Public land access problems frustrate hikers and hunters; why greens are mad at the California governor; how balanced rocks can help us predict earthquake risk; explorations in an urban wilderness.
We’re hiring – in D.C.!
HCN needs a D.C. correspondent; visitors came to call.
Give the fossil fuel industry free rein!
In 1729, Jonathan Swift published the most famous satirical essay in the English language: A Modest Proposal For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public. And what was Swift’s proposal? Merely that the one-year-old children of indigents…
Why are environmentalists mad at Jerry Brown?
The California governor has made bold moves on climate — but greens are disgruntled.
‘I Am Alaskan’
The surprising diversity of the 49th state, through Brian Adams’ lens.
Yellowstone’s climate threat
Your piece on the differing responses to wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone was a welcome change from the oversimplified accounts that have dominated media coverage (“Have returning wolves really saved Yellowstone?” HCN 12/8/14). One important factor was missing, even though it is likely to become the most critical one: climatic change. Our University of New…
Balanced rocks can tell us about earthquake risk
Seismologists study precarious boulders to determine how hard the ground might shake.
Deportation relief
Program could help immigrant families stay in the U.S.
Galloping beyond the cliché
Review of art exhibit “William Matthews: Trespassing” at DAM
Goats at the table, and bobcats on (in) the grill…
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Half-Blind Valley
Explorations in an urban wilderness.
Love in a post-apocalyptic world
Review of “California” by Edan Lepucki.
On the edge of Custer’s last stand
Review of “Far As the Eye Can See” by Robert Bausch.
The Latest: Rio Grande water
A shortfall in water deliveries may lead to more fighting.
The Latest: Wildlife refuges
The refuge system finally has a strategy for expansion.
Private property blocks access to public lands
Public lands belong to everyone. But private landowners can make it hard to get to them.
This land is whose land?
Every week, the editors of High Country News sit in a small, lime-sherbet-colored conference room and debate what stories we should cover. Should we tackle legalized marijuana, since the West is leading the charge, or has that story become too “national?” How about North Dakota’s response to the drop in oil prices — is it…
Thrill of the dust hunt
Imagine my surprise at seeing the frontispiece of my doctoral dissertation on the cover of High Country News (“The Dust Detectives,” 12/22/14). To those who study it, the atmospheric transport of dust and pollution is a truly exciting detective drama, full of twists and new discoveries. It is a field both driven by and motivating imaginative…
Tricky fluency
I’m always pleased to find articles in HCN devoted to Native American issues, which is why I was glad to read a piece covering the Navajo Nation’s plight concerning language fluency and the eligibility of presidential candidates (“A question of fluency,” 12/22/14). And while the article was quite accurate in describing the now-obvious divisions among…