WELCOME, EVAN AND FLETCHER New HCN intern Fletcher Jacobs arrived in town only to find that the “off-the-grid” solar-powered house he’ll be living in for the next few months was recently struck by lightning. Until the home’s electrical system can be repaired, it’s back to flashlights and candles. Fletcher spent the last two years in […]
Jodi Peterson
Posted inSeptember 4, 2006: Blast from the Past
Dear friends
BIKERS, FILMMAKERS, ENGINEERS, CHEESEMAKERS Billie Stanton, editorial writer for the Tucson Citizen, left a business card in our door on a recent weekend: “I was here; you were gone. But keep up the good work.” Sorry we missed you, Billie. Filmmaker Dave Gardner and his daughter, Stephanie, of Colorado Springs, Colo., stopped by as part […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 2006: Blast from the Past
The anatomy of an energy lease
How a city’s watershed was opened for natural gas development
Posted inSeptember 4, 2006: Blast from the Past
When can the BLM say ‘no’?
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “The anatomy of an energy lease.” If a BLM or Forest Service management plan OKs an area for leasing, BLM officials say they have little power to prevent drilling. “The bar (for withholding land from leasing) is […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Dear friends
CONGRATS, MATT AND PAOLO HCN staffers recently took home two more writing awards. West Coast correspondent Matt Jenkins received the 2006 James V. Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism for his story “Squeezing Water from a Stone” (HCN, 9/19/05: Squeezing Water from a Stone). Judges had high praise for Matt’s story about the implications of Las […]
Posted inAugust 7, 2006: Is It or Isn't It (Just Another Mouse)?
Dear friends
MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK Readers have been calling for more content and a greater diversity of stories in High Country News. We’re happy to deliver: We’ve added four pages with this issue. To help cover the additional costs of printing and mailing, we’ve added an extra page of advertisements — but not to worry: […]
Posted inAugust 7, 2006: Is It or Isn't It (Just Another Mouse)?
A few scientific definitions
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Is It or Isn’t It (Just Another Mouse)?“ When people think about the creatures protected by the Endangered Species Act, they tend to picture gray wolves, grizzlies or spotted owls. But the act draws finer distinctions than that, providing protection for subspecies and even […]
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
The Latest Bounce
New Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne won some friends in the environmental movement in June, when he junked a National Park Service proposal drafted under his predecessor, Gale Norton (HCN, 9/19/05: Revealed — secret changes to park rules). That proposal came under fire from greens, park employees and even some Republican lawmakers for relaxing rules regarding […]
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
Dear friends
SUMMER EDITORIAL RETREAT In June, our editors and correspondents spent a day and a half at an editorial retreat (actually, it was more like a “full rout,” quipped one staffer). Former staffer Florence Williams, now a successful freelance writer, gave us a workshop on magazine writing techniques. Look for exciting changes coming to the news […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
The Latest Bounce
Republican Pete McCloskey made a valiant attempt to unseat Rep. Richard Pombo (HCN, 4/17/06: Pete McCloskey rides again). But California’s 11th Congressional District stood behind its native son. Despite questions about his ethics and attempts to weaken key environmental laws, Pombo received 62 percent of the votes in the June 6th primary. Moderate challenger McCloskey, […]
Posted inJune 26, 2006: The Tamarisk Hunter
Dear friends
SUMMER BREAK HCN staff will be taking some much-needed time off during the last two weeks of June. We’ll be enjoying our families and praying for rainstorms. Look for the next issue of HCN to reach you around July 24. WELCOME, ABBIE AND JESSICA Two new faces have recently appeared in the HCN office. Abbie […]
Posted inJune 12, 2006: The Perpetual Growth Machine
The Latest Bounce
Asbestos victims in Libby, Mont., can now qualify for Social Security disability benefits. In late May, the Social Security Administration, under the prodding of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., issued a new ruling that allows victims of tremolite asbestos to receive disability benefits. More than 1,500 Libby area residents suffer from exposure to tremolite asbestos, the […]
Posted inMay 29, 2006: 'Clinging Hopelessly to the Past'
Dear friends
WELCOME, NEW INTERNS Having worked as a bicycle messenger, Wall Street broker, jeweler, car detailer and welder, Allison Gerfin is ready to try her hand at something new: an internship at High Country News. Allison wandered between the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts for a number of years, from New York City to Portland, Ore., […]
Posted inMay 15, 2006: The Immigrant's Trail
Dear friends
WELCOME, CARMELLA Carmella Hensyel has joined HCN’s marketing department. Carmella worked most recently as marketing and sales director for Scenic Mesa Ranch in nearby Hotchkiss, which offers guided hunting and fishing. When the ranch began raising bison, Carmella helped develop and promote products ranging from buffalo meat to leather furniture: “It was extremely important to […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
The Latest Bounce
There’s gold in them thar hills — and tailings in that thar lake. The Army Corps of Engineers confirmed its decision to let a mining company dump millions of tons of mine waste into an Alaskan lake (HCN, 7/25/05: Mining waste dumped in streams — and now lakes). Last fall, environmentalists sued the agency to […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Dear friends
VISITORS Katie Lee, the grande dame of Western folksingers, river runners and environmentalists, graced us in early April with her merry grin and insouciant manner. She’s been updating her 1998 elegy to Glen Canyon, All My Rivers Are Gone, and says a new edition will be published soon (HCN, 12/21/98: A river rat remembers). Katie […]
Posted inApril 17, 2006: The War on Wildfire
The Latest Bounce
To fund rural schools and services, President Bush’s 2007 budget proposes putting thousands of public acres on the auction block (HCN, 3/6/06: Public acres for sale). But two Democratic senators have a better idea: Close a legal loophole that lets some government contractors skip out on taxes. Montana’s Max Baucus and Oregon’s Ron Wyden proposed a bill […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Dear friends
HCN EDITOR WINS AWARDS FOR SILVERTON PAPER Congratulations to new Associate Editor Jonathan Thompson, who recently took home seven awards from the 2005 Colorado Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest for work he did while publishing and editing the Silverton Standard & the Miner. Jonathan won first or second place in several categories, including feature and […]
Posted inMarch 20, 2006: Town Shopping
Dear friends
WE’VE COME A LONG WAY … Pick up a pre-2003 copy of High Country News, and you might find it hard to believe that you’re looking at the same publication. It was in ’03 that we ditched the black-and-white, pick-it-up-for-a-quarter-at-the-local-diner design that had been the paper’s signature since its founding in 1970. We shrank the […]
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
Dear friends
NEW BLOG ON THE BLOCK A new online experiment for HCN, or the last best place for a nuclear waste dump … you decide. We’ve got our own blog now, where Paolo Bacigalupi, our Web editor, comments daily about what’s happening in the West. Check it out at http://blog.hcn.org/goat and send comments, tips and suggestions […]