OF HUCKLEBERRIES AND GRIZZLIES | WESTERN WATER WARS | SHEAR SATISFACTION High Country ForN people whoews care about the West A Monumental Divide The tribal bid for Bears Ears raises tough questions about homelands By Jonathan Thompson October 31 2016 | $5 | Vol. 48 No. 18 | www.hcn.org 18 48 No. | $5 Vol. 2016 31 October CONTENTS Editor’s note Movements, waning and waxing Ten months ago, when a small group of anti-federal agitators occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon, HCN produced a package of stories about the seemingly revitalized Sagebrush Rebellion. Armed with guns and cellphones and backed by political forces eager to put federal lands in the hands of state and private interests, these new “insurgents” looked formidable. Yet now, anti-federal activity in the West seems to have calmed down, and a jury in Portland will soon decide whether seven of the Malheur occupiers conspired to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs. The land-transfer fever is also cooling: Utah’s governor has balked at the legal fight pushed by hardliners in his Legislature, and the issue largely has been sidelined during this brutal election season. Instead, a different kind of campaign is gaining A protester (who was unwilling to identify himself) sits outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, as his horse, Lady Liberty, gets a drink from a fountain during the early days of the trial momentum in the West: a modern amalgamation of of Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five other Malheur occupiers.AP PHOTO/DON RYAN the civil rights and environmental movements of the 1960s, buoyed by a new generation of climate and social justice activists and led by an emboldened The San Juan River, seen from the Mexican Hat formation, creates a ribbon of green between Navajo lands Native American community. and the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. WHIT RICHARDSON You can see it in North Dakota, where FEATURE representatives from Indigenous tribes around the $1.7 billion globe have joined members of the Standing Rock Forest Service’s cost for the 2015 fire season, its costliest ever. Sioux to protest the construction of the 1,172-mile On the cover 12 Whose homeland? Dakota Access Pipeline, which would carry Bakken In the tribal bid for Bears Ears, deep questions and deep divisions Early-morning light crude within a half-mile of the tribe’s reservation. By Jonathan Thompson casts shadows in With supplies pouring in from across the country, 5,000 the Valley of the many plan to brave the coming winter in tents and Peak number of people who worked the Gods, part of the 18 Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk goes to Washington trailers, hoping that their stand, along with a legal most-expensive wildfire ever, the Soberanes proposed Bears Ears By Elizabeth Shogren challenge by EarthJustice, will get the pipeline re- Fire, which was started in July by an illegal National Monument 22 Perspective by Nathan Nielson campfire in a state park near Big Sur. Leviathan in the desert rerouted away from revred sites and water sources. on Cedar Mesa in southeastern Utah. Already, the protest has caused the Army This summer’s Soberanes Fire in Central ADRIEL HEISEY PHOTO CURRENTS Corps of Engineers and Interior Department to California cost a record-breaking estimated COUrtesY BEARS EARS INTER- temporarily halt construction and start a series of TRIbaL COALITION 5 $260 million to suppress — most of that paid Trade-off on the Tongass The largest national forest plans to phase out listening sessions to assess whether there should old-growth logging for by the U.S. Forest Service. Suppressing be “nationwide reform” on how tribes are consulted fires, and paying for things like firefighting crews, aircraft and evacuations now uses 6 The Latest: Oso, Washington, landslide when infrastructure projects affect their homelands. The five tribes that have asked President Obama up over half of the agency’s budget. Many 7 From bears to berries A wildlife biologist turns her sights on of the most expensive fires have occurred climate science and the elusive huckleberry to create a 1.9 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument on sacred lands in San Juan County, in California, and with climate change, 8 extended drought and development in Caribou recovery falters in Canada Conservation efforts haven’t Utah, have their own ideas about consultation: They stopped the decline of the endangered ungulates or their rainforest home wildfire-prone zones, the price of fighting fire want a permanent seat at the table. As Jonathan 8 will only continue to climb. LYNDSEY GILPIN The Latest: Wildlife Services v. WildEarth Guardians Thompson reports, the proposed monument would MORE: hcne.ws/costly-fires give tribes a majority vote on a management DEPARTMENTS committee, a federal land first. Predictably, San Juan County’s largely Mormon 3 FROM OUR WEBSITE: HCN.ORG and politically conservative majority, which has periodically clashed with land managers and 4 LETTERS Complete access environmentalists over the past 50 years, strongly to subscriber-only 10 THE HCN COMMUNITY Research Fund, Dear Friends opposes the monument. More surprisingly, so do a content number of tribal members, many of whom are also Number of 24 MARKETPLACE HCN’s website Mormon and do not trust the federal government. 