Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Greg Walcher

Walcher: Squirrels Killed by the Forest Service, or the Courts?
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher, Rocky Mountain Voice

Walcher: Squirrels Killed by the Forest Service, or the Courts?

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, GregWalcher.com In 2017 the Arizona Game and Fish Department estimated that there were only 252 Mount Graham red squirrels left. They only inhabited a few hundred acres in the 10,000-foot Pinaleño Mountains, not equipped to survive the heat of the surrounding deserts. Then, a lightning strike started a 48,000-acre fire in that section of the Coronado National Forest, incinerating all but 35 of the Mount Graham squirrels in existence. Federal and state wildlife officials thought the species faced likely extinction. It is a more common story than you might think. The Journal Science published a study in 2020 called “Fire and biodiversity in the Anthropocene,” analyzing the danger of wildfires to threatened and endangered species. Across nine taxonomi...
Read More
Walcher: Zombies That Can Never Be Killed
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher, Rocky Mountain Voice

Walcher: Zombies That Can Never Be Killed

By Greg Walcher | GregWalcher.com In Haitian folklore a zombie is a dead body reanimated through Vodou magic. The modern concept of zombies as flesh-eating creatures from the cemetery evolved more recently, from the 1968 comedy/horror film, “Night of the Living Dead,” and sequels like “Dawn of the Dead,” “Day of the Dead,” and “Return of the Living Dead.” Some call them cult classics now, staples of the horror genre. Such films all have one thing in common: no matter how many times the bad guys are killed, they keep coming back. The same is true in politics, where the term “zombie” is often used to describe federal agencies and programs whose legal authority has expired but nevertheless continue to operate as if nothing changed. Coloradans are justifiably proud that their...
Read More
Walcher: How many border guards do we need?
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher, Rocky Mountain Voice

Walcher: How many border guards do we need?

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, GregWalcher.com Police have an unflattering nickname, “Permit Patty,” for someone who calls police over frivolous complaints. It originated when a woman called the police on a little girl selling lemonade at a streetside stand – as generations of kids have done – without a permit. It illustrates a commonsense truth, namely that not everything in life should require a permit, and not every infraction is a matter for the police. Most of us instinctively understand that, but the federal government never has. Virtually all government agencies operate from a top-down, command-and-control model that emphasizes enforcement over incentives. And most of them have a law enforcement division to make sure everyone complies with their edicts and rules. The fede...
Read More
Walcher: Let’s use what we already have
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher

Walcher: Let’s use what we already have

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, GregWalcher.com In planning the nation’s 1976 bicentennial celebration, Congress made one of its dumbest-ever boondoggle decisions. Recognizing the near death of railroad passenger service since the 1950’s, Congress decided to spend millions turning the aging and crumbling Union Station into the National Visitor Center. But they missed the obvious red flag – the millions of visitors to the nation’s capital during 1976 would not be coming by train. The ugly-carpeted National Visitor Center sat mostly empty that year, after which the old depot was boarded up, its roof caving in by 1981. Still ignoring reality, Congress spent millions more on several studies of what to do with the building. Each study concluded that the highest and best use would be a...
Read More
Walcher: Is government going to the DOGE?
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher

Walcher: Is government going to the DOGE?

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com A lot of jokes about Elon Musk are making the rounds, in light of his new role in identifying government waste, fraud and abuse. One says after he puts a car into orbit, outer space will be full of germs and diseases, no longer auto-immune. Another asks what he has in common with Thomas Edison. Answer: they both got rich off Tesla. The mission of the new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) that he will co-chair with Vivek Ramaswamy, is not a joke, though. In fact, the idea of reducing wasteful spending has already achieved some level of bipartisan support in Congress. Leaders on both sides are saying no one should oppose efficiency, which is easy to say before anyone has had to vote on any specific program cut. Every govern...
Read More
Walcher: The unproud Western legacy of Jimmy Carter
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher

Walcher: The unproud Western legacy of Jimmy Carter

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Alaska comprises nearly 20 percent of the entire U.S. at more than 665,000 square-miles, and is the richest state in natural resources. Yet it remains the most sparsely populated state, partly because of its isolation and weather, but largely because the federal government owns most of it: 406,000 square-miles. The U.S. purchased Alaska in 1867 specifically because of its vast resources, especially energy, which benefited the state and country for decades. But in the late 1970s, just after completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was passed, with the goal of preventing further development of those resources. It set aside 245,312.5 square-miles (157 million acres) for specia...
Read More
Walcher: Federal agencies should look in the mirror
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher

Walcher: Federal agencies should look in the mirror

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, GregWalcher.com In the 1950 movie version of Grimm’s Fairy Tale, the cruel stepmother scolds Cinderella, “You clumsy little fool – clean that up!” But, of course, it was the stepmother, not Cinderella, who made the mess. Sometimes it seems like the world is full of people who expect others to clean up their messes. It is a recurring theme among critics of federal agencies, which often regulate and even fine others for environmental damage, but rarely admit the role they themselves played in creating the problem. A lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), filed by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), has again focused attention on an agency blaming everyone but itself. Th...
Read More
Walcher: Time is on Colorado’s side – no need to rush
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher

Walcher: Time is on Colorado’s side – no need to rush

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, GregWalcher.com An early lesson I learned as a young staffer for the late Sen. Bill Armstrong was the importance of careful consideration. He disliked being rushed into hasty decisions and developed a standard response to any demand for immediate action. “If you need an answer right now,” he would say, “the answer is no.” If there was time for more thought, homework, reading and studying all the implications, the answer could be different. He understood that rushed judgments are rarely good judgments. Colorado River negotiators ought to keep that in mind as they are being prodded to make new interstate agreements that could supplant a century of western water law. CNN reported a few days ago that the Administration is “trying to throw a Ha...
Read More
Walcher: Who decides what’s a public road?
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher, National

Walcher: Who decides what’s a public road?

By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, GregWalcher.com Several years ago, Utah filed a suit insisting that the federal government turn over to the state 12,000 roads that cross federal lands within Utah. Few officials noticed, as disputes over who controls public roads on federal lands are nothing new. But the federal judge hearing this case just sent shock waves through Washington with an 80-page ruling containing an analysis worthy of the highest court, refusing to dismiss the case, and excoriating the government for trying to thwart the clear intent of the law. It is at least the 10th time in recent memory that federal courts reigned in federal agencies asserting absolute authority over public roads across public lands. The case cannot be understood without historical context...
Read More
Walcher: Making computers out of… wind?
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher, State

Walcher: Making computers out of… wind?

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, gregwalcher.com I just attended a reception with Colorado oil and gas employees, and the conversation was eye opening. I expected to hear about how difficult life in America would be without fossil fuels. There was some of that, but not in the way I expected. Many of the conversations were not about how badly we need gasoline for our cars or electricity for our homes and businesses. There was, instead, a new twist that most of us spend little time thinking about. Namely, all the products in our daily lives that come from oil, though many people don’t realize it. This is important, because the push to decarbonize our society assumes that most uses of fossil fuels can be replaced by renewables. Though it costs more and is less reliable, the technology to c...
Read More