Why researchers are studying a group of Southwestern ranchers to learn about sharing, plus a look at the long road to protected habitat for the murrelet and the West’s disappearing fire lookouts.
Adrenaline junkies get political
Do young recreationalists who like things faster and steeper care about the land the way their forebears did?
High Country News: Branching out
The fourth in a series celebrating our 45th Anniversary.
New staff and fellow
We’re hard at work here at High Country News, trying to get this issue to press before Thanksgiving. But we still have time to share some gossip from our Paonia headquarters. We are delighted to announce that former intern Kate Schimel will be our new assistant editor. Kate proved herself invaluable during her internship and…
Playing the Alaska card
A native of the state explains the short-lived social power the state gives.
Questions beyond economics
Kudos to Elizabeth Shogren (“The Campaign Against Coal,” HCN, 11/9/15) for exposing a wider audience to the ongoing battles raging in Western states over the mining and burning of king coal. Shogren rightly points out that small local communities dependent on the mining and burning of coal — some of which I myself have lived…
Salvage on
Jodi Peterson’s brief on timber salvaging’s negative impacts mentioned black-backed woodpeckers but omitted some essential facts (“Log on,” HCN, 11/9/15). This woodpecker is neither threatened nor endangered. With the huge acreages of dead timber now available in the Western U.S. and Canada, the bird has an overabundance of foraging opportunities, aka “snag forest habitat.” Current…
The last stand of the West’s fire lookouts
Fire detection is becoming more technologically advanced, as the old-fashioned watchtower goes extinct.
The least of energy evils
“Clean Energy’s Dirty Secret,” though well-intentioned, grossly misinforms readers about wind energy’s impacts and ignores its many environmental benefits (HCN, 10/26/15). Contrary to the impression left by the story, wind farms are not a major source of bird mortality. North American wind turbine sites kill an estimated 134,000-230,000 small birds each year — only a…
The U.S. Forest Service: an agency adrift
A review of “Toward a natural forest“ by Jim Furnish
Big wind ≠ big tobacco
Judith Lewis Mernit’s Oct. 26 HCN cover story, “Clean Energy’s Dirty Secret,” seeks to paint the wind industry as a villain equal to the tobacco industry when it comes to the science related to their respective industries. The piece implies that my organization, the California Wind Energy Association, personally attacked a researcher and his work…
Who really killed Keystone?
An unusual coalition is fighting new fossil fuel infrastructure, and they’re starting to win.
Chronicling seven decades of parachuting into wildfires
A review of Jason A. Ramos and Julian Smith’s “Smokejumper: A Memoir by One of America’s Most Select Airborne Firefighters“
Why being a good neighbor is a good idea
Researchers look to Southwestern ranchers to learn why we share — and what happens when we don’t.
Coal comfort, secretive powerbrokers and dastardly Ducks Unlimited
Hcn.org news in brief.
Will the Little Shell Tribe finally be recognized?
The tribe’s complex history has slowed federal approval of the tribe. A new rule could change that.
Don’t circle too tight
Americans pride ourselves on our generosity, but at the moment we’re not doing so hot. In the face of one of the greatest refugee crises of our time, in which up to 12 million people have fled horrific civil war, the United States has agreed to accept 10,000 refugees over the next year. A lot…
Ending the murrelet malaise
After decades of declines, Washington state finally has a plan to preserve the bird’s habitat.
Gun-toting toddlers in the desert and drunk Brits in the Grand Canyon
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Latest: California’s plan for conservation-minded energy development takes its first step forward
The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan is intended to guide energy development, while protecting wildlife and recreation.
Latest: Anti-gay stance spurs exodus from Mormon Church
The church has a history of anti-gay actions.