For decades, insiders have reported problems in the cleanup of our worst nuclear mess — but is anyone listening?
Ray Ring
Posted inFebruary 3, 2014: The Hanford Whistleblowers
What do a biker bar and nuclear waste have in common?
This editor’s note accompanies the HCN magazine cover story headlined: “The Hanford whistleblowers.” — I made one of my first forays into investigative journalism back in 1982, when I was working for the Arizona Daily Star. A police raid on a Tucson biker bar had degenerated into disaster: When the cops burst in to arrest […]
Posted inGoat
Top 10 reasons not to move to Bozeman
In my role as a journalistic curmudgeon, today I’d like to tell you some of the drawbacks of living in a trendy Western town that often makes the Top 10 lists drawn up by the likes of Outside magazine, Entrepreneur magazine, and Livability.com. I’m talking about Bozeman, Montana – and how the conventional wisdom is […]
Posted inNovember 25, 2013: Ecosystems 101
Hard lessons from the mighty salmon runs of Bristol Bay
The world’s longest ongoing salmon research reveals the astounding complexity of wild ecosystems.
Posted inGoat
Discovery: Good ol’ tallgrass was formed by good ol’ bacteria
It’s always tempting to reflect on how wonderful the West used to be. You know what I mean: Conservationists and Natives lament that the first invasions by white settlers wrecked everything, and ranchers and loggers long for a return to the era before 750-page environmental-impact statements. Who among us hasn’t conjured up wistful images of […]
Posted inNovember 25, 2013: Ecosystems 101
Worst place for a major mine?
Backers of Alaska’s colossal Pebble Mine, including Republican Gov. Sean Parnell, have predicted tremendous economic benefits from developing what would be the continent’s largest open-pit mine (see map at lower left). But the actual economic forecast is not that clear, and recent events might force a recasting, or even the abandonment, of the scheme. An […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
Western towns shaped by industries they pursue
As wacky as it sounds, a bunch of corrupt Arizona politicians in 1885 had a profound effect on my life. Back then, the 13th session of the Arizona Territorial Legislature was dubbed “The Thieving Thirteenth” because its members were unusually prone to graft and beating up opponents. One issue they faced was: Should the territorial […]
Posted inGoat
Wonderful, gritty ‘Indian Relay’ documentary airs on PBS
If you have access to a TV on November 18, I recommend that you tune in for the nationwide debut of a new documentary about Indians in the West devoting themselves to a zany kind of horse racing. If you’re in Montana, catch the local debut on Montana PBS on October 31. They call their […]
Posted inOctober 14, 2013: The New Geronimo?
Help HCN complete its online archives!
We’re proud that High Country News is 43 years old — but our website, hcn.org, is still incomplete, because our online archive goes back only 20 years. Now we’re finally scanning in issues published before 1994. Soon they’ll be available online. We need your help to finish the project, though. So far, our point man, […]
Posted inGoat
Killer bees could help solve honeybee colony collapse
First, to get the blood pumping, a few shots of hysteria: A recent Los Angeles Times headline sums it up: “Killer bee season underway with a vengeance.” Whoa, and not just because of the cliché. So far this year, the list of killer-bee victims in the U.S. begins with a confirmed fatality, 62-year-old Larry Goodwin, […]
Posted inGoat
Sexy wildflower photos remind us to take in life’s details
Tim Crawford – an all-around maverick and High Country News subscriber in Bozeman, Mont. – has been doing photography for conservation groups, magazines, books and other purposes for more than 50 years. Now he’s debuting a series of close-ups of “Wild & Feral Flowers,” including this Mexican hat (also called the prairie coneflower) and musk […]
Posted inGoat
Who’s trashing the most popular park in Bozeman?
Mary Vant Hull, 85 years old and still kicking — or make that, kicking butt with her frank conversation — is showing me the degradation of Bozeman’s most popular park, on a bluff overlooking the whole city, when a sudden storm comes out of nowhere and blasts us. It’s July 16, but the temperature plummets […]
Posted inGoat
What’s the matter with Colorado Springs?
When the so-called Black Forest Fire ignited near Colorado Springs on June 11 and quickly spread across 14,000 acres of forested neighborhoods — destroying more than 500 houses, killing two people and forcing thousands to evacuate — it was an obvious tragedy draped in orange flame retardant. But let’s keep in mind, a political disconnect […]
Posted inJune 24, 2013: Water Rights
The ATV culture includes loose regulations — and kids’ funerals
Diezel De Rupp “enjoyed doing his little dance to the Dubstep” — electronic music propelled by drumbeats and heavy bass. In a photo, the 5-year-old looks delighted, his hair brushed upward in a peak and his shirtfront covered by the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s TapouT logo, celebrating martial arts. The boy lived in the Denver area, […]
Posted inJune 10, 2013: Paradise at a Price
Conservation goals in Jackson Hole collide with a need for worker housing
Jackson, Wyoming As I roam around this resort town in April to meet conservationists who battle affordable housing projects, I’m struck by a tongue-in-cheek take on the argument in the Jackson Hole Daily. Smack on the front page is a photo of a pair of geese facing off against two ospreys over possession of a […]
Posted inMay 13, 2013: Right-wing Migration
A hard right in Idaho
(This editor’s note accompanies an HCN magazine cover story on how right-wing emigrants took over North Idaho politics.) In my 18 years in the Northern Rockies, I’ve visited Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, several times and watched it change. The town — draped along the shore of huge Lake Coeur d’Alene — has been dramatically resort-ified, in […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Trading fish for sewage
One-percenter travel Western “luxury hotels” are offering innovative high-end outdoor recreation experiences to attract wealthy customers, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colo., advertises an “ultimate adventure package” that includes “a three night stay in a Deluxe King room, a snowshoe tour (with lunch) and a twilight dog sledding excursion through […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Pot pilgrims
Traveling in the clouds “Marijuana tourists” are expected to converge on Colorado and Washington, hoping to score without fear of handcuffs, because voters in those states legalized recreational pot last November. Arthur Frommer, founder of the famous Frommer’s Travel Guides, observes that “already, hotels in Seattle and Denver are reporting numerous requests for reservations by […]
Posted inMarch 18, 2013: Second annual travel issue
Travel, HCN-style
Note: This is an introduction to a special HCN magazine issue devoted to travel in the West. My wife, Linda, and I try to avoid the expected when we travel. When our kids were young, for instance, we all vacationed for several days in Orlando, Fla., the site of Disney World. But we didn’t spend […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2012: The new Wild, Wild West
A different borderland blues
(This editor’s note accompanies a story exposing a British Columbia mining rush that threatens salmon rivers flowing through Southeast Alaska.) When I first ventured into environmental journalism in the early 1980s, one of the hottest Western controversies was coming down in the temperate rainforests of the Alaska panhandle, bordering Canada’s westernmost province, British Columbia. Two […]