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Letters From The West
Rocky Barker
3 days ago3 min read
The Los Angeles Fires mean at least one thing for sure for Idaho, more people are going to move here from there
A wall of fire burns through California (Courtesy Tim Walton of Calfire) The one thing we know will happen in the wake of the giant fires...
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Rocky Barker
Dec 30, 20242 min read
Carter's bold act to protect 100 million acres of wild Alaska began with a float trip on Idaho's Middle Fork of the Salmon River
Jimmy Carter and his family float down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho in 1978. By Rocky Barker The most significant land...
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Rocky Barker
Dec 12, 20244 min read
Grizzly Bear 399 lived to old age because we made room for her and her cubs. But she died because we have too many people in her wilds
Grizzly Bear 399 in Grand Teton National Park with a cub by her side (National Park Service/ A.J. Adams) By Rocky Barker The life and...
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Rocky Barker
Nov 9, 20244 min read
The problems and the players are not going away as the Trump administration takes over managing endangered salmon and steelhead
Guide Mike Hicks looks at the hatchery steelhead caught by Brad Marczuk on the Salmon River 600 miles from the Pacific. Wild steelhead...
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Rocky Barker
Oct 16, 20242 min read
So is selling off public lands the answer to the housing crisis? How about in the Boise foothills?
William Perry Pendley During the Vice-Presidential candidates debate last month Republican J.D. Vance raised the idea that we can solve...
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Rocky Barker
Oct 4, 20242 min read
Idaho Republicans aren't worried about water sovereignty when its Trump turning the faucet
The mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Veteran Northwest Journalist Randy Stapilus is baffled that Idaho’s...
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Rocky Barker
Sep 27, 20242 min read
Sam Altman wants to build a nuclear reactor in Idaho based on the research done at the INL's Experimental Breeder Reactor II
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm looks at fuel recycling facilities and liquid metal experiments at Oklo's lab at Argonne National...
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Rocky Barker
Sep 17, 20242 min read
Donald Trump says he will divert the 'giant faucet' of the Columbia River south to thirsty California
Ice Harbor Dam dumps waters from the Snake into the Columbia Former President Donald Trump suggested there was a “large faucet” up North...
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Rocky Barker
Sep 11, 20244 min read
Wrong Tree tells amusing inside stories of a wildlife expert who gets his hands dirty
Jeff Wilson rarely missed a chance to make an encounter with an animal or a human a learning experience. The Iowa farm boy, who made a...
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Rocky Barker
Sep 5, 20243 min read
Congress passed the Wilderness Act 60 years ago and its inspirational force lives on through an ever-crowding world
A falls in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness This week, 60 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Act,...
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Rocky Barker
Sep 3, 20244 min read
Klamath dams finally come down; thank Brownie Carson and the river advocates in Maine for kicking off the movement
We paddle the free-flowing Kennebec River a day after Edwards Dam came down (NRCM) Shrouded in the New England mist, Everett “Brownie”...
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Rocky Barker
Aug 30, 20243 min read
Stanley has survived the worst the Wapiti Fire has thrown at them as it created its own terrible weather
The Wapiti Fire near Stanley creates its own weather during the heat of the afternoon(U.S. Forest Service} The worst may be over for the...
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Rocky Barker
Aug 26, 20246 min read
Endangered Salmon have overcome many obstacles but still survive in the Columbia and Snake rivers and again depend on an election to safeguard their future
Salmon still survive in the Columbia and Snake rivers and again depend on an election to safeguard their future
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Rocky Barker
Aug 20, 20245 min read
The 1910 forest fires and their hero Pulaski couldn't stop the natural forces that led us to the megafires of today
I stand before the mine adit where Pulaski survived the 1910 fire in 2010 The memory of Old Faithful in 1988 stuck I my mind as I crawled...
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Rocky Barker
Aug 12, 20242 min read
In the Idaho desert lies the most popular slightly radioactive tourist attraction in America
Sixty nine years ago, Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 generated enough electricity to power a string of four light bulbs at what is now...
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rbarker773
Aug 1, 20242 min read
The end of the timber wars in the American West brought down the temperature of the forest debate
A new forest grows after harvest and fire. I watched the timber wars end in the American West in the 1990s. A series of court decisions...
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rbarker773
Jul 24, 20242 min read
Travis, Kourtney and little Rocky bring me back from the brink on rockybarker.com
Travis Barker acting like the rock star he is for Workday commercial I ignored the Kardashians until they reached into my life. On Nov....
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rbarker773
Jul 14, 20243 min read
Now is the time for all of us to listen to each other and follow Greg Carr's example.
Greg Carr meets with visitors and staff at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Greg Carr’s life is a model for making the world a...
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rbarker773
Jul 12, 20245 min read
Calvin Coolidge called this place "Idaho's national park" 100 years ago
Looking out across the Great Rift from Laidlaw Park in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve More than 100 years ago Robert...
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rbarker773
Jul 8, 20242 min read
Is this Supreme Court tougher than the strongest environmental law ever passed?
A greater sage grouse male displays its puffed up breast during mating ritual The recent Supreme Court decision that knocked down the...
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