Analysis A fatal helicopter crash has drawn attention to the Las Vegas helicopter tour industry, which sends hundreds of flights into the western Grand Canyon on a typical day. Conservationists have been alarmed at the growing number of flights, and although their objections have largely focused on noise in the Canyon, the issue of safety…
Category: the west
A site about the western United States: Public lands, national parks, monuments, conservation, outdoor recreation, wilderness, national forests, trees, fish, animals, nature, hiking, fishing, rambling around, backpacking, Grand Canyon at risk, Bears Ears National monument.
Little white lies: part II
Far too many people seem to break down reality to a set of numbers … so it’s only natural that they transfer that thinking to fishing – numbers of fish caught, size of fish, nothing but the best gear that money can buy – the usual trappings of a consumer society that doesn’t know when to quit.
A short history of Jerome
Jerome burned. And burned and burned. Three years in a row, the town burned, and merchants rebuilt the tents and shacks that sheltered saloons and cathouses. It was a mining town, where men dug furiously by day and drank away the night. Jerome ran on whiskey, dreams and laissez faire capitalism, a shining lie that…
Why history matters, and why we are losing it
Arizona is losing its history. Rats build nests in historic documents, old buildings sag and buckle, roofs leak and records blacken with mold. Collectors slip a few papers into their collections and looters plunder archeological sites. Historians and archivists say the problem is getting worse as budgets are slashed and as information is processed digitally,…
Cliven Bundy walks
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro has dismissed charges against Cliven Bundy, his two sons and a militiaman with prejudice, ending a case that pitted the federal government against the Sagebrush movement’s militant faction. Multiple media outlets report that the charges were dismissed after Navarro found that the feds withheld evidence that could have helped the…
Annette McGivney just released a new book and I can hardly wait to get my hands on it
Annette and Elias get ready to leave paradise.
Grand Canyon West is getting a zip line
The Hualapai Tribe will offer a zip line to its tourism lineup at Grand Canyon West, according to the Associated Press. More than a million visitors a year visit Grand Canyon West, which is located outside the national park and is best known for the Skywalk, a glass platform with a view of the Colorado…
Here’s what’s at stake in the Bears Ears
The region is rich with archaeology sites, remote hiking and scenic views. It’s also the site of the nation’s only fully-licensed and operating uranium mill, according to Energy Fuels Resources. The Trump administration has scaled back the size of Bears Ears National Monument and already faces lawsuits over the move. Conservationists say that there are…
The West
News: Monument reductions The Trump administration will reduce the size of two national monuments in Utah. The Department of Interior said in a press release that Bears Ears National Monument, created by the Obama administration, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, created by the Clinton administration, both face reductions. “The Antiquities Act does not give the…
Angling
You should have been here last week.