In our last issue of the year, we reflect on the presidency of Barack Obama and the stamp he’s left on the West. Despite his inclination toward compromise and incremental progress, Obama may well be remembered as the first leader to seriously address the foremost environmental issue of our time: climate change.
Putrid spillage; New Mexico fisticuffs; the year, in quotes
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Reconciling two views of a Hopi massacre
Native American and European approaches to history still clash.
Taking a long view
I have generally found Peter Friederici’s writings erudite, colorful and informative. Now, having just read, and reread, his essay in the Nov. 28 issue, I add the adjective, confusing (“A Place Between,” HCN, 11/28/16). He believes, as I do, that human activities are largely responsible for Earth’s current climate changes that continue to grow and…
DAPL dispatch; forgotten funds; Obama’s rush to the end
HCN.org news in brief.
Trumping up demand
The recent opinion piece by Jonathan Thompson explains very clearly why killing regulations won’t restore energy jobs (“When it comes to energy, Trump’s promises are empty,” HCN, 11/28/16). There must be an increase in demand for oil. Thompson is too good a person to conjure up how Trump will increase demand: He will start a…
HCN gets coal in its stocking — sort of
The magazine throws its annual holiday party and pays a visit to the local coal mine.
How Obama began to mend broken tribal relations
Native American leaders say Obama’s legacy is this: He listened.
Looking back on Obama
In the dark days of early December, just a month after the election of President-elect Donald Trump, Idaho Conservation League Director Rick Johnson and Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson joined a couple of hundred folks at Boise’s City Club for a nostalgic celebration. They were being lauded for the passage of the Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness bill,…
The ‘chickenization’ of beef
Obama’s efforts to help small-scale ranchers competing against Big Ag were blocked and ultimately fell short.
Obama’s lasting legacies in the West
Under the 44th president, the West re-examined its relationship to energy and the climate.
Obama’s mixed impact on endangered species
The administration delisted more species, but ultimately weakened the act itself.
A fresh view of Yosemite
A new book takes an insider’s look at the famed park.
A window into other ways
Thank you so much for publishing Leath Tonino’s “The Anthropological Aesthetic” (HCN, 11/28/16). Reading it was akin to looking in the mirror and reclaiming the deepest part of myself, which I had foolishly gotten too far away from. I spent the late ’80s and early ’90s in a graduate anthropology program at the University of…
Rationalizing coal production
Reading Elizabeth Shogren’s update about the Forest Service’s decision to expand the Somerset Coal Mine (near your office in Paonia), I was a bit stunned to see the following quote from USDA Undersecretary Robert Bonnie: “No one is under the belief that we’re going to immediately change the energy mix starting today. There’s going to…
A case of mistaken identity at the dinner table
The ‘turkey’ was oddly shaped, too small — and the meat too dark.
Latest: Snow geese die in a toxic lake in Montana
Thousands of the birds died during a winter storm.
Latest: Invasive zebra mussels have reached Montana
Their arrival could have drastic economic effects.
How to keep independent bookstores alive
We need bookstores that answer only to their communities.
Feds withheld key documents from Standing Rock Sioux
Still, Trump’s election reduces chances that the Dakota Access pipeline will be permanently blocked.
An inside look at the national parks
Hard-won photos of the National Park Service’s ‘Treasured Lands.’
Where will the West’s next national monument be?
Bears Ears isn’t the only local effort to get Obama to designate protections before he leaves office.
Will a twice-burned county change its ways?
Don’t count on wildfires to alter how counties plan development in fire-prone zones.
Where species will find refuge
Nooks and crannies offer safe harbor from a changing climate.