In this issue we take a dive into pollution, first with an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, produced in collaboration with High Country News and the Ohio Valley ReSource, as mining companies have taken advantage of loopholes to get out of environmental remediation by idling their operations. We also look at aerial spraying in Oregon and how locals are working to upend the practice. Another HCN investigation finds the EPA awarded a contract to do clean up on the Navajo Reservation to an outfit with a troubled past. We look into why California’s program to help low-income residents during PG&E blackouts has nearly zero applications. We travel to Idaho, where many refugees have found success in resettlement. We also provide a perspective on the BLM chief’s fixation with wild horses as a threat to public lands, and more.
Poor oversight comes back to haunt us
Two investigations reveal federal agencies are too lax on bad actors.
Slow-speed chase; intrepid coyotes; bear boxing
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Arizona volleyball team faces harassment
Native American athletes continue to experience racism.
A reason not to hunt
“Killing the Goat” was a great article and reminds me of my decision to never hunt again. Halas’ lost goat was my lost elk years before in Colorado. Never again! Ron Mannhalter, via Twitter This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A reason not to hunt.
False kinship
I have been reading HCN since 2001, during my early college days at Western State in Gunnison. I have never been as unimpressed by an essay as I was by Gabriela Halas’ “Killing the Goat” (HCN, 10/28/19). The writer’s “true kinship” with the two animals she killed retards the idea of hunting ethics and spirituality…
Humans vs. predators
As far as I know, no one is currently sure of the history of chronic wasting disease (“Weighing the risks”). One theory is that it has been around for many millennia, but was controlled by predators like wolves, mountain lions and bears eating the ungulates that were less able to escape them. So predators removed…
Modern hunting
Emily Benson diplomatically raises some of the issues surrounding hunting in a modern society (“The power of hunting,” HCN, 10/28/19). There are three additional items worth pointing out. First: Show me the cost-benefit analysis for hunting. It might prove out for subsistence hunters or rural folks shooting game in their hayfields, but for most urbanites,…
Predators vs. CWD
As a lifelong hunter reared in Denver, and someone who harvested a mule deer near Paonia, Colorado, 60-odd years ago with an 1873 Springfield .45-70, I found Christine Peterson’s reflection on chronic wasting disease very interesting (“Weighing the risks” HCN, 10/28/19). I studied forestry and wildlife management at Colorado State University and worked for the National…
‘Revolting’
Cloaked in “elegant” prose, “Killing the Goat” was an absolutely revolting article (HCN, 10/28/19). Hunters can search for kinship with the wild all they want, but it is total BS. This clown wounds the mountain goat, tries to follow it but cannot, then kills a bear who comes towards her as she heads back to…
Photos explore the eerie and erotic of public lands
David Benjamin Sherry, Terry Tempest Williams and Bill McKibben celebrate what could be lost to Trump’s monument rollbacks.
Grizzlies and the limits of coexistence
A rancher weighs the fate of wildlife and human encroachment in his new book.
Many reasons to celebrate November
New employees join our staff and heritage months make the days extra special.
California could have helped low-income residents weather PG&E blackouts
The state had a program — and $72 million — but hardly anyone applied.
BLM chief’s wild horse fixation distracts from the real threats to public land
Species extinction, near-constant wildfire and widespread drought are a few dangers William Perry Pendley might consider instead.
How Big Rec chooses its public-lands battles
Outdoor industry giants stood up for Bears Ears. Why won’t they stand up for the Borderlands?
Can a campaign for nature and community rights stop aerial spraying in Oregon?
The push for more local control upends the typical pattern of Westerners fighting against regulation.
Feds give Navajo uranium contract to firm with sketchy past
A High Country News investigation finds the EPA awarded Tetra Tech a contract despite knowing its subsidiary had likely engaged in data manipulation, false reporting and profiteering.
Refugees look for belonging in Idaho
The Twin Falls resettlement program continues to thrive in the face of recent serious challenges.
The feds tried to make an example of a small Washington coal mine. It didn’t work.
The John Henry Mine last produced coal in 1999 and has yet to be fully reclaimed.
While ‘zombie’ mines idle, cleanup and workers suffer in limbo
Instead of paying to clean up the mess left by mining, companies are warehousing their operations indefinitely.