Buffett buys BNSF as Congress considers reform legislation
Communities
Posted inDecember 7, 2009: Dueling Claims
Dueling Claims
A tribal attempt to protect Mount Taylor sparks a battle over ancient claims to the land
Posted inDecember 7, 2009: Dueling Claims
‘The West’s Biggest Bully’ gets his
“Shock jock” John Stokes loses his radio station in a battle over bankruptcy
Posted inWotr
A federal agency tries to hold on to what it’s built
Western Colorado’s Uncompahgre Valley is a garden artificially created. Corn and alfalfa grow plentifully around Montrose and other towns in this valley, about five hours southwest of Denver, as do apples, pears and cherries. A complicated web of dams, canals and river-depleting diversion projects created this produce bin of the agrarian West. A key piece […]
Posted inWotr
A Thanksgiving toast to a mom who passed the torch
It’s no secret that the traditions of hunting and fishing are dying. Academics have identified it, anti-hunters have rejoiced in it and families are living it. People who cherish hunting are trying hard to stem the decline. These days, lots of kids are growing up in a single-parent home, often headed by a mom who […]
Posted inWotr
Do we really need another ski resort?
Supbar terrain and snow spell death for schussing
Posted inRange
Health care reform helps tribes
A generation ago Indian Country wasn’t included in the conversation about health care reform. When Congress enacted Medicaid and Medicare it pretended that the Indian Health Service didn’t exist. It was as if it had never occurred to the government, that it, too, ran a major health care delivery system. Say what you like about […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
After the Floods
Unraveling the mystery behind the Northwest’s channeled scablands
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
The wild home of hope
Rock Water Wild: An Alaskan LifeNancy Lord248 pages,hardcover: $24.95.University of Nebraska Press, 2009. Alaska writer laureate Nancy Lord’s infatuation with that state dates back to a fourth-grade school project. Like so many transplants, she moved to the Far North to reinvent herself. Alaska’s remoteness, its low population density, natural wealth and often-harsh living conditions recall […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
A scientist’s view of change
Of Rock and Rivers: Seeking a Sense of Place in the American WestEllen Wohl267 pages, hardcover, $24.95.University of California Press, 2009. Ellen Wohl shudders when she sees houses built on gently sloping benches at the mouths of mountain clefts. She knows that such sites, with their incredible views, were created by past landslides, and hence […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
Changing of the guard
We’d like to recognize the dedication and vision of two long-time board members who recently decided to step down. Both hail from Boulder, Colo. Felix Magowan, who joined in 2001, brought substantial publishing and financial expertise to High Country News; he was the founder of Inside Communications, which published Velo News and other outdoor titles […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
A ride on the Big Love bus
What with sensational court cases about forced marriage and the Big Love television series, it was probably only a matter of time before locals cashed in on the fascination with “polygs.” Now you can pay a fee to take “The Polygamy Experience Tour” with guides who once lived under the thumb of Warren Jeffs, the […]
Posted inRange
Reader Photo – Cowboy Up
This week’s reader photo is a classic Western image from a great photographer who’s shared a bunch of neat shots up on HCN’s Flickr Pool. Check them out and add yours!
Posted inGoat
Spectrum of sexuality
On the night of June 16, 2001, Fred Martinez, Jr. was walking home from a party when he was chased into a rocky canyon on the outskirts of Cortez, Colo. The 16-year-old Navajo was cornered in the chasm’s nightmarish shadows and bludgeoned to death. Police found his body five days later. The crime shocked the […]
Posted inWotr
Stopping by apples in the land of condos
My chicken-filled backyard in Bozeman, Mont., butts up against a square block of condominiums. The green fence between us is like a Berlin wall, separating noisy, itinerant college kids from our more stable neighborhood of families. It separates the mostly paved, over-parked, garbage-strewn and under-aged drinking zone that police call “Bourbon Street” from our homes. […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
The Lost Art of Listening
Can the Northern Arapaho save their language?
Posted inRange
Reader Photo – Red Aspen Leaves
I pondered featuring this reader photo a couple weeks ago, but ended up with a different choice. Today, though, the sparkling vermