h.w. Bush: 0 Bill clinton: 22 george w. Bush: 6 Barack obama: 16 SourCES: ThE AnTiquiTiES ACT: A CEnTury oF AMEriCAn ArChAEology, hiSToriC PrESErvATion, And nATurE ConSErvATion, EdS. hArMon, d., MCMAnAMon, F.P., And PiTCAiThlEy, d.T. - righTnEr (1989): nATionAl MonuMEnTS To 0 —yEAr, STArTing in 1943 —PrESidEnT And nuMBEr oF ProClAMATionS ThAT ESTABliSh, EnlArgE, or diMiniSh nATionAl MonuMEnTS nATionAl PArkS: ThE uSE oF ThE AnTiquiTiES ACT oF 1906; nATionAl PArk SErviCE, u.S. ForEST SErviCE, BurEAu oF lAnd MAnAgEMEnT, noAA, uS FiSh And WildliFE SErviCE 0 www.hcn.org High Country News 19 MARKETPLACE

20 High Country News May 25, 2015 Notice to our advertisers: You can of anthropology and Southwest natural his- ern Colorado. Via creative organizing and Essential Oils. Unadulterated — no pesticides. place classified ads with our online classi- tory. Visit www.apathways.com. outreach tactics, the Field Organizer will Organically grown. Proprietary distilling meth- fied system. Visit hcn.org/classifieds. May recruit, engage and mobilize volunteers, local ods. Business opportunity. 25 is the deadline to place your print ad CONfereNCes ANd eVeNts businesses and regional VIPs to advocate for www.theOilSolution.com. in the June 8 issue. Call 800-311-5852, or strong conservation policies on issues ranging e-mail [email protected] for help or in- Biennial Winter Wildlands Alliance from climate change to public-land manage- Grassroots Advocacy Conference, June 18- Colorado Aromatics cultivated skin care formation. For more information about our ment. 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WOLF LAND A memoir by Carter Niemeyer

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Coming October 1

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www.hcn.org High Country News 23 BOOKS A trapper’s tale

The classic Western frontier story is an “Though he was as archetype of the hero’s journey: A young ignorant of book man, off to seek his fortune in the West, learning as the enters the wilderness to prove himself day he was born, and emerges both stronger and wiser. he possessed all Into the Savage Country follows this the accomplish- pattern, but charismatic characters, good ments needed west humor, lively language and nail-biting of the Mississippi.” scenes make Shannon Burke’s novel feel When William as fresh and thrilling as the first time re-encounters this kind of story was told. Alene and Henry In 1826, 22-year-old William Wyeth is at a U.S. Army Into the Savage a hunter selling furs in St. Louis. He and fort, Henry invites Country the eventual love of his life, Alene Cheva- him to join a Shannon Burke lier, meet cute, frontier fashion, when he Smith-led expedi- 272 pages, hardcover: hires her to brain-tan some hides. Wyeth tion to Wyoming’s $24.95. isn’t the only one sweet on Alene — so Wind River Pantheon, 2015. is Henry Layton, a hot-headed braggart Range, where who “could buy you a drink and do a good wild animals still deed, but he could not do it without oth- abound, offering ers knowing he’d done it.” “the last, best William embarks on a fur-trapping chance of a big expedition, because, he says, “I was fated take.” to test my mettle in the West. If I’d not Burke viv- make a fortune … I’d live my life up to idly conveys the Even Henry reveals endearing qualities. the hilt and satisfy that inner craving complex interactions between French and Into The Savage Country rings with and have something to talk about in my American trappers, the Crow, the Black- the conviction that a Western story is dotage.” foot and British soldiers. Burke’s char- supposed to be fun above all, and that He learns from seasoned trappers, acters constantly evolve and surprise. it need not sacrifice historical accuracy including historical figures like legend- Blackfoot warrior Red Elk, for example, and complexity in order to entertain the ary mountain men Jedediah Smith and at first appears despicable but emerges reader. Jim Bridger. William observes of Bridger, as a dignified man of canny intelligence. By Jenny ShanK

