Here lies the Rio Grande

February 18, 2002

The last issue of the "Imagine a River" series on the Rio Grande examines how the river has become the "Rio Wimpy," running out of water twice before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico.


Here lies the Rio Grande
A river on the line
A journey down the Lower Rio Grande through Texas and Mexico finds a sometimes-waterless river that faces a host of environmental, agricultural and human problems.


Greens join 'Let's derail a judge' game

Writers on the Range

How does snow melt? A test for all Westerners
With each flood of newcomers to the Interior West, specialized knowledge of place and culture is both lost and gained.
Attention, wolves: I'm what's for dinner
In the extremely unlikely event that any wolves reintroduced to Colorado began eating people, the writer says he would gladly volunteer to serve as a meal.
The Eucalyptus: Sacred or profane?
The writer says that California's much-prized eucalyptus trees are really overgrown, fire-prone weeds that would be better off in their native Australia.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends
An educational journey down the Rio Grande; top books about Montana; visitors; misspellings.


Cheney picks former aide to oversee parks, BLM,wildlife
Predator politics gets ugly in Idaho
Under pressure from ranchers, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and other conservatives, Rod Sando resigns from his position as director of Idaho's Department of Fish and Game.
The Latest Bounce
Salvage logging plan for Montana's burned Bitterroot forest meets approval; Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad line approved; experimental program would kill coyotes to save sage grouse in Idaho and Utah; Steven A. Williams new director of USFWS.
Condor program laden with lead
Battle brews over a wilderness mother lode
Will bulldozers roll into Arizona's Eden?
Anti-grazing activist Joe Feller is leading the fight against BLM-approved projects in Arizona's Arrastra Mountain Wilderness that include an improved access road to a rancher's inholding.
Scouts (dis)honor
Buyout for bears
Defenders of Wildlife and the Wyoming Wilderness Society are paying an Idaho sheep rancher to move to a different grazing allotment, so that grizzly bears can safely live on the original allotment.
Moose-slinging ends
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources' plan to use helicopters to relocate moose on Interstate 80 is halted when one of the helicopters crashes, killing three.
Dunes shifts toward park status
Entrepreneur shovels trouble
Archaeologists are appalled at Anasazi Digs, a family-owned business near Monticello, Utah, that plans to sell the right to dig and keep artifacts from prehistoric ruins on private land.
Groundswell for a monument?

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West
Guns a-plenty in Utah; dangerous tweezers; diplomatic liquor flows into Utah, along with ambitious hookers; Salt Lake hikes up rents; Colorado's reborn "Mountain Gazette"; tumbleweed problems in eastern Washington.



What is poisoning border babies?
Running for cover on the Rio Grande
Refuges such as the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge are among the few scattered fragments of habitat left in Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley.