In the first issue of 2022, you’ll meet some hardworking Westerners, from the Indigenous women determined to preserve New Mexico’s Rio Grande, to the Nevada gold miners employed by a mega-corporation that cares as little for its workers as it does for the land it bulldozes. In Puget Sound, the Swinomish Indian Community shows that eelgrass and aquaculture can coexist, while Wyoming wonders whether Natrium nuclear reactors can take the place of coal. We ask uncomfortable questions: Why did the National Park Service bury its own study on sexual harassment inside the agency? And will the “green energy revolution” stomp on Indigenous values the way the fossil fuel industry has? In California, there’s reason to doubt Big Ag’s insistence that expensive canal repairs will help marginalized communities. We’re still suffering from 2021’s extreme “weather whiplash.” Native Americans need a better platform than Facebook, and corporations should quit exploiting Indigenous sacred places. A new anthology, Evergreen, celebrates the Northwest, and HCN bids a fond farewell to Betsy Marston, whose final “Heard around the West” column rounds out this issue.

Yakama citizen Everett Aleck crosses a wooden bridge over the Klickitat River, a tributary of the Columbia, during the fall coho salmon run. Hood River, Oregon-based photographer Michael Hanson spent time with Aleck and his family along the Klickitat as part of his ongoing series of wet-plate images, “And the Rain Will Break Us,” which explores the history, culture and geography of the Columbia River Basin. Credit: Michael Hanson

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Letter: What you can’t see can hurt

Jonathan Thompson’s graphic report on methane is excellent and should be widely shared (“What you can’t see can hurt,” November 2021). One subtext of his reporting is that cattle production produces more methane than the oil and gas industry — 36% (digestion plus manure) versus 30%. When you consider livestock industry methane pollution, along with…

by Tom Ribe

Letter: White Sands discovery

I read your article — “The White Sands discovery only confirms what Indigenous people have said all along” (November 2021) — and thought about a conversation I had with my 16-year-old daughter. She was livid and outraged about her American history class, because she wasn’t satisfied with what she’s being taught. She told me, “Native…

by Misty Aoudia

Letter: All My Relations

“All my Relations” (December 2021) was an excellent story, full of facts and without “snarky” political overtones or condemnations of some sort. It was very thought-provoking, poignant and sad to read. Such governmental overlap and bureaucracy seem so frustrating. Jerry C. ReichCornelia, Georgia This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the…

by Jerry C. Reich

Letter: Betting the Ranch

The December issue was the best I’ve seen in years of reading HCN. The topper was Lee van der Voo’s fabulous piece, “Betting the Ranch.” It was a complex and tremendously insightful story about the way big-shouldered meat distribution companies like Tyson Foods can outmuscle even giant ranchers and dominate the economics of the cattle-raising…

by Jeffrey Marshall

Letter: December issue

I’ve read HCN frequently since moving to Montana in 2014 and have been a subscriber for the past few years. The December 2021 issue stands out to me as one of the best in recent years. The depth and breadth of topics, the engaging infographics, and the photographs and illustration brought life to the excellent…

by Mark Wetherington

Letter: Decolonizing Idaho’s road signs

I just finished your article on changing racist place names (“Decolonizing Idaho’s road signs,” November 2021) and wanted to thank you for writing on this topic. I am a California-born Chinese-American, and I always feel a bit better about the suffering my people have undergone when I see things improving for others who have suffered even…

by Pamela Poon

Letter: Teton troubles

Nick Bowlin’s article (“Teton troubles,” December 2021) singles out one particular instance of mountain town development but fails to mention the even larger issue we face in Teton Valley. Short-term rentals are eliminating the long-term rental market. Second homeowners and part-time residents see dollar signs and largely don’t care about the stresses it creates for…

by Tony Sloan

Letter: The Klamath River and the Yurok people

I was deeply moved 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). I only wish that there could be a solution imminent, but I fear that the alienation of Western (European) “culture” from the natural world…

by Stephen Wilder

Letter: The wealth abyss

Thank you for the amazing analysis of income disparity by Jonathan Thompson (“The wealth abyss,” December 2021). More unequal countries tend to have more teenage pregnancy, mental illness, drug use, obesity, prisoners, school dropouts, lower life expectancy and lower status for women. The more unequal a country is, the more likely the biodiversity of its…

by Julie Smith