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“My efforts on behalf of the West’s clean air, clean water, wilderness, wildlife ... were done for my children, for posterity, and for my fellow man.” —Tom Bell, founder Join us for this very special issue. High Country News • Huge discounts available on print, eNewsletter and Web advertising. • Package and à la carte options available. • Special ad pricing is extended to all Marketplace ads. ISSUE COVER DATE: July 20, 2015 SPACE RESERVATION DEADLINE: June 29, 2015 By MARk hARVEy By AD ART DEADLINE: July 6, 2015 MARk hARVEy By Ph OTO Visit hcn.org/OR Ph OTO or contact David Anderson: TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PLANNED GIVING for HIGH COUNTRY NEWS, CONTACT: Development Manager, Alyssa Pinkerton 800-311-5852 or [email protected] [email protected] • 800-905-1155. Or visit our website: hcn.org/support/planned-giving

24 High Country News May 25, 2015 Survival = Anger x Imagination

“Unless you’re into meth or having sex For nearly 300 pages, Margaritte with people you’re related to, you’ll speeds toward impending doom, pausing find shit’s pretty boring here” in Idaho along the way for multiple pit stops at the Springs, 16-year-old Margaritte matter- emergency room, a detour to an abortion of-factly tells a newcomer, as she intro- clinic, various alcohol- and drug-fueled duces the boy to the downtrodden Rocky forays, and a flight with her mother and Mountain town just west of Denver. younger twin sisters to a hotel, followed Margaritte is the protagonist of Crazy by their drunk, gun-toting father. Horse’s Girlfriend, the debut novel by Yet, Margaritte’s kindness and com- Colorado native Erika Wurth, a poet who passion prevail. Even after her alcoholic teaches creative writing at Western Il- father literally drives the family into a linois University. ditch during a thunderstorm, she thinks, Funny, tough, realistic and heart- “Sometimes my sadness for him over- Crazy horse’s breakingly foolish, Margaritte is a high whelmed my resentment, and that was school drug dealer on the fast track to even worse.” She and the new boy fall in Girlfriend teenaged motherhood and welfare; her love. His family, wealthy and white, buys Erika T. Wurth dad, a white man, is drunk and abusive, him expensive outdoor gear, but he’s 285 pages, softcover: while her Indian mother ceaselessly never slept outside. Margaritte takes him $15.95. forgives and enables him. camping on Mount Evans. Sitting beside Curbside Splendor, Like the author, Margaritte is Apache/ the campfire, she finds bliss. “I felt so 2014. Chickasaw/Cherokee; her best friend content, so beautiful parts of me felt like is her adopted cousin, Jake. “He’s Nez they were dying off, exploding.” Perce, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and black. As Margaritte careens into and out of And big. ...” Margaritte talks tough and disaster, her strong fingers grip the read- acts superior to the other impoverished er’s heart from the very first sentence, Interior of a trapper’s lodge. William maCy/NPS residents of her town. “I knew where that never letting go. She skids close to the kind of thinking led. To a doublewide edge of unredeemable stereotype, then trailer and miles and miles of cheap screeches decisively to a halt, exploding macaroni and cheese, ten for a dollar.” into brilliant humanity. Exhilarated and However, her knowledge fails to inform terrified, readers of Crazy Horse’s Girl- her behavior; again and again, she makes friend will be grateful for the ride. the wrong choices. By annIe DawID

