In this issue, we travel to Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where tribal and state officials grapple with a wicked pollution problem that threatens the lake, its economy and its communities. We check in on the Interior Department, which has named an opponent to the Endangered Species Act as an assistant secretary and quietly continued deployments of rangers to the Borderlands. We also interview a U.S. Fish and Wildlife whistleblower, examine the West’s poor record of regulating “forever chemicals,” and highlight one Colorado rancher’s efforts to raise water buffalo. We examine the spread of wildfire in sagebrush country and reveal disparities within two California communities struggling to recover from devastating wildfires. We look at the lingering power of mining laws and into Montana’s obsession with vigilantism. We review a new history on the Continental Divide Trail, as well as a film that portrays the struggle of Indigenous women to escape violence.

Dale Chess, a limnologist for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Lake Management Department, retrieves a water sample from the southern end of Coeur d’Alene Lake, near Plummer, Idaho, to test the oxygen levels during a research trip last October. Credit: Jerome Pollos

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‘Feral’ horses

Thanks for putting “wild” in quotes in the article “Arizona’s Wild Horse Paradox” (HCN, 3/18/19). Could you either do that in the title next time, or better yet, refer to the animals as feral, which is what they actually are? Romanticizing them just makes them harder to manage. Cait RottlerEl Reno, Oklahoma This article appeared…

by Cait Rottler

Heartbreaking story

Crazy, heartbreaking investigation (“None of This Happened the Way You Think it Did,” HCN, 6/10/19). “No matter how much meaning their loved one’s body carried, someone else could have viewed it as a product, taken it apart, put it in a box and sold it.” Abbey GingrasSanta Fe, New Mexico This article appeared in the…

by Abbey Gingras

Losing your mission

To me, this story has zero contact with HCN’s mission. It is simply a local crime story. Dennis OlmstedMontrose, Colorado This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Losing Your Mission.

by Dennis Olmsted

On geotagging

Thank you for reminding us that nature is for everyone (“Five reasons to keep geotagging,” HCN, 6/10/19). I put lots of hiking and nature photos on my Instagram account and recently have read a bit about whether to geotag or not. This brief piece in the magazine helped me make my decision. Hayley BredenDenver, Colorado…

by Hayley Breden

Real, or parody?

In the most recent issue of HCN, I read a blurb that claimed that an organization called the Melanin Base Camp was accusing the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics of racist “gatekeeping” and of perpetuating “purity tests” (“Five reasons to keep geotagging”). As one who began reading HCN in 1974 and who has…

by Bill Cook

Roswell arts and dragonflies

I lived in Roswell for 14 years, worked at the Roswell Museum and Art Center, and have a much less skewed view of Roswell than the authors of the article “Atomic Road Trip” (HCN, 5/13/19). The arts scene in Roswell is quite substantial, with four museums, active galleries, the New Mexico Military Institute and Bitter…

by Ellen Moore

Sign me up

Fine, fine, fine. I just subscribed to a couple years of the magazine, thanks to this story — largely because I should’ve done it a while ago and just never got around to it. Mark OlaldeWashington, D.C. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Sign me up.

by Mark Olalde

Try being nice as a policy

It’s sad reading examples of religion bringing suffering to people’s lives (“The queer Mormon policy reversal is not enough,” HCN, 5/27/19). I was relieved near the end of the commentary to read that the author was no longer a practicing Mormon. Members of a church may think of themselves as devout and moral, but most…

by Murray Neill

Unpretentious New Mexico

Interesting reaction to “The Atomic Road Trip” (Letters, HCN, 5/27/19). Don’t be so defensive. The essay focused on the sanitization of human history and the commercialization of most everything. The “Land of Enchantment” has everything to do with people. I love New Mexico. The best we can do is to be inconspicuous and unpretentious. Doug…

by Doug Morris

Visual reporting has its place

I so enjoyed being introduced to the Nizhoni Girls’ music and story (“Nizhóní Girls,” HCN, 2/4/19). The decision by HCN to dive into a medium rarely seen in reporting made me think more deeply about what exactly journalism is, and why some forms might be unfairly thought of as less rigorous, less serious, or less…

by Maggie Mullen

An Irresponsible, Emotional Act

In 1971, we became irresponsible and emotional and legislated the National Wild-Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Wild horses and wild burros were made into political giants not to be managed carefully on public lands. The program was twofold: Leave horses and burros to graze feely on the public lands, and if the numbers increased…

by Gus Halandras