Southwestern Wyoming’s Upper Green River Valley is home to the most extensive wetlands and riparian areas in the state, and its vast sagebrush prairies have long been a stronghold for sage grouse, antelope and mule deer. The Upper Green is also the site of the huge Jonah natural gas field. The Jonah Field stretches over […]
Evelyn Schlatter
Posted inArticles
Welcome to Smart Grid City, Colorado
Boulder, Colo., is known for a lot of things, including the University of Colorado, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and a distinctive hippie-progressive-outdoorsy vibe. And now, it’s about to get the nation’s first fully-integrated “smart grid.” A smart grid is exactly what it sounds like: an “intelligent” power grid that uses broadband technology to […]
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One down, three to go
Four Western states could see big chunks of new wilderness — roughly three-quarters of a million acres – thanks to a flurry of wilderness legislation. Three bills are now wending their way through Congress, and a fourth, designating the Washington State Wild Sky Wilderness, awaits President Bush’s expected signature. Many Northwesterners are enthusiastic: Idaho may […]
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Up in FLAME
Last year, over 6 million acres of wildlands burned in Western states. Since 2000, wildfires have burned larger and hotter than ever, thanks to drought and a century of fire suppression. And they’ve caused millions of dollars in damage as more people build homes in or near wildlands. That’s left officials trying to figure out […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Lines in the sand
Desert cultures are a breed apart. The environments of each shape the particular ways in which its inhabitants – human and otherwise – survive and express themselves. But beyond each desert’s distinctive topography, climate and culture, “a living river of common heritage runs through them all.” So says Gary Nabhan, Sonoran Desert ecologist and author […]
Posted inApril 14, 2008: Taking to the Trees
Ascending Giants
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking to the Trees.” They’re like a new frontier,” Sean O’Connor says, speaking about the gigantic trees he climbs, “because no other humans have been up there.” O’Connor is the photographer for the Ascending the Giants expedition team, which seeks out, climbs and measures […]
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Why the buffalo can’t roam
Since February, some 1,400 wandering Yellowstone bison have been killed under a controversial plan meant to prevent brucellosis – a livestock disease that causes spontaneous abortions – from spreading to cattle near the park. Five agencies are charged with keeping the park’s bison population within park boundaries, but the animals keep migrating out, entering private […]
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Where the rubber leaves the road
Updated April 17, 2008 As of July 1, you might want to think twice about driving your ATV off designated trails in Colorado. That’s when HB 1069 – signed by Gov. Bill Ritter, D, on March 20 – goes into effect. In what might be the strongest attempt yet to keep off-road vehicles from ripping […]
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From poo to power
Poop. That’s what powers Bartertown, the violent setting of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the 1985 post-apocalyptic movie. Beneath the crime-ridden city, one man controls the seething, stinky pig-manure pit from which electricity is generated — and he can shut off the power at will. Fortunately, that’s not the pattern for biofuel these days. Instead, the […]
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Go blue, save some green
The mountain pine beetle is about the size of Lincoln’s head on a penny. In the last 10 years, it’s devastated 1.5 million acres of lodgepole pine in Colorado, a half-million in the past year alone. The swaths of dead trees color the mountainsides a sickly orange-brown. Now, communities in the hardest-hit areas are scrambling […]
Posted inFebruary 18, 2008: Reluctant Boomtown
Mining the West
A glimpse at mining data — including workforce, mining salaries, metals revenue and production, minerals produced in 2007, the metals and minerals one person uses in a lifetime, miscellaneous statistics, and specs on the world’s biggest dump truck! Download the PDF » Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story: Reluctant Boomtown […]
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The fur is flying
Michael Moss’ 64-acre goat ranch sits on the edge of BLM land in southwestern Oregon. It’s “healthy cougar country,” he says, and he’d like it to stay that way. That’s not something you’d expect to hear from most livestock owners, but Moss is a member of Goat Ranchers of Oregon, a group that advocates smart […]
Posted inFebruary 4, 2008: Unnatural Preservation
Dear friends
WELCOME, NEW HCN INTERNS New winter interns Evelyn Schlatter and Francisco Tharp will be the last set of interns to spend a four-month stint at High Country News. We’ve found that most interns spend the first month or so just figuring out what HCN is all about and where we keep the coffee. So, starting […]
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The Appeal Deal
The West’s national forests remain in legal limbo. For four years, the U.S. Forest Service has been trying to overhaul the rules that govern the creation of forest plans, the “blueprints” that describe how each forest will be managed and protected. And for the past two years, the process has been locked in federal court. […]