We love Paonia, Colorado, the small town where High Country News is based, but we couldn’t function without our correspondents and editors, who are scattered all over the West. Our far-flung colleagues adventure through the region’s most unusual and beautiful places, reporting and writing the stories you find in the magazine. A lot of great […]
Paige Blankenbuehler
Posted inArticles
The disappearing wetlands in California’s Central Valley
Where water is scarce, waterbirds pay the price.
Posted inArticles
Presidential candidates vie for the Western vote
The Nevada caucus brought Western issues into the fray this political season.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Interns take up crampons on icy sidewalks
It’s been an icy month so far, but not so frigid as to stop the presses or freeze the computers. We’ve been forging ahead, hard at work on our annual Travel Issue as well as on other timely Western stories. The chill just makes our masochistic staff work harder, so everyone is pitching in to […]
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Latest: Klamath dams to come down
A deal that would have supplied water to irrigators and tribes fell apart.
Posted inArticles
Invasive plants beat natives in climate adaptation race
In California, native and endemic plants are slower to shift their ranges in response to climate change, a study shows.
Posted inArticles
On the Klamath, a surprising win for river advocates
Dam removals on the Oregon-California border move forward without water deals for irrigators.
Posted inArticles
Above normal snowpack in some of last winter’s driest regions
Precipitation in recent months chips away at California drought, but the water deficit will be hard to overcome.
Posted inFebruary 2, 2016: Sagebrush Insurgency
Fresh faces and fresh powder
Over the past month, we’ve finally received our fair share of snowfall in Paonia, Colorado, and along with it welcomed our new interns, Lyndsey Gilpin and Bryce Gray. They’ll begin nearly six months of reporting, and (assuming we let them out of the office) they might even squeeze in a few outdoor adventures here on […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2016: Sagebrush Insurgency
Hope fades for Klamath River accords
Could the breakdown of the landmark water agreement imperil other collaborative deals?
Posted inArticles
Forest Service leaves control of water rights to ski resorts
How does industry control of water affect public land management?
Posted inArticles
Malheur arrests, as they happened on social media
As the Tuesday’s confrontation unfolded, key information came out on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Posted inJanuary 25, 2016: The Forever War
Home after the holidays, with bittersweet tidings
After a nice holiday break (with some of us taking more time than others), the High Country News editorial staff is finally back to work. Our first order of business involves correcting an error that squeaked into the last issue of 2015. A neighborhood struggling with an expansion of Interstate 70 in Denver (“Eastbound and […]
Posted inJanuary 25, 2016: The Forever War
Rock art and the struggle for preservation
Review of Jonathan Bailey’s “Rock art: A Vision of a Vanishing Cultural Landscape.”
Posted inArticles
Economic downturns fuel Sagebrush Rebellion events
Natural resource-dependent rural economies help explain why disputes happen where they do.
Posted inDecember 21, 2015: Secrets of the Deep
Two visions collide in Utah’s Wasatch Range
As ski resorts push for a mega-connection, backcountry skiers try to save some wild.
Posted inArticles
Early season snowpack falls short across the West
Nevada and Idaho are the only Western states above their historic averages.
Posted inDecember 7, 2015: Good Neighbors
Latest: California’s plan for conservation-minded energy development takes its first step forward
The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan is intended to guide energy development, while protecting wildlife and recreation.
Posted inArticles
BLM may cancel oil and gas leases in Colorado’s Thompson Divide
Fate of disputed leases could show ongoing shift in the Bureau of Land Management.
Posted inArticles
What will become of the backcountry in Utah’s Wasatch?
In Park City, a decades-long battle against the resort industry may be all but over.