HCN + PROPUBLICA = GREAT JOURNALISM!
I have been a cover-to-cover reader for over 30 years, and I must say that “Waiting for Water” (July 2023) with four feature articles written with ProPublica is maybe the best journalism you have ever published. I had no idea of the extent of the machinations that Arizona has gone to, to prevent Arizona tribes from gaining access to water that is rightfully theirs. I have never seen all these details anywhere else. May this collaboration continue.
Jeff Sussmann
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Just thought I would drop you a note to congratulate the reporters, writers and staff who brought the July issue to fruition. I especially found noteworthy the “Waiting for Water” series, which I hope is not another Waiting for Godot.
Richard Estock
Colonia, New Jersey
RED DESERT REVEL
To my delight, I ran across your article in HCN, “Horse girls” (July 2023).
I spent a couple of glorious summers in the mid-’70s working on a wildlife crew for the Bureau of Land Management out of the Lander, Wyoming, office. I spent many days exploring the Red Desert. Both in the desert and the other sage steppe areas I frequented, wild horse bands were ever-present. Then, as now, the wild horse population was a hot topic. Those two summers helped launch a 40-plus year career in conservation. So, I might have just a little clue how the writer’s encounters there impacted her career.
I was pleased to see that Nina McConigley simply observed and enjoyed her encounters. And the real purpose of noting her horse encounter was to set the stage for the thoughts focused on her daughter.
I was touched that she hoped that her daughter’s wildness would never be broken, and I truly enjoyed the article.
Greg Wingfield
Cedar Point, Kansas
LETITIA’S STRONG LEGACY
Thank you so much for publishing the article about Letitia Carson (“The Many Legacies of Letitia Carson” June 2023).
Her intelligence, persistence and strength were amazing. It is good to know that her story was not lost and that something is being done at Oregon State University to give her recognition as being one of the main reasons that OSU exists. Her strong relationship with the land and sense of place are an important part of the history of the Pacific Northwest. The fact that an Indigenous culture became part of her descendants’ family makes the efforts to honor her more complex, but also shows how our country has evolved. It is not unlike the interrelationships found within the natural ecosystems around us.
Susanne Twight-Alexander
Eugene, Oregon
As a longtime HCN subscriber who lives less than two miles from the Oregon homestead of Black pioneer Letitia Carson, and who has supported efforts to restore her legacy, I was very happy to see Jaclyn Moyer’s article.
But I was surprised how the article and the accompanying photographs avoided the massive landfill near Letitia Carson’s homestead, run by the out-of-state waste giant, Republic Services.
When I met Shantae Johnson and her partner, Arthur Shavers, at an event last year, I learned that their vision was to create a space for Black farmers, including Black organic farmers, to learn farming methods on this historic landscape. Having a landfill company that wants to expand so close to Letitia Carson’s homestead is a problem for that vision.
We cannot fix the injustices of the past if we ignore what is happening now.
Joel Geier
Corvallis, Oregon
DELIGHT ILLUSTRATED
The artist Xulin deserves praise for their delightful illustration in Maya Kapoor’s article about the elusive Canada lynx in the June 2023 issue (“Where the wildcats go”). I love that HCN supports working artists and photographers along with reporters and designers.
Linda Paul
Boise, Idaho
REPRESENTATION THAT RIPPLES
Being featured in your May 2023 “I am the West” has had a ripple effect. I have been receiving notes from across Indian Country about the positive representation. I have heard from everyone from environmental law professors to the former assistant secretary of the Interior to librarians, all pleased about the back cover of High Country News.
As a tribal attorney for a decade for the Spokane Tribe and a tribal court judge for multiple tribes, I can share that tribes are working hard to reintroduce salmon, purchase land for conservation and prevent development in critical habitat areas. It is nice to have positive representation on such a well-known magazine.
Margo Hill
Associate professor, Department of Political Science and Public Policy
Eastern Washington University, Spokane, Washington
We welcome reader letters. Email High Country News at editor@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor. See our letters to the editor policy.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Letters to the editor, August 2023.
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