High Country News
Ancient Conversations
Archaeologist Carol Patterson works with Ute tribal elder Clifford Duncan to interpret the enigmatic patterns in Southwestern rock art. Also read the sidebar for more detail on rock art interpretation

E Magazine
Presidential Science Lessons
It is no secret that Bush has made an enemy of scientists, but the next President needs them to help set a new course of American exploration. Our standing in the world, and the health of that world may depend on it. Both Obama and McCain have pledged to break sharply with Bush's approach to science, and this article discusses the actions both can take to restore the proper role of science in American policy.

The Christian Science Monitor
Boom in Gas Drilling Fuels Contamination Concerns
When Lisa Bracken noticed gas bubbling to the surface of Divide Creek, which runs along one side of her 60 acres in western Colorado, she suspected another gas “seep.” It had happened once before, in 2004, after faulty natural-gas drilling in the vicinity contaminated the creek with benzene and methane.

In Colorado, An Unlikely Alliance Against Drilling
Plans to a open a swath of wilderness are bringing hunters and environmentalists together - and reshaping politics across the West. As westerners grown increasingly concerned about the impacts of energy development on public lands, traditional ideological and party divisions are blurred.

Reconciliation for a Displaced Tribe
LeAllen Blackhair began the Grass Dance at dusk as thunderheads gathered on the ridges above the White River Valley. The fringes on his regalia swayed in time to the drumbeat as he glided in smooth, symmetrical movements to create a sense of balance on the land. The significance of the dance was not lost on the hundreds of Ute and non-Ute spectators...


E Magazine
Burning Down the House (and Trees)
As the Forest Service digs deeper into its own pockets to fight forest fires, it’s had to cut into critical programs including habitat restoration and invasive species control. Fire suppression costs now account for 45 percent of the agency's overall budget - up from 13 percent in 1991.

VeloNews
Seeking Another Horizon: Ultra-Endurance Racer Mike Curiak
Mike Curiak's Iditabike stories go beyond endurance biking and into the realm of survival biking. Sometimes it's 60 degrees below zero on his rides. Blizzards cover the packed trail and leave racers struggling to find the unmarked and buried route. Wolves are constant companions. And drunken snowmobile riders often harass riders on the trail.

The American Prospect
Playing with Fire
The deadly Esperanza Fire occurred in what firefighters term the "wildland-urban interface" or "Red Zone" -- the area of transition between developed urban areas and undeveloped wildlands. In this case, the fire was pushed by strong Santa Ana winds out of the chaparral and into a housing development. This has become an all too common occurrence as the wildlands shrink and the suburbs and exurbs steadily grow.


Seed Magazine
To Save the West, Kill a Plant
The southwestern United States is defined by water, or more precisely, by its absence. Today, water is captured behind massive dams and rerouted through concrete rivers. But scarcity has not been transformed into abundance; farmers, ranchers, states, and cities still fight over every drop. Now, a group of land managers is waging a campaign against an unlikely enemy: a water-sucking plant known as the tamarisk. To save a biome, we may have to kill one of its hardiest inhabitants.


Grist
Blazing Addles: What Climate Scientists Have Learned from Western Wildfires
So we know the West is warming up, and those warmer temperatures are triggering earlier, longer, and more intense fire seasons. The question naturally arises: is global warming driving all of this? Josh McDaniel speaks with climate scientists and wildland firefighters about the changes occurring in western wildfire patterns.


New West
The Utes Return to the White River Valley
It was a "massacre" or "uprising" or "incident" depending on who is telling the story. Nevertheless, on September 30, 1879, Nathan Meeker and 10 other Bureau of Indian Affairs employees were killed by members of the White River Utes. This past September, on the anniversary of Nathan Meeker's death, Meeker officially invited a group of Ute leaders, dancers, and drummers to return in the spirit of reconnecting with the town and their ancestral lands.


Wildfire mag cover Wildfire Magazine


Grand Junction Free Press The Endozone Mountain Bike Column

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
The Myth of the Open Border
I met Ermis Paladino, leader of a tree-planting crew, while working in forestry in Alabama. Ermis had come to the US illegally on two previous trips before becoming a guest worker. He says there is nothing that will stop people from coming, but border security does stop them from leaving the US after they make it.

More Fire on the Land - Not Less
A growing group of firefighters, land managers, and scientists argue that we are often too quick to stomp fires out - that sometimes it would be better to manage fire ecologically and let it play its natural role in forests. This article describes a number of firefighting teams that are taking a different approach to managing wildfires in the West.


Sustainablebusiness.com
Bioenergy Fuels Community-Based Forestry in Arizona
Bioenergy is emerging as a new industry, with the potential to provide substantial amounts of energy using woody biomass as fuel. In the White Mountains of Arizona, a coalition of federal land managers, environmentalists, and small business owners is building a community-based woody biomass industry, creating business opportunities for local small businesses based on hazardous fuel reduction and treatment programs.