1full-time employees hcn.org 26 WRITERS ON THE RANGE Thompson’s story is a good reminder of just how with the title of complicated Western issues can be. Burning Man Project Digital edition The fading promise of Glen Canyon Dam By Steve Tarlton Manager. Some of the hcne.ws/digi-4818 Still, if Obama decides to protect the Bears Ears, We need a new Civilian Conservation Corps By Gundars Rudzitis it will serve as a powerful affirmation of the claims other 13 Black Rock of those Americans with the longest and deepest District BLM employees 30 BOOKS Water is for Fighting Over ... and Other Myths about Water in the West chip in during the Follow us ties to the land. And it will signal that conservation by John Fleck. Reviewed by Matt Jenkins weeklong festival and and social justice can go hand-in-hand in the modern its aftermath. By Brian Kearney 31 ESSAY The satisfaction of shearing West. KRISTA LANGLOIS MORE: @highcountrynews 32 HEARD AROUND THE WEST By Betsy Marston —Paul Larmer, executive director/publisher hcne.ws/Burner-LM 2 High Country News October 31, 2016 From our wEbSiTE: HCN.ORG The aftereffects of Malheur Trending The trial of Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five Time to other defendants for the armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife euthanize Refuge has lasted much of the early fall. wild horses? As of press time, it was in its sixth week, In an opinion piece, and a verdict was imminent. The long-term Maddy Butcher impacts of the 41-day occupation will come ruminates over the into relief with time, but it’s already clear Bureau of Land that the events strengthened bonds within Management’s the Patriot movement nationwide. The recommendation to occupation inspired a handful of Western consider euthanizing ranchers to threaten to renounce grazing tens of thousands of contracts with the feds this year. But those equines in federal copycats have seemingly cooled off. In some holding facilities. cases, informal mediation efforts by locals Inundated by negative convinced those ranchers to continue to work feedback, the BLM with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land reversed course on Management, instead of against them. By mass euthanization. early October, Cliven Bundy’s cattle were still Butcher critiqued that grazing illegally in Clark County, Nevada. decision. “If the horses Some environmentalists say that’s because weren’t so pretty, the BLM, intimidated by threats of violence as well as being an led by the Bundy family, is reluctant to incite icon of the Old West, A protester (who was unwilling to identify himself) sits outside the federal courthouse in Portland, another confrontation. TAY WILES we would call them Oregon, as his horse, Lady Liberty, gets a drink from a fountain during the early days of the trial MORE: hcne.ws/Malheur-impacts ‘invasive,’ ” she writes. of Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five other Malheur occupiers. AP PHOTO/DON RYAN “We would have sought more effective, less emotion-driven 100 and politicized ways Coal job losses nationwide, May 2010-May 2016 to manage them long ago.” $1.7 billion 80 MADDY BUTCHER, Forest Service’s cost for the 2015 fire season, Writers on the Range its costliest ever. Coal is loaded by giant shovelsful You say into a haul truck at 60 JOEL NIEMI: the North Antelope “I worked for the BLM 5,000 Rochelle coal mine Peak number of people who worked the back when the wild in Wyoming, where most-expensive wildfire ever, the Soberanes 40 horse roundups were 235 employees were in thousands employees, Fire, which was started in July by an illegal just starting. Horse laid off earlier this campfire in a state park near Big Sur. populations were year. growing because they PEABODY EnergY INC. 20 This summer’s Soberanes Fire in Central DatA: BUREAU OF LabOR weren’t becoming California cost a record-breaking estimated StatIstICS, COMPILED FROM dog food any more, ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT $260 million to suppress — most of that paid REPOrtS and ranchers were for by the U.S. Forest Service. Suppressing 0 objecting about their fires, and paying for things like firefighting 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 grazing allotments crews, aircraft and evacuations now uses being reduced due up over half of the agency’s budget. Many wyoming approves a new coal mine employ fewer people than other Wyoming coal to horse population of the most expensive fires have occurred Defying broader trends, Wyoming approved its mines, relying instead on automation and making growth.” in California, and with climate change, first new coal mine in decades.