We’d like to recognize the dedication and vision of two long-time board members who recently decided to step down. Both hail from Boulder, Colo. Felix Magowan, who joined in 2001, brought substantial publishing and financial expertise to High Country News; he was the founder of Inside Communications, which published Velo News and other outdoor titles […]
Jodi Peterson
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
A cleaner coal?
Energy companies hope to turn coal into gas — by burning it underground
Posted inGoat
An impossible Shangri-la
In August of last year, we wrote about the Jenson brothers’ grand plans to turn a tiny, defunct ski hill in southwest Utah into a posh, exclusive mega-resort (see our story “An unlikely Shangri-la“). In building the Mt. Holly Club, the Jensons hoped to emulate the Yellowstone Club, the ultra-ritzy Montana ski and golf community. […]
Posted inNovember 9, 2009: Roadless-less
How big should we be?
In late September, the board of directors of High Country News descended on HCN’s hometown of Paonia to pass a new budget, look over a new three-year strategic plan and enjoy western Colorado’s beautiful fall weather. At the meeting, a lively discussion broke out over how many subscribers our print magazine should gain in the […]
Posted inGoat
Wanna hunt here? Just sign this petition
Landowners unhappy with government regulations are protesting this fall — by locking out hunters. Fred Hirschy, a Montana rancher, says he’s been losing cattle to wolves and is fed up with the lack of response from Montana’s wildlife department, reports The Montana Standard. For years Hirschy had allowed moose and deer hunters onto his land […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Buddy, can ya spare a subscription?
An HCN subscriber who owns an energy corporation in California got in touch with us earlier this summer. He wanted to do more than renew his subscription, he said — he wanted to send seven-month gift subscriptions anonymously to 20 former readers who had not renewed because of personal hardship (job losses, etc.). A huge, […]
Posted inGoat
Clean(er) coal?
In Alaska and Wyoming, two energy companies just announced plans to burn coal underground to create natural gas, then use the waste carbon dioxide to enhance oilfield production. The process, called “underground coal gasification”, has never been done in the U.S., but is used in Australia and other countries. The Anchorage Daily News reports: As […]
Posted inGoat
The high risk of leaving home
Last week, federal agents shot a sheep-killing wolf in Wyoming. That male (266M), from a Montana litter born in 2007, was the sibling of a female wolf (341F) that wandered across Wyoming, Idaho and Utah last fall. This past March, she was found dead near the northern Colorado town of Rifle. Sadly, the littermates’ fates […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Welcome, new HCN employees
In August, Mike Maxwell became our new Web and IT manager. Mike maintains the HCN Web site, analyzes web traffic data, and advises the managers on online marketing strategy. Mike, who has a B.A. in political science from the University of Colorado at Denver, has been in Paonia for three years now with his partner, […]
Posted inGoat
Tapping into methane
Last fall, we wrote about the enormous amounts of greenhouse gas vented by coal mines (in the West, methane emissions from mines are equivalent to the emissions from 1.9 million cars). And methane, an explosive gas vented for miner safety, is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of heat-trapping. At many East […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 2009: Home
Fall break
We publish 22 issues a year, and our next publishing break is in mid-September. Look for the next installment of HCN around Oct. 12. ROMPIN’ READER POTLUCK… in Paonia. We’re bringing back an old favorite: the High Country News community potluck at Paonia Town Park! This year, our fall board meeting takes place in HCN‘s […]
Posted inGoat
Lawless future indeed
Our recent story “Lawless future” described the Road Warrior-esque state of some of California’s state parks. The state’s budget problems meant that parks lost nearly $40 million this year. Short on staffing and law enforcement, many parks saw a surge in vandalism and illegal activity; nonetheless, the state is planning to shut down several parks […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 2009: Home
Book lust, Western-style
This fall looks to be one of the best in a while for new book releases. 2008 was a disastrous year for the publishing industry (as it was for many others), and publishers are now hoping for redemption with a strong fall lineup. Big-hit writers like Pat Conroy, J.M. Coetzee, Alice Munro, Wally Lamb, Richard […]
Posted inSeptember 14, 2009: Home
“To feel at home, stay at home.”
“To feel at home, stay at home.”– Clifton Fadiman, writer and radio personality Simple words, but I’ve taken them to heart. So have a lot of Westerners. The crummy economy and the “keep-it-local” movement have kept many of us from roaming as much as we usually do. One friend of mine went so far as […]
Posted inWotr
We can help bees by cleaning up our act
Over the last four years, millions of the West’s workers have vanished. No, they’re not immigrants deported back to Mexico. Rather, they’re honeybees, and no one’s sure where they’ve gone. Scientists have been baffled by the large-scale disappearances, but now there’s finally some good news: Recent research has identified at least three of the major […]
Posted inGoat
The River Dry
If we keep sucking down Colorado River water the way we have been (likely), and if climate change reduces the amount of water in the system (also likely) there’s a fifty-fifty chance that the system’s reservoirs will hit bottom by the middle of this century. That’s the stark conclusion of a new study released in […]
Posted inAugust 31, 2009: The dark side of dairies
A wedding, a story
Here in Paonia, Colo., the peaches and tomatoes are finally ripening and High Country News is still welcoming lots of summer visitors. Dale Benjamin and his son, Jordan, of Vancouver, Wash., dropped by the office with Dale’s cousin, Hal Brill, a Paonia local. A USDA consumer safety inspector back home, Dale said he was glad […]
Posted inAugust 17, 2009: From Corn to Cabernet
Hikers and bikers
Summer brings many visitors our way. Rod Vanderwall of Boulder, Colo., stopped by our Paonia office to renew his subscription and pick up a snazzy HCN T-shirt on his way to Cortez in southern Colorado, where he’ll be reviewing the energy conservation needs of a community college. As head of energy management for the Office […]
Posted inJuly 27, 2009: The Most Cooked-Up Catch
National visit-your-parents-in-Paonia week?
Lars Lange of Pittsburgh, Pa., stopped by the office after spending time with his father and mother, Ulrich and Inge Lange, subscribers who moved to HCN‘s hometown about four years ago. They signed him up, too, and he’s been hooked ever since, he says. Lars used to work in coal mining, then went to law […]
Posted inGoat
The latest buzz
It’s been more than two years since HCN reported on the West’s disappearing honeybees (see “Silence of the Bees”). Since then, parasitic mites and a mysterious syndrome called colony collapse disorder have killed off thousands more hives. Honeybees pollinate 80 percent of the fruits and vegetables we eat, and many wild species essential to ecosystems. […]