Meet the new environmental advocates, a diverse generation of outdoor enthusiasts and activists forging their way in the conservation movement. In this special issue, eco-minded veterans, Latinos rising, and Hopi raft guides.
Diversity in the outdoors, one hashtag at a time
A conversation with Teresa Baker, founder of Hike Like a Girl.
Exploding oil train, heroin highways and the EPA’s civil rights record
HCN.org news in brief
Hazardous conditions
Thanks to Nathan Martin for his May 30 essay, “It’s still dangerous to be gay in Wyoming,” and the related cover story, “Trial by Fire,” by Krista Langlois. Truth be told, it’s dangerous to be gay or female most anywhere on the planet. If racism doesn’t bring us down, then homophobia and sexism might well…
Meet the group that’s turning artists into nature’s advocates
In the backcountry, an experiment in using art to elevate environmental issues.
It’s your land, too
A couple of weeks after a dozen or so well-armed white men and women occupied Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, announcing that they were there to help the locals “claim back their lands and resources” from the federal government, I began to wonder: Where were all the folks on the other side — the public-lands…
Meet the badasses bringing outdoor rec to the people who pioneered it
More groups are focused on getting Native Americans outside.
Meet the new advocates for the West
A generation of young Western activists are using outdoor sports as a step towards conservation.
Nature’s worth, through filmmakers’ eyes
A new wave of outdoor films encompass both conservation and adventure.
Questions of preservation
The question I have yet to hear an answer to from anyone advocating for the removal of the O’Shaughnessy Dam is this: What is the plan for the Hetch Hetchy Valley after dam removal (“Under water,” HCN, 5/30/16)? My gut tells me that the Park Service and whatever corporation is running the park’s concessions would…
See the vanishing rest stops of the American West
A review of “The Last Stop” and a look at iconic roadside waypoints.
Silverton needs a new vision
Jonathan Thompson’s otherwise excellent article about Silverton, Colorado’s environmental and economic woes missed a key point about the town’s economic problems (“The Gold King Reckoning,” HCN, 5/02/16). All tourist economies are not created equal, and Silverton, for whatever reason, has failed to develop tourism that can sustain the town as an alternative to past mining.…
The grand plan to save the Yellowstone River
Can one man’s pie-in-the-sky idea save one of the West’s most iconic and underloved rivers?
The West’s best buy-one-get-one free, leopard on the loose and a fatal moment of thoughtlessness
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
A new generation of warriors for the wild
Sierra Club rec head Stacy Bare sees a role for veterans in conservation.
What if I’m not white?
A former sports writer tries to find a place for himself in the outdoors.
A skipped issue, and a farewell to Bill Mitchell
Paonia, Colorado, home of High Country News, has been in the middle of a heat wave, with temperatures lurking around 90 degrees for far too long. We’re looking forward to skipping an issue, per our usual schedule, and will see you again in July! Despite the heat, Claire Goodis-Baker and Lynell Kyser of Denver stopped…
#whereisjose: The man forging a new path in the outdoors
José González is tapping into Latinos’ passion for nature.
An earned rebuke
God bless High Country News for its fearless and productive investigative reporting, as in “Justice denied” (HCN, 5/16/16). Responsible investigative journalism, perhaps above all other genres, must be precise in distinguishing between claims and evidence. But: “ ‘They just want your money.’ What a public defender told Sue M., when asked if he could do…
Women firefighters — not as strong but more deliberate
At least some of the hurdles faced by women in the fire service are physiological (“Trial by Fire,” HCN, 5/30/16). The larger muscle fibers of men typically provide double the strength in the upper body and about 50 percent more in the lower body. In wildfire, the gatekeeper is the “arduous pack test,” which requires…