In our first issue of the year, we examine the failure of Washington’s carbon tax as a way to discuss the challenge of climate policy. We also dive into the strange relationship between burrowing owls and agriculture near the Salton Sea; analyze the ways in which hunters and anglers are weighing in on politics; and examine how Indigenous podcasting is taking the “true crime” genre to new levels, allowing it to discuss major issues in new ways.
Brainwashed, Alt-Right
I had to read “Welcome to the Alt-American West” (HCN, 12/24/18) a couple of times for it to really sink in. A better title would have been the “Alt-Right West,” because that is mostly where the altered reality lies. What Editor-in-Chief Brian Calvert describes jibes with what I saw in a video years ago by…
Fight for mule deer
In my 70 years in Wyoming, I have witnessed a steady decline in mule deer numbers (“The record-breaking journey of Deer 255,” HCN, 8/20/18). Fields that once hosted hundreds of deer now have dozens. The proliferation of “town deer” is not a healthy sign, either. These deer have lost their ability to migrate, so they…
Nuclear propaganda
I was very disappointed by “Generation Atomic” (HCN, 12/10/18), which read like pro-nuke propaganda. Uranium mining, milling, processing and transport all take up a huge amount of natural resources and produce carbon emissions. Furthermore, nuclear waste, which remains toxic for hundreds of thousands of years, is currently stored in thin-walled stainless steel canisters in the…
Pervasive plastics vs. tech clothes
Regarding microplastics in “Welcome to the Plastocene,” (HCN, 11/26/18) and the letter “Patagonia’s plastics” (HCN, 12/24/18), it feels like we’re continuing to jump on the last thing we heard, like it’s our biggest issue, while forgetting about the bigger underlying reasons for the problem. Plastics in outdoor clothing is certainly a concern, but it’s dwarfed…
The plight of the ‘snow oxen’
A biologist draws on his fieldwork to consider the world of muskoxen during climate change.
See iconic photographers’ forgotten work in 1950s Mormon towns
Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange capture a time when the religion was growing.
A new year, a new intern and a new investigative story
Staffers bump up against the government shutdown on holiday break.
What is stopping climate action?
We’ve become the agents of our own undoing.
What killed Washington’s carbon tax?
The curious death of 1631 and what it says about the future of addressing climate change.
Mistaken identity; bizarre trees; chocolate grizlars
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Update: The decline of Western snowpack is real
Data confirms climate model predictions of less snow that melts earlier in the season.
Hunters and anglers flex their political muscles
In the midterms, public land access issues helped several candidates nab governorships.
Feds to open most of Arctic refuge coastal plain to drilling
Despite ecological harm, energy development moves forward in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
After natural disasters, workers rebuild — and face exploitation
Immigrant workers and day laborers are especially vulnerable to health risks and wage theft.
How Indigenous reporters are elevating true crime
In the podcasts ‘Finding Cleo’ and ‘Thunder Bay,’ First Nations reporters reinvent a common formula. Can they find even bigger audiences?
Cutting carbon requires both innovation and regulation
Where coal-state Sen. John Barrasso got it wrong in a recent New York Times op-ed.
The howl and death of Yellowstone wolf 926F
A researcher’s mission to document the wild records the song of a famous Yellowstone canine.
Water savings may cause suffering for burrowing owls
Can the tiny raptors adapt to irrigation changes in California’s warming farm fields?