In our final issue of 2021, we dive into controversies, from the fight over putting a wind farm next to a Japanese American incarceration camp, to a report on how income inequality is transforming the West. Lack of housing makes life difficult for Jackson Hole-area workers, while an Indigenous activist questions how much Biden’s Bears Ears proclamation accomplished. Our features tackle two subjects that often divide HCN’s own readers: Wild horses and cattle ranching. On the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, Indigenous people wonder if wild horses and buffalo can coexist, and we learn about modern-day ranching’s crazy economics when a Washington rancher tries to cheat the big meatpackers and win. Was the Northwest’s summer heat dome a “stress test” for wildlife, or a massacre? There’s even some good news: Activists are unionizing the big environmental groups, we visualize a healthy Klamath River, and an Indigenous writer reclaims her culture’s relationship with fire, while Rick McIntyre tells an inspiring story in his book, The Redemption of Wolf 302.

A large horse herd at the Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lander, Wyoming, on the Wind River Reservation. Credit: Russel Albert Daniels/High Country News

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What you can’t see can hurt

Thanks to Jonathan Thompson in the November issue for “What you can’t see can hurt.” I now understand that our natural gas distribution system is even more polluting than I thought. Hard ChunkBoulder, Colorado This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline What you can’t see can hurt.

by Hard Chunk

White Sands discovery

This is an eye-opening article (“The White Sands discovery only confirms what Indigenous people have said all along,” November 2021). Our country’s original founders are in much need of recognition, support and help in any way possible. Wayne BlumbergFort Collins, Colorado This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline White Sands discovery.

by Wayne Blumberg

A meaningful piece

Nick Martin’s piece about White Sands is one of the most meaningful pieces I’ve read on the ways that science, academia and mainstream media conspire to exclude Indigenous peoples from our history and stories. Fernanda SantosVia social media This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A meaningful piece.

by Fernanda Santos

Great depth and understanding

We gift an ongoing subscription to our local library in Homer, Alaska, and love that Alaska gets more and more coverage in HCN’s pages. You tell stories with great depth, which gives us a greater understanding all the way around. Thank you! Rika and John MouwHomer, Alaska This article appeared in the print edition of…

by Rika and John Mouw

Knocked it out of the park

High Country News always knocks it out of the park on infographics, and this is no exception. Thanks for making the importance of the Environmental Protection Agency and Bureau of Land Management’s efforts to cut methane emissions so clear. Jon Goldstein Via social media This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline…

by Jon Goldstein

No choice left but to fight

The means and manner in which the Hmong and many other cannabis growers are growing cannabis in Shasta Vista are highly toxic and an environmental disaster (“No choice left but to fight,” November 2021). The racist vitriol is unacceptable; the environmental impact should be the news here. Correct the laws for taxation and establish environmental…

by Michael Otvos

Radioactive Neighbors

I enjoyed “Radioactive Neighbors” (November 2021) immensely and was not surprised to learn that the government is on the side of the company rather than seeking to protect the lives and livelihood of Native Americans. I take issue with one statement in the article. Archaeologists have been aware of — and pleading the cases of…

by Henry W. Simpson

The 1871 murder of Chinese Angelenos

Thank you for Wufei Yu’s article about the 1871 massacre of 19 Chinese Angelenos (“150 years ago, 19 Chinese Angelenos were murdered in California,” Oct. 22, 2021). We need to be reminded that unspeakable acts of violence occurred against different groups at different places and different times in our history. Perhaps we would, as a…

by David Kapell

The Klamath River and the Yurok people

I am writing to tell you how deeply moved I was by Brook Thompson’s article about the ongoing tragedy of the Klamath and her people (“The familial bond between the Klamath River and the Yurok people,” September 2021).  As a person who has always felt deeply connected to the land, water and sky, I can…

by Stephen Wilder

The Public Health Officer Emergency

As a nursing home administrator in Washington state, licensed since 1979 and concerned about the condition of and the political fronts that public health has weathered and is now facing, I read Jane C. Hu’s article with interest (“The Public Health Officer Emergency,” October 2021). The political infusion of right-wing folks who are abandoning science…

by Ralph K. Allen Jr.

Totally off base

I understand and applaud HCN’s effort to give Indigenous peoples a strong platform to express their views. You have had many fantastic interviews with Indigenous scientists that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading. However, the rant by Nick Martin regarding the White Sands footprint discovery was totally off-base. Oral history, while possibly suggestive of actual past…

by Nelson Vore