www.hcn.org High Country News 25 eSSay | By JOhn hart

proclaimed a kind of new homeland: the Putah-Cache Bioregion. The bioregion became the subject of courses and a tour guide, and the press it received enticed many more people to explore it. Making a monument The bioregion’s key contribution, however, may have been to focus scientific research. Gathering new information and reas- sessing old, the Davis scientists became boosters of their backyard. To geologist Eldridge Moores, for example, this is perhaps from scratch the world’s best exhibit for the type of tectonic junction called subduction. Less than 10 million years ago, along this line, an ’ve always had a weakness for the underappreciated, over- oceanic plate was diving under the North American continent, a I looked corners of the public domain. Now, one of my favorite process recorded in today’s rocks. “You can walk from stuff that Cinderella places is on the cusp of becoming a national monu- was on the upper plate onto the lower plate,” says Moores. ment. I’ve been pondering: Does it deserve this? One signature of subduction is an abundance of serpentine, Four decades ago, I became aware of some scraps of land on material ripped from the mantle of the earth and here exposed the dry inland edge of the Coast Ranges, just a couple of hours to the sky. Soils derived from this rock, low in potassium and north of my home near San Francisco. Administered by the calcium and full of iron and magnesium, are tough on plants. Ukiah office of the Bureau of Land Management, they had no But evolution has filled this niche with hardy specialists like special name. Their uniting feature was something called Blue the dwarf McNab and Sargents cypress; the largest genetically Ridge, a ghostly hogback some 3,000 feet high and 70 miles pure forest of Sargents cypress occupies a mountaintop west of long, overlooking California’s rich Central Valley and the state Lake Berryessa, the misnamed “Cedar” Roughs. Serpentine is capital of Sacramento. Two big creeks, Putah and Cache, cut a haven for rare plants and for native ones holding out against east through this rampart to join the Sacramento River. Their the tide of exotics. “This region is smack-dab in the middle of a upper watersheds, hidden behind that ridge, were pretty primi- global biodiversity hot spot,” says botanist Catherine Koehler. tive, an enticing blankness on California’s busy map. Wouldn’t that apply to most of California? No, says Koehler My first attempt to penetrate the blankness, around 1978, firmly. “This is distinct. It is a hot spot within the hot spot.” earned me some scratches. Starting near the notch cut by Cache Maybe these hills were not so ordinary after all. Creek, I bushwhacked to the top of Blue Ridge, a trek feasible only because a brushfire had just thinned out the usually dense THE BERRYESSA-BLUE RIDGE NATURAL AREA and thorny chaparral. The scorched plateau I finally reached Up in the headwaters, a mining company man was coming to challenged traditional notions of “scenery,” but I don’t think the same conclusion. About the time of my first hike, the gold- I’ve ever been in a place that felt more wild. Local undulations mining giant Homestake had moved into the area, buying up hid the farmlands to the east, but not the great rank of Sierra- some 15,000 acres of ranchland speckled with leaky old mercury Cascade peaks beyond. In the other direction, Cache Creek claims. Burned by public relations disasters elsewhere, Home- vanished upstream among roadless hills. stake hired biologist Ray Krauss and gave him rare authority I was standing on a little island of BLM land, from which as its environmental manager. Krauss, like the Davis profes- I could see more such islands north, south and west. Several sors, was smitten by the living treasures in his patch of aurifer- blocks were inaccessible behind ranch gates, public property the ous hills. Knowing that the gold would play out in a few years, public could not reach. I thought how nice it would be to hike Krauss wanted these enduring assets in good hands: In 1993, those places, but the idea that these leftover bits of ground could Homestake donated 7,000 acres to the University of California- ever be part of something called a national monument never Davis as a natural reserve. crossed my mind. Saving this “postage stamp” was well and good, but Krauss sought greater recognition for the entire region. Working with THE PUTAH-CACHE BIOREGION the bioregionalists and a local rancher, George Gamble, he The monument plan is the latest step in a quarter-century quest launched what vintners would call an appellation: the Blue for identity that began in the university town of Davis, in the Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area. “We were able to give a kind of shadow of Blue Ridge. Inspired by visiting poet Gary Snyder branding to an area that most people had never heard of,” he and the contemporary push for “bioregional” identity, academics says.

