July/August 1994 Issue

Bombs away!

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A huge expanse of Idaho’s idyllic Owyhee Canyonlands may soon become a bombing range. Under a plan developed and pushed by Gov. Cecil Andrus, the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management would hand approximately 20,000 acres of land over to the state, which would in turn lease it to the 366th Wing fighter pilots of Idaho’s Mountain Home Air Force Base. Opposition to the plan has brought together an unlikely coalition of big-game hunters, Native Americans, environmentalists, federal officials, and some of Andrus’ own state offices. The contested swath of canyon-carved high desert, sacred ground to Shoshone-Paiute Indians, contains myriad endangered plants, animals, and wetlands, and several hundred archaeological sites.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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