Seven years ago, I climbed aboard my aging Toyota Tercel and headed south through a blizzard so strong that it packed my wheel wells with ice. To keep the tires turning, I had to stop at small-town car washes and blast the ice blocks out with hot water. It was the first of many trips […]
Greg Hanscom
Greg Hanscom is the publisher and executive director for High Country News. Email him at greg.hanscom@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
Posted inSeptember 18, 2006: Going Big
Leave the wheels out of wilderness
A few winters back, a buddy of mine did a lot of backcountry skiing. So much skiing, in fact, that he was convinced he’d discovered a new law of physics: “The faster you go,” he told me, “the farther apart the trees become.” This is your brain. This is your brain on skis. “There’s a […]
Posted inAugust 7, 2006: Is It or Isn't It (Just Another Mouse)?
Playing God in suburbia
For the past six years, I’ve been a volunteer medic on our local ambulance service. In each ambulance, we keep a stack of 4-by-8-inch cards. I’ve treated victims of everything from stomach flu to mine cave-ins, and I’ve never had occasion to use those tags. I hope I never do. Here’s how they work: Faced […]
Posted inAugust 7, 2006: Is It or Isn't It (Just Another Mouse)?
‘You’ve got me wrong’: A Conversation with Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth
This June, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth flew into Delta, Colo., to meet with the local staff of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests — “GMUG” in local parlance. Bosworth, who became the chief in 2001, told a crowd of Forest Service employees, retirees and local conservationists that the agency he runs has […]
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
November Surprise
If it seems like we’re yelling at you with this issue’s big cover headline, well, we are. If you read only one thing this summer, make it Ray Ring’s cover story, “Taking Liberties,” which starts on page 8. Then pass it on to a friend, and tell her to do the same. Ray’s story gets […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
HCN looks to the future
“WHAT in the HECK is that merry band of High Country News pranksters up to this time? I mean, science fiction on the cover?” Well, yes — and trust us, it’s not as much of a stretch as it seems. Each summer, we take a break from the hard news and send you an issue […]
Posted inJune 12, 2006: The Perpetual Growth Machine
Dear friends
CHANGES AT HCN High Country News is searching for its next editor in chief, following Editor Greg Hanscom’s announcement that he’ll be leaving us at the end of the year, after 10 years with the organization. HCN’s former associate editor, Matt Jenkins, apparently got lost en route to California, where he was planning to set […]
Posted inApril 17, 2006: The War on Wildfire
Dear friends
LOCAL GRASSROOTS ACTION WSERC (“wuh-serk”), this valley’s local environmental group, has been called many things, including, of course, berserk. For a small group started around a kitchen table, the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council has accomplished a lot in its 29 years: It stopped a major powerline through the valley, convinced local coal companies to […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Tierra o Muerte
Outside the village of Tierra Amarilla in northern New Mexico, a hand-painted placard proclaims “Tierra o Muerte” — Land or Death. The sign gives some indication of just how fiercely northern New Mexicans have defended their land and their culture — a culture that traces its roots back to the conquistadores who claimed this land […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
The next boomtown
Consider this issue’s cover an early April Fools’ prank of sorts. We took inspiration from Outside magazine, the home of the “Top 10 Secret Getaways” that are obviously no longer secret by the time the issue comes off the press. Those headlines are the bane of our cover story’s author, M. John Fayhee, who has […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
Reality Check
Misinformation, spin abound in endangered species debate
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
Hot times — hot damn
Please forgive us, this once, just a little bragging. The cover story in this issue is the capstone of a two-year special series about global warming, written by High Country News Contributing Editor Michelle Nijhuis. The series started with a story about tiny bark beetles that are moving higher into the West’s mountain forests because […]
Posted inDecember 26, 2005: A New Green Revolution
Thanks to the farmers
At our Thanksgiving dinner table, we don’t thank God for the food. We thank the farmers. It started as a statement by my wife, Tara — a not-so-subtle hint to her parents that she puts her faith in a different place than they do theirs. But now it’s an important part of our holiday ritual, […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2005: The Final Energy Frontier
The view from above
Former High Country News Publisher Ed Marston used to say that HCN is a lot like a kid who’s just learning to ski: We tend to stay close to the ground. Our far-flung readers and freelance writers tip us off to the stories in their back yards. Even our coverage of what’s happening high up […]
Posted inNovember 28, 2005: Gold from the Gas Fields
Dear friends
HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE The staff of High Country News cordially invites all readers and friends to our holiday open house. It will be at our Paonia, Colo., office at 119 Grand Avenue on Wednesday, Dec. 7, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Feel free to bring a treat to share; we’ll provide beverages. PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS […]
Posted inNovember 14, 2005: Back On Track
Dear friends
THANK YOU The cottonwood leaves are piling up along the North Fork of the Gunnison River, not far from the HCN headquarters. Inside, contributions to the Research Fund have been fluttering in. Many thanks to all who have contributed to the fund so far this fall; it’s what pays our writers, editors and photographers to […]
Posted inOctober 31, 2005: The Public Lands' Big Cash Crop
The vast, unpatrolled public lands
It was supposed to be “the fishing trip of a lifetime.” Three brothers in their 50s and their teenaged sons hauled their rods and tackle to the Sierra National Forest last summer, in search of a quiet spot where they could spend a few days pulling trout from a mountain stream. It didn’t turn out […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2005: The Ghosts of Yosemite
Is anyone home at the parks?
Poke around the West for a while, and you’ll discover that the National Park Service does one thing better than any other agency. It’s not managing land. It’s managing people. Nearly 300 million visitors meander through the parks each year in search of that perfect scenic photo, a look at a bear, a little solitude. […]
Posted inOctober 17, 2005: The Ghosts of Yosemite
Dear friends
HELLOS AND GOODBYES The High Country News board of directors met in Santa Fe in late September, bidding farewell to two longtime members, and inviting five new people to join. Leaving the board are Emily Stonington and Michael Fischer. Emily, a state senator who raises sheep outside Helena, Mont., was one of the main forces […]
Posted inOctober 3, 2005: Out of the Four Corners
Exodus
Imagine that, aside from a few wanderers and pilgrims, no one ever returned to New Orleans. Imagine that the thousands of people who fled the French Quarter, the Ninth Ward and other neighborhoods in the face of Hurricane Katrina turned their backs on their homes, on the shops and the bars, and let them sink […]