In this issue, our feature story dives into a border community’s resistance to arriving militia members. We travel to California, where: immigrants and refugees are modeling small, abundant agriculture; a radio station provides needed outreach to this community; and farmers make the case for capturing greenhouse gases. Other stories look at courts slowing the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda, the energy industry lobbying to boost uranium, and the BLM offering the fire-starting Hammonds new permits to, yes, reduce fire risk. We review a new book that contemplates nature in isolation. And a writer questions the Mormon church’s recent reversal of an anti-queer policy, saying it’s not nearly enough.
See the hard-won equilibrium of Alaska
A compilation of work by Alaskan photographers explores life in the North.
Plumbing the Gila for solace and hope
A new book contemplates nature, solitude, grief and grace.
On Rhubarb and redactions
An HCN editor trains NYTimes staff, and we remember longtime readers.
It’s time to take a stand
Rise above provocation and choose decency.
Osprey love triangle; an urban avalanche; Arizona’s ‘crisis’
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Red-legged frogs successfully reintroduced to Yosemite
New egg batches have been spotted, which is unusual.
America’s nuclear past
This is a beautifully written story that notes the whitewashing of our nation’s nuclear past (and present). It’s tempting to think of it as a “New Mexican” story, but it’s actually an American story that took place here because of New Mexico’s relative remoteness in the 1940s. Ray Gulick Bernalillo, New Mexico This article appeared…
Fish rights
We don’t have any pupfish here, but we have an assortment of hoodlums who practice their gun shooting while both drunk and sober, on every road sign they find (“Scene of the Crime,” HCN, 4/15/19). They also shoot every living thing in sight, including bald eagles and deer out of season. They can’t read “no…
Fly elsewhere, Growlers
The Navy plans to expand its electronic warfare training for EA-18G “Growler” jets, some of the loudest aircraft in the world, over Olympic National Park (“A crusade for quiet” HCN, 5/13/19). Plans are already in the works to add another 36 jets to its existing fleet of 82 on Whidbey Island, a 44% increase. More…
Meandering road trip
I’m not quite sure of the purpose of “The Atomic Road Trip” (HCN, 5/13/19), which was not quite a travelogue, nor a thoughtful examination of New Mexico or its people and nuclear past. The story meanders and never comes to a point, which is ironic because that’s something you can do in New Mexico —…
Sanctuary plans
I was pleased to see Gustavo Arellano’s article about the plans of the Catholic Church to build a “multimillion-dollar retreat center” next to the Santuario de Chimayó in the community of El Potrero (“Whose Santuario?” HCN, 5/13/19). However, the article fails to mention the process that led to the church putting its plans on hold. From…
Can small-scale farmers grow a healthier California?
Where industrial monocrops dominate, small farms form an agricultural resistance in the Central Valley.
The radio station connecting California farmers
Multilingual broadcasts provide crucial resources to underserved refugee and immigrant communities.
Will the Trump administration boost uranium?
Energy industry lobbying could lead to more mining from Bears Ears to Wyoming.
The case for carbon farming in California
Can farmers and ranchers use plants to capture greenhouse gases?
Why the queer Mormon policy reversal is not enough
Mormon suicide has deeper roots — and demands more change — than the church’s reversal of its exclusion policy.
Trump’s infrastructure order threatens local right to protect the environment
Washington blocked a coal terminal under the Clean Water Act. New rules could subvert that authority.
Fire-starting ranchers get a new blessing from BLM
The agency hopes the Hammonds’ cows will reduce fire risk in eastern Oregon.
Climate cases set the stage for oil and gas leasing reform
The decisions could curb greenhouse gas emissions from public lands.
Militias, MAGA activists and one border town’s complicated resistance
How Arivaca, Arizona, became a magnet for anti-immigrant activists – and what locals did next.