In this issue, we delve into a disturbing story from rural Colorado, where bereaved rural residents are helping the FBI investigate a funeral home suspected of illegally selling remains of the deceased. We interview a retired federal biologist on the Interior Department’s current policies; get on the ground with pygmy rabbit researchers; and highlight an ongoing battle between Alaska residents and the military over fishing waters. We report on a new app that could help people find wildfire escape routes, and we check in on a First Nations musician, discuss the state of Indigenous media, and review Stephanie Land’s newest book.

Connie Hanson holds a handful of what Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors told her were the cremated remains of her son, Frederick “Rick” Hanson. Connie Hanson believes it’s burnt trash, including wires and battery casings. The FBI is investigating. Credit: Luna Anna Archey/High Country News

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A dam’s true legacy

Thank you for “On the Road to 50: A grand beginning,” (HCN, 5/13/19) and your reporting on the artificially regulated Colorado River and the conundrum surrounding Grand Canyon’s identity. When the Marble Canyon Dam project was canceled, the real trade-off was the Navajo Generating Station and the Black Mesa Mine. These provided the power necessary…

by Alicyn Gitlin

HCN goes post-structuralist

As a longtime fan of High Country News, I have depended on HCN’s insightful and balanced journalism on Western U.S. issues for many years. So I am surprised by “The Atomic Road Trip” (HCN, 5/13/19), in which everyone and every place is guilty of one awful thing or another. The authors’ judgmental over-simplifications neglect a…

by Katherine McCoy

Maybe a visitors center that keeps out visitors?

“Bears Ears’ guerilla visitor center” (HCN, 5/13/19) left me puzzled. Is it meant to be a celebration or a lament?  Monuments and parks attract crowds. Crowds bring problems and damage the very things that are intended to be “preserved.” An official visitors center won’t deter those crowds, nor will it prevent the damage they will cause. Perhaps monument…

by David L. Rasmussen

Supporting the Santuario

In 1993, eight of us from Colorado first walked in the Chimayó Good Friday Pilgrimage, and we’ve come every year since.  Over the years, we’ve seen the Santuario and the area around it changed by institutional and commercial interests eager to exploit the “Chimayó” brand. Currently, the developers are held in check by the whole…

by Yvonne and John Ashenhurst

Missing the mark in New Mexico

I typically have a lot of respect for HCN’s journalism, but I think you missed the mark on the role tourism plays in New Mexico (“The Atomic Road Trip,” 5/13/19). In a state that has traditionally relied on an extraction-based economy (which is, in fact, true destruction), tourism offers rural communities a chance to highlight…

by Bryce Turner