Opinions

Living with evacuation, smoke, helicopters, fire

I live on a county road near the evacuation perimeter of what is now Colorado’s largest wildfire. Yesterday, the sheriff’s deputy was outside, his lights flashing red-blue-red, giving my house a strobe light effect. He was directing traffic as people fled the mountain with trailers filled with cattle and horses and goats and belongings.

Tribal election brings deep questions for recovering politician

I’ve got another rant on the upcoming Crow Tribal election. The top two vote getters in the long go qualified for the short round, or the tribal general election on Nov. 7, a few days after the federal election.

The complexity of color in the environmental movement

This summer was a time of reckoning about race in every sector of American life, and many of us are scrambling to respond in appropriate ways — including the environmental movement I’m a part of.

All elections (and all votes) matter

Amidst a pandemic, mass unemployment with the accompanying financial stresses, and attempted recovery from both, as well as national and state elections for president, governor and members of Congress, the importance of lower profile campaigns are easy to overlook or consider unimportant, at our own peril of suffering the consequences of our own apathy or lack of understanding. Such potential exists related to those seeking election to the Montana Public Service Commission.

The West’s population grows and churns

Ever since 1790, when the U.S. Census started keeping track of such things, the migratory flow of non-Indigenous people within the United States has moved from East to West, into lands they erroneously saw as a blank slate, and not so erroneously as a land rife with natural resources to exploit.

Fanning the flames in Oregon

In early September, the Almeda Fire ignited at the edge of my hometown of Ashland, Oregon, and roared through the nearby towns of Talent and Phoenix, pushed by hot south winds.

Galloping goats, biting gators and more in your local newspaper

If you happened to read the Albuquerque Journal recently you would have learned about a family who used their (galloping) goats to gobble up weeds and earn some extra money while keeping the city’s weeds and grass trimmed. In the Orlando Sentinel, you would have discovered that a man was attacked and bitten by an alligator while hunting near one of the local lakes.

The Smith River Mine is not a done deal

This past summer, folks from across Montana and around the country fished for wild trout while the cool, clean waters of the Smith River flowed underneath them. They sat around campfires, telling stories of good times gone by with friends and family while their kids played nearby, making wishes on stars. They sat under the shade of massive limestone cliffs, cooling off after a hike to the canyon rim where they passed by Native American cultural sites as they climbed to some of the most picturesque views in Montana.

A clear warning about the Colorado River

For the West this summer, the news about water was grim. In some parts of California, it didn’t rain for over 100 days. In western Colorado, the ground was so dry that runoff at first evaporated into the air. And in New Mexico and Nevada, the rains never came.

Where does your tribal candidate stand?

I’ve been pondering who the Crow Tribe will choose as leaders in the upcoming election. I also wonder what the voters’ decisions in choosing leaders are based on. I’ve even gone as far as making predictions on who will advance to the short go.