Saving Places That Don’t Need Saving

February 19, 2021

When Congress created the U.S. Forest Service in 1905, it had several clear purposes. Part of the role of national forests was to provide timber and other forest products the country needed, and part of it was to ensure a steady flow of clean water from healthy forests. But the main purpose was to preserve […]

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A Monumental Opportunity

February 5, 2021

The headline has become so familiar that few people even notice anymore: Washington Monument Closed Again. The most recognizable structure in the nation’s capital, which attracts over 600,000 visitors annually, has also become a symbol of government arrogance. That’s because it is closed so frequently it is a laughing stock among tour guides. “Why have […]

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One God Tern Deserves Another

January 29, 2021

The pop band Ocean Park Standoff had a hit a couple years ago called “Good News.” It didn’t quite make the top ten, but topped Amazon’s list of the most requested song lyrics that year. Maybe that’s because the words ring so true to so many people these days: “I need some good news, baby […]

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Sorry, Still Not for Sale

January 25, 2021

It’s not every day that a photo of the Grand Valley Canal makes the New York Times. Many Grand Junction residents may have missed this momentous occasion, right after New Year’s. But there it was, right in the middle of a multi-page article, about Arizona water and the involvement of private investors from New York. […]

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Ode To the Big Meadows, R.I.P.

November 11, 2020

Don’t you hate leading, when it becomes clear that nobody is following? It’s the story of my life, so I don’t take it personally anymore. I have tried for years to lead a conversation about restoring healthy forests. Yet I continually look around and nobody’s there. Even with constant news showing the despair of people […]

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They’re Just Nine People

October 30, 2020

Few new Supreme Court nominees have generated as much interest as Judge Amy Coney Barrett, because her confirmation could have far-reaching implications by upending the court’s decades-long liberal majority. More has already been written about Judge Barrett than my poor power to add or detract. It is appropriate in this space, though, to opine on […]

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Aren’t They All the Same?

October 23, 2020

In 1998 the government added “Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse” to the endangered species list, a decision that has cost Front Range communities millions. The State argued that this “subspecies” is no different than ordinary field mice everywhere. A respected geneticist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science published DNA-based test results proving that these […]

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Blame It On the Virus

October 16, 2020

This week Interior Secretary Dave Bernhardt, on a trip to New Mexico, said his Department will not further delay a district BLM land use plan that includes, among many other things, a decision on the scope of oil and gas development. Participants in the very public processes for updating these plans know how arduous and […]

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But That’s Where the Money Is

October 9, 2020

Willy Sutton famously told a reporter that he robbed banks for one simple reason, “That’s where the money is.” Now, it is as if someone said to him, “You can go ahead and steal money, but not from banks.” There have always been extremists who want to ban all energy production on public lands, but […]

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Growing Crops, or Weeds

October 2, 2020

Some years ago I spent a day burning ditches around my peach orchard, as many growers do every spring. The location near I-70 allowed passing cars to see the fires (mine and couple others), and several grabbed their cell phones to report what apparently looked like an out-of-control wildfire. At highway speed, they could only […]

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