In this issue, we look past the contentious symbolism of dams and see what we can learn from them. We examine the lessons learned on Washington’s Elwha River, whose dams came down six years ago, and Utah’s Bear River, where a diversion is still being planned. And we look at the surprisingly scant science behind calls to take down Glen Canyon Dam, which would be a major win for preservationists but a potential disaster for many Westerners.
Listen deep, be silent
A Response to Brian Calvert’s article “Down the Dark Mountain” (HCN, 7/24/17): Yes, all these famous men these deep thinkers we revere make laments in beautiful words while the world goes on. While women give birth, nurse babies care for sick and dying parents. While nuns shelter the poor, teach in ghettos, visit death row…
A return to the Snake River
Taking a trip down the undammed section of Hells Canyon.
Restrictions on wreckreation; wildfire season, by the numbers; flash drought
HCN.org news in brief.
Down with the Glen Canyon Dam?
Activists claim that decommissioning the dam will save water and restore a wild canyon. Are they right?
How we risked losing the West
A look back at how range science misled land managers.
After its dams came down, a river is reborn
A look at the Elwha unleashed.
Dams are a divisive issue, but do they need to be?
What we can learn from the Elwa River.
Will Utah dam the Bear River?
The Wasatch Front faces drier times and a growing population, threatening the Great Salt Lake.
Slow progress on Park Service harassment
The agency begins to deliver on promises to confront sexual harassment.
Awake at night and listening to coyotes
Man-made sounds elicit a wild ruckus in the Bitterroot Valley.
Summer visits from dear friends
Including some former staffers, Bryce Gray and Lyndsey Gilpin.
Witnessing injustice
Ruxandra Guidi’s exceptionally good piece “Los Promotores” (HCN, 8/7/17) could be subtitled “Welcome to America! Harvest Our Food and We’ll Give You a Nice Little Place Next to the Dump.” Her article takes us into the remote desert corners of Southern California where the nearly concealed sins of environmental and social injustice become so terribly…
Healing the landscape, healing ourselves
I felt compelled to share these thoughts with you after I read “Down the Dark Mountain” by Brian Calvert (HCN, 7/24/17). I spent seven years working for the U.S. Forest Service cleaning up logging slash in clear-cuts. Although I actively provided input to timber-sale projects, the decision was always to log. My personal answer to…
Owls stuck in toilets; Otter attacks tuber; Mr. Mayor: Stubbs the cat
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Into the dark miasma
As a former HCN board member and former journalist, I write to express my disappointment and frustration with the lead article “Down the Dark Mountain” (HCN, 7/24/17) which was headlined on your front page as a guide to the ongoing ecocide of the planet. This article trivializes the coming disaster. For nine pages it wanders…
A community copes with record low salmon returns
On the Fraser River, faltering salmon populations have impacted tribes and urban economies.
Latest: A new push to ban predator poisoning
Cyanide meant for coyotes also kills dogs and eagles, and injures people
Interior overhauls sage grouse conservation
How big a role do industry concerns play in potential rewrite of management plans?
Latest: New Mexico’s landlocked wilderness may become reachable
Feds move to accept land that would open access to the Sabinoso Wilderness
States restrict chinook fisheries
Extreme climate conditions over recent years pummeled the king of Western salmon.
Gutting regulations damages democracy
Shutting the public out of natural resource rule-making is bad for the environment — and the country.
How farmers can help keep salt out of the Colorado River
The solution to a basin-wide problem may fall to individual irrigators.