In this issue, we investigate how a Nooksack tribal leader in Washington took a stand against her tribe’s disenrollment efforts and became the target of a home invasion, cyber stalking and constant harassment. In Alaska, we look at a budget threat to ferries forming the marine highway system. We check out a University of California lawsuit against the federal government after the Trump administration shut down the DACA program. In Navajo Nation, we ask why LGBTQ+ people are barred from Diné ceremonies. In a photo essay, we bear witness to the funeral of a deported undocumented U.S. Army veteran whose body was returned to his family in New Mexico for burial. We also interview a wildlife biologist who changed careers to become an advocate for equity in the conservation movement.

Photo illustration featuring Carmen Tageant. Credit: J. D. Reeves / HCN Photographs: Lindsey Wasson / HCN

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A rotting democracy

“A Cherokee for Trump” and “Party Favors” (12/9/19) by Graham Lee Brewer and Will Ford seem bookends to each other, detailing really bad politics. Both portend a dismal outcome for our nation. In Brewer’s article, the Oklahoma congressman seems to enjoy contradictory support from his own fragmented people.(“There are a lot of conservative hardcore evangelical Cherokees who believe…

by John Roehling

Kindergarteners connect to wildlife

The kindergarten/first grade class at the Idaho campus of Teton Science Schools’ Mountain Academy was thrilled to see your cover story about wildlife crossings (“Crossing to Safety,” 1/1/20). Throughout the fall and early winter, our class has been studying our local Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the animals that live here. Our focus turned towards animal…

by Hilary Hays

Patagonia goes grassroots

“How Big Rec picks its battles” (11/25/19) distorts Patagonia’s long-standing advocacy to protect public land. The reporter is right to care about border communities impacted by this administration’s grotesque policies and the lack of diversity in the outdoor industry; both are deeply concerning, and Patagonia is addressing them through direct action. But the implication that…

by K. Corley Kenna

Slick headgear

Is this part of HCN’s new slick magazine approach (“Worse for Wear,” 1/1/20)? To keep reposting simplistic analyses of headgear? I kept thinking of the often-printed image of HCN’s founder, Tom Bell, and what he would have thought of your cowboy hat editorial. I understand what the editorial was trying to accomplish, but is this…

by Jason LaBelle

The disconnect of economics and ecology

It was wonderful to see Henry George in the pages of High Country News (“Gilded Age problems,” 12/9/19). Many of the myths and misunderstandings that have formed our idea of “the West” were partly conceived from a disconnection between economics and ecology or actual, physical life. George was incredibly forward-thinking, especially for his time, and…

by Antonia Malchik

Useless without a chinstrap

Cowboy hats don’t stay on in the wind (“Worse for Wear,” 1/20). You can’t wear them at a gallop, or on a motorcycle, or on a windy day, without a chinstrap. So they’re worthless for shade or during storms and hence have no practical value and serve as a symbol only. Too bad that symbol…

by Joe Ward