In this issue, our feature story looks at a massive poaching ring in Washington and Oregon and the determined investigators who took it down by tracking it digitally. We also scrutinize the Gadsden flag, the Revolutionary War-era symbol that’s become popular with anti-government figures. We look at a small health-care clinic in rural Oregon that made a successful shift to telemedicine during the pandemic, and then visit the Navajo Nation, where the coronavirus is seriously straining the public health system. In Arizona, we meet a wave of younger, more ethnically diverse environmental activists, and we also learn how the pandemic is inspiring new forms of collective action against immigration detention in the Borderlands. In Alaska, we ponder the fate of sockeye salmon — and the communities that rely on these remarkable fish — in a rapidly warming climate. Elsewhere, we dig into a new report revealing the racism and disenfranchisement Indigenous voters face, and we review a new book that shows how the U.S. is essentially closing its doors to asylum seekers.
Take heart in hard times
From stowaway hatchlings to eager minds, there’s hope in the West.
Catching a band of wildlife killers
How a bounty of digital evidence led to the downfall of one of the nation’s deadliest poaching crews.
Don’t despair. Dissent.
Look to others doing good work and act.
COVID hollars; Gok’s uncertainty; best friend graffiti
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
When the ‘war on terror’ comes home
‘Acceleration Hours’ is an honest, rare look at American militarism.
Report: Indigenous voters face racism and suppression
‘Native Americans just face really unreasonable obstacles when it comes to voting.’
Lawsuit challenges acting BLM director’s Senate confirmation avoidance
William Perry Pendley had his tenure extended in early May.
Are universities the greatest villains?
“Land-Grab Universities” (April 2020) rubbed me the wrong way. Not that the reporting was inaccurate, but that it left out mountains of context. For starters, how is it more sinful for a land-grant university to make money selling land than for a railroad to do the same? Or a farmer or rancher making money off…
Enforce treaties
Thank you for the eye-opening article on land-grant universities. However, High Country News failed to state what the tribes would have been entitled to had their treaties been ratified. Coercion and duress may be used to set aside a modern contract, but even though coerced, the tribes may want to enforce the treaties to receive…
Land-grant university scholarships
For three years, Cornell had a faculty-led project on land grabs, some domestic and most abroad. I co-led the project and investigated U.S. Indian land grabs, but I resoundingly overlooked what you’ve uncovered. I’m both humbled and grateful. Today, I forwarded a message to scholars and lawyers around the United States who share this interest.…
The best thing I’ve ever read about Los Angeles
This is the best thing I’ve ever read about Los Angeles, and one of the best things I’ve ever read about anywhere. Lara Disney, via Twitter This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The best thing I’ve ever read about Los Angeles.
The mega-phenomenon of Los Angeles
I found Lynell George’s piece “No Trick of Light” (May 2020) profoundly moving. As an expatriate Californian living in Colorado, I was stirred by her references to a certain play of light, the peculiar sound of wind among native and non-native trees, the cooing of doves, and the ever-changing topography of desert and hills going…
Climate change has setnetters worried about Alaska’s sockeye
Last year, the state’s Ugashik River was so warm salmon wouldn’t swim up it to spawn.
Who wins and who loses with these 4 regulatory rollbacks?
Under a pandemic, Trump backslides pollution and wildlife protection standards.
How a small Arizona town is building ecological resilience
A younger generation of activists are being trained in conservation.
The U.S. is closing its doors to asylum seekers
‘The Dispossessed’ follows a family’s harrowing search for safety, and asks what new policies say about the nation’s long-standing ideals.
American violence in the time of coronavirus
Author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz puts armed ‘reopen’ protests in their historical context.
On the deep human need to be outside
The isolation of COVID-19 has made the outdoors even more important.
COVID-19 impacts every corner of the Navajo Nation
Front-line workers confront the world’s newest deadly malady.
The Gadsden flag is a symbol. But whose?
How a Revolutionary War-era flag evolved into an anti-government symbol.
Virtual house calls flourish in the age of coronavirus
COVID-19 has pushed health care into cyberspace — and some rural practitioners might stay there.
Protesting immigrant detention during a pandemic
Will new forms of collective action lead to permanent societal changes?
‘They cut all of our hours’
Despite their designation as essential, California farmworkers are being furloughed.
Park closures have unequal costs
As we limit outdoor access, consider the impact on underrepresented communities.
Coronavirus shows we must change how we live or face self-destruction
Indigenous knowledge has a lot to teach us about global pandemics.