In this issue, we trace the death of an endangered pupfish that landed a man in prison. We look at ways Western politicians are pushing back against citizen ballot initiatives; the implications of new research indicating that fish feel pain; and the ways in which California’s Karuk tribe is managing for wildfires — whether the law likes it or not. We check in with a Borderlands sheriff who disagrees with the Trump administration’s “emergency,” and question the moral dimensions of a recent mountain lion death in Colorado. We also review a new documentary giving writer M. Scott Momaday a movie worth his talents, and a writer ponders the disastrous differences between the Exxon Valdez spill and the ongoing climate change catastrophe.
A return from our spring hiatus
HCN receives an American Society of Journalists and Authors award and a lovely tribute to our former publisher.
The persistent trampling of the West
Environmental laws are one way to force people to consider their actions.
How a tiny endangered species put a man in prison
The Devils Hole pupfish is nothing to mess with.
Country-life shooters; moose acceptance; Phil Lyman’s unpaid debt
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Conciliation and compromise
For the last decade I’ve read almost every issue of HCN cover to cover, starting at the back cover with “Heard around the West,” but I usually just gloss through the “Editor’s Note.” Not this time: Paul Larmer’s essay on contradictions was spot-on (“Embracing contradiction,” HCN, 3/18/19). Last week, I finished teaching a 300-level environmental law…
Conversations and communities
As a longtime subscriber to HCN, I have always appreciated your approach in illuminating all sides of an issue as a step towards resolution on clear issues like water or land. Recently, a spate of articles has asked more amorphous questions, from people looking for a sense of belonging or struggling to stay in New…
Don’t scapegoat the horses
Debbie Weingarten’s cover piece depicts the conflict over the Salt River wild horses and the mythology of wild horses as symbols of an unbridled West (HCN, 3/18/19). But in venturing further afield, the article echoes destructive myths about America’s free-roaming wild equines. Overpopulation is not “a real problem.” The Bureau of Land Management and the…
Stop the Border Police state
Kudos to Ruxandra Guidi for journalistic excellence and her report on the Border Police’s abuse of, among other principles of democracy, the First Amendment (“Detention nation,” HCN, 3/18/19). Guidi reports the truth (there is no such thing as an “alternative fact”) in a clear, concise and logical progression, without name-calling, supposition or what rhetoricians call…
Wild horses do us good
As a wildlife ecologist, I did two in-field investigations and reports on the Salt River herd and its habitat in 2012 and 2015 (“Arizona’s Wild Horse Paradox,” HCN, 3/18/19). These involved interviews, ecological transects and literature review. Based on my findings, I believe that Debbie Weingarten is overlooking much of the greater truth about these…
Photos: The many faces of Marilyn Monroe
See the impersonators that perpetuate an All-American woman.
Cliven Bundy case appealed by feds
Prosecutor says missteps were inadvertent.
As citizen-led ballot initiatives soar, so have efforts to block them
In Idaho, a struggle over Medicaid expansion exposes the limits of forcing change via ballot measure.
An Arizona border sheriff confronts the wall
President Trump’s pitch is ‘a sound bite, not a cogent public policy position.’
Three decades after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Alaska’s coast faces an even bigger threat
Climate change is damaging ecosystems that never had the chance to recover.
How should we treat fish before they end up on our plates?
Seafood harvesting is brutal — but it doesn’t have to be.
Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday finally gets the film he deserves
Jeffrey Palmer gives us a glimpse of the Indigenous literary giant in ‘Words from a Bear.’
The Karuk Tribe fights a growing wildfire threat and a lack of funding
Surrounded by forests they often can’t manage without breaking the law, California tribes struggle to protect themselves from wildfires.
We shouldn’t celebrate the killing of a mountain lion
The recent encounter between a runner and a 40-pound cougar perpetuates unwarranted fear.