26 High Country News May 25, 2015 forests, the inner California Coast Range is just such a corridor, what Davis ecologist Chad Roberts calls “a hundred-mile-long geographic ramp” for species forced to relocate in a warming world. The national conservation area would embrace the government lands along this ramp, from 300 feet near Lake Ber- ryessa to 7,056 feet on the top of Snow Mountain, the first big hump in Mendocino National Forest. No land would be shifted between agencies. Though overseen by a joint advisory council, each would keep on managing its own acres. Established activities — logging, grazing, and off-highway vehicle use among others —would continue. Just what, then, would designation bring? Essentially, money. The combined area would have a better crack at the dwindling national funds for land acquisition and ecological restoration. The title would also push the agencies to work together on issues like control of exotic starthistle and rampant marijuana planta- tions. And it would lure more tourists. The relabeled area would show up on ordinary highway maps, a block of welcoming green proclaiming: “Something special here.” To achieve support, advocates trimmed the plan as they went along. When some local governments said no, they dropped lands in those counties; to accommodate proposed wind tur- bines, they pulled the boundary back from the breezy crest of a key ridge; and they laid on reassuring language thickly — no application to private lands, acquisition from willing sellers The view from atop In 1997, Krauss invited the Bureau of Land Management, only, endorsement of historic uses. Finally, the Lake Berryessa Blue Ridge. the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, various land trusts, shoreline was omitted. ivaN Sohrakoff the university crowd and key private landowners to sit down Still, not everyone was mollified. The California Cattlemen’s together in a Blue Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area Partnership. Association, for instance, feared that any special designation Though it lacked formal decision-making powers, the partner- would “open us up to a lot more pressure” toward reduction of ship had awesome connections, and these inspired a wave of grazing. And when California’s Rep. Mike Thompson and Sens. land acquisitions. “We did 60,000 acres before we were through,” Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer introduced bills in 2012, says Krauss. To the north, a large BLM purchase opened access they encountered something not negotiable — the generic Repub- to the wild Cache Creek canyon. To the south, the hidden valley lican suspicion of anything that smacked of government expan- of Eticura Creek, a Putah tributary where the Homestake pits sion or increased control. The bills never even reached the floor. had been, passed into the hands of several public agencies. By the early 2000s, public and semi-public holdings had THE NATIONAL MONUMENT coalesced into an all but continuous band, further buffered by Which brings us to the present day and to the latest entry in several big ranchland conservation easements. What next? The this identity parade: Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monu- Partnership envisioned a novel joint-management scheme, and ment, which President Obama may, at any moment, declare. conservative landowners, normally leery of all things govern- National monuments used to have a pretty exalted status. mental, were at least willing to discuss it. But another, more Parks in all but name, they differed largely in being created not traditional path would be taken. by act of Congress but by presidential decree, under the Antiq- uities Act of 1906. Tending to size and jaw-dropping spectacle, TULEYOME they were subject to restrictive management. Even those who Robert Thayer, one of the bioregion authors and a Partnership love it most had trouble seeing this stretch of California as that participant, had his own favorite title for the region, based on a kind of monument. Native American village name whose resonance enchanted him But in 1996, when Bill Clinton created the Grand Staircase- –– Tuleyome: The deep home place. Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, he changed In 2002, veteran conservationists Bob Schneider and Andrew the model, allowing the land to be managed under vaguer rules Fulks bestowed this Lake Miwok name on a new regional ad- and left in the hands of the BLM. Since then, the classification vocacy organization. Though Tuleyome-the-group endorsed the has shed much of its rigor. Some new monuments are park-like, partnership’s theme of public-private cooperation, it zeroed in but others are multiple-use areas — as this one would be. The on the landscape’s most manageable aspect, the federal proper- switch from “national conservation area” to “national monu- ties. Its first campaign secured wilderness designation for Cache ment” is no longer all that much of a leap. Creek and the Cedar Roughs in 2006, protecting some 34,000 This spring, I got to know the debatable region afresh, taking John Hart writes acres. recently-built trails to places once off-limits. I walked among on public lands, budding blue oaks and flourishing native grasses and wildflow- resource policy and BERRYESSA-SNOW MOUNTAIN NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA ers far beyond my limited capacity to name. And I revisited my farmland protec- By 2008, Tuleyome had moved on to a larger vision and another old campsite on Blue Ridge, greener now and blossoming, if still tion. Titles include brand. It asked Congress to create a 350,000-acre Berryessa- on the prickly side. San Francisco Bay: Snow Mountain National Conservation Area. Besides BLM land, This place will never be a Grand Canyon or a Grand Teton Portrait of an Es- this would include the shores of Lake Berryessa, a big federal — to name two parks that got their start as national monu- tuary and Storm reservoir on Putah Creek controlled by the Bureau of Reclama- ments. Its values are subtler and come largely from location. Over Mono: The tion; and, jumping a fence to the north, it would take in a por- In a bustling neighborhood of cities and intensive agriculture, Mono Lake Battle tion of neighboring Mendocino National Forest. this is a precious void, a reservoir of habitats, a breathing space and the California The expansion reflected the doctrine of conservation biol- for millions of people. Whatever we call it, this country needs Water Future, plus ogy and the threat of climate change. “Bioregions,” these days, and merits our loving attention — more building of trails, more several guides to are somewhat out of fashion; “corridors” — bands of protected purchase of key parcels, more healing of old scars, more pulling wilderness travel. habitat linking south to north and low ground to high — are in. of bad weeds. Money needs to fall on it like rain. He is based in San With its southern tip brushing the metropolitan San Francisco The Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monument? Rafael, California. Bay Area and its northern blending into the Pacific Northwest Bring it on.

