Last year, Republican strategist Frank Luntz wrote a report, coaching Republicans on how to talk about the environment. Straight Talk is a fascinating, albeit nauseating, read — particularly the section about science. “Americans unanimously believe all environmental rules and regulations should be based on sound science and common sense,” it says. Then, Luntz does a […]
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 inJune 9, 2003: How we see the West
Dear Friends
A new supporter Once a year, High Country News dedicates almost an entire issue to essays. We hope this issue gets stuffed into the backseat of a few cars for the summer road trip, tucked into backpacks, or packed in dry bags for a little reading on the river. We’ll be back with more news […]
Posted inMay 26, 2003: A losing battle
Dear Friends
A new look, same old spunk Here it is, at long last — the new High Country News. As promised, the paper has a lively new look, but what’s inside remains largely the same: sagacious reporting, balanced perspective, a skeptical edge. Here’s hoping you like what you find. To research the cover story, our editor […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Dear Friends
Two weeks to launch time It’s true: This is the last issue of HCN in its current format. Your next issue will look a little different. We won’t give away the details of the new design, but thanks go out to all those who wrote in with ideas and critiques of the covers we printed […]
Posted inApril 28, 2003: Indian Power
The Latest Bounce
The Bureau of Land Management is doing its part for national energy security. In mid-April, the agency announced its new policy for approving oil and gas permits. Now, the BLM will simultaneously process multiple permits with similar characteristics, instead of evaluating and providing environmental analysis for each one (HCN, 4/14/03: Grass roots prevail in ANWR […]
Posted inApril 28, 2003: Indian Power
Dear Friends
Scratch the metamorphosis bit The notes from readers continue to roll in regarding our plans to redesign High Country News. We’ll spare you the details, but it’s great to get some thoughts from the outside world, since we’ve been staring at our work for so long that we’re all a bit cross-eyed. We received this […]
Posted inApril 28, 2003: Indian Power
New Mexico’s new governor must reckon with history
It’s tough to get in a fight in New Mexico without getting everyone’s grandparents involved. Here, history is somehow both deeper and closer to the surface than it is elsewhere in the West. Take the Aamodt water rights case, for example, which High Country News covered back in 1984. On one side of the fight […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Dear Friends
Your chance to weigh in Spring is springing in Western Colorado, and work continues on the redesign of High Country News. We’re getting a stream of good advice from readers. “HCN has made its mark by doing the kind of in-depth reporting that dailies now do less and less, and at the same time has […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
The best restoration tools are fangs and claws
The first thing I did when I got to Glacier National Park was go out for a run. It seemed like the obvious thing to do. I’d just graduated from college in New England, packed my belongings and spent three hard days driving West across the Plains. I was dying to get back to the […]
Posted inMarch 17, 2003: Bracing against the tide
Dear Friends
Fear and loathing in HCNland Change is always a little scary, and changing times at High Country News are no different, we’ve discovered. We mentioned in Dear Friends last month that we’re planning to give the newspaper its first major face-lift in probably two decades. The goal is to make the paper look more smart […]
Posted inMarch 3, 2003: The Wild Card
Dear friends
A wintry gathering As a gentle snow fell from a gray winter sky, 130 High Country News readers and friends jammed into the Cache La Poudre Grange in Bellvue, Colo., just outside Fort Collins. They brought splendid food and drink (thanks, New Belgium Brewery!), and a bevy of story ideas for the HCN staff. Issues […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 2003: Wyoming at a crossroads
Dear Friends
The defrost cycle First, a little follow-up to Jeffrey Lockwood’s cover story in the last issue, (HCN, 2/3/03: The death of the Super Hopper). Locusts aren’t the only things being disgorged by glaciers as global warming takes its toll on the West’s alpine ice. The Los Angeles Times reported in January that scientists are scouring […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Dear Friends
Survey results are in Living in a small town, it’s easy to make generalizations about your community. It’s a little harder to make sense of a community that’s spread across the million-square-mile West — and all the way to Washington, D.C. — as are the readers of High Country News. Sure, we send out a […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Dear Friends
A blizzard of mail The staff of High Country News returned from our holiday excursions to find the mountains above town buried in snow, and our desks — and e-mail boxes — piled high with mail from many of you. The holiday cards and fruit baskets and jerky and chocolates were wonderful — but it […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
Dear Friends
A town reborn In the last issue of High Country News we told you about a mining town – Eureka, Utah – in a death spiral. This issue features Leadville, Colo., also a moribund mining town, but one that is climbing out from the tomb of its mining past. The author, Leadville-area resident Steve Voynick, […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Dear friends
Kiss a super idea goodbye The rest of the world knows the West for its wide-open spaces and its national parks. And sure, the region is home to some of the nation’s most spectacular wildlands – but it’s also home to some of its most spectacular messes. Our mountain towns are pocked with the remnants […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2002: Behind the gate
Break open the gates
Former HCN staff reporter Florence Williams’ cover story in this issue looks at an unusual topic – gated communities. What, you may be wondering, do these have to do with the West? Quite a lot, in our estimation. The sequestered communities and neighborhoods that are springing up around the West represent a broader trend: the […]
Posted inOctober 28, 2002: Shadow Creatures
Asking hard questions
The cool, crystal-blue autumn days have brought a flurry of visitors to High Country News headquarters. Most recently, a posse from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., stopped by, midway through a new environmental studies field program. The “Whitman College Semester in the West” is the brainchild of professor Phil Brick, who won a Mellon […]
Posted inOctober 14, 2002: Democrats kick back: The politics of growth
Lassoing the West’s polital winds
The HCN staff and board are just back from our fall board meeting in Seattle. In the spirit of eating dessert first, we’ll start with the high point of the meeting, a talk from Tim Egan, national correspondent for The New York Times and author of books such as Lasso the Wind: Away to the […]
Posted inSeptember 30, 2002: Delta Blues
Balancing act, part 2
Balancing act, part 2 The cover story of this issue is the second in our series, “California’s Water Balancing Act.” In it, veteran journalist Susan Zakin writes about the state’s water hub: the California Delta. The delta, just inland from San Francisco Bay, collects a mammoth one-half of the state’s rainfall and snowmelt each year. […]