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

hearD arOUnD the weSt | By BetSy MarStOn

moNTaNa UTah It seems counterintuitive, but triathlete Brent That infamous ”penalized” bull above a restaurant Ruby, who directs the Department of Health in Hurricane, Utah, is once again intact, proudly and Human Performance at the University of displaying an appendage that more accurately Montana, wondered if eating a Big Mac might resembles a giant party hat. Owner Stephen be just as healthy as scarfing down PowerBars Ward said he decided to restore the copper after strenuous exercise. The makers of sports whopper because his customers liked it. Besides, supplements tend to exaggerate their effec- he didn’t want to take any bull from the local tiveness, he said, touting their clear “natural” government. superiority to something as obviously odious as a double cheeseburger with an extra serving of ColoraDo fries. But is their advertising backed up by the Sometimes there is a happy ending. After some- facts — or are fitness freaks spending lots of one unwisely dumped a bowl full of goldfish money without reason? Ruby devised an experi- into a 12-acre lake in Boulder a few years ago, ment, reports the Billings Gazette, involving 11 the inevitable occurred: A handful of fishies active men who cycled for 90 minutes and were morphed into some 4,000 goldfish. This alarmed tested before and after consuming either the Colorado wildlife officials, who feared they were sports supplement or fast food from McDonald’s, taking over the ecosystem. One suggestion which precisely measures its servings and was was to shock the fish, then scoop them up and conveniently located just across the street. The feed them to hungry raptors at a rehabilitation result: Muscle recovery and exercise perfor- NEvaDa Souvenirs? CarolyN roSNEr facility; another was to drain the lake to kill mance “were not different when comparing all the fish, reports the Boulder Daily Camera. products created specifically for sport recovery But a fortuitous fix occurred when passerby and traditional fast food.” Ruby concluded that precious water, export it and sell it for profit,” pelicans — birds usually found at the seashore rebounding physically after workouts doesn’t the petition declares. Actually, what Nestlé has — dropped down and scooped up almost every have to be complicated. The body’s requirements been doing is apparently the norm: The Sun single goldfish. “Isn’t it fantastic?” said Fish and are pretty simple, he said: “You asked me to reported that no state agency tracks how much Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill. “It work. I’ve done my job. Put some stuff back in water is used by the 108 private bottling plants has totally happened naturally.” the tank, dude.” in California, of which Nestlé operates five. But thirsty Californians may set their minds at ease; NEvaDa CaliforNia the San Bernardino National Forest supervisor Somewhere near Area 51, in remote south-central Indignation doesn’t begin to describe the reaction says that the Nestlé matter “has gone to the top Nevada, there’s a brothel that claims to be the of Californians who found out — thanks to the of the pile in terms of a program of work for our nation’s “only themed” bawdy house, reports the Coachella-based Desert Sun — that the Nestlé folks to work on.” Sacramento Bee. The “Alien Cathouse” is its of- Corp. has been drawing water from wells that ficial moniker, and its employees call themselves tap into a canyon’s springs without the permis- iDaho “Cosmic Kittens.” This legal enterprise in the sion of the San Bernardino National Forest. In It might seem romantic, but spray-painting your middle of the desert is so weirdly entertaining fact, the permit for water withdrawal expired prom invitation in giant pink-and-blue graffiti that Savannah Sunshine, its madam, boasts 27 years ago. The Sun also discovered that on federal land is a dumb idea. The Black Cliffs that some visitors drop in just to tour. They the Forest Service wasn’t tracking how much near Boise is a popular rock-climbing area on might be missing something by not participat- water was being taken. Reaction to the story Bureau of Land Management land near Boise ing: “Decency prevents me from listing the was swift: Protesters blocked the entrance to and is also culturally significant to Native Amer- services,” says reporter Sam McManis, “but let’s Nestlé’s bottling plant in Sacramento, and a ican tribes. It’s not that easy to access, but once just say that some of these Cosmic Kittens are petition demanding that the corporation stop there, the sprayer — in all caps — geo-texted: amphibious and most can do unusual things profiting from state water gained more than “DESTINY, PROM?” Here’s hoping that Destiny with pudding.” 135,000 signatures. “While California is facing replied, “No, you vandalizing creep.” If identified, record drought conditions, it is unconscionable he could face up to six months in jail and/or a WEB EXTRA for more from heard around the West, see that Nestlé would continue to bottle the state’s fine of up to $1,000. www.hcn.org.

High Politicians will have to consider a difficult balance: Country water supplies for cities versus water for rural News “ For people who care about the West. industries, including ones that may not be able to High Country News covers the important issues and stories that are unique to the American West with a survive in a drying region. magazine, a weekly column service, books and a website, hcn.org. For editorial comments or questions, write Tom Ribe, in his essay, “Are cows” drinking the West dry?” High Country News, P.O. Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428 or from Writers on the Range, www.hcn.org/wotr [email protected], or call 970-527-4898.

28 High Country News May 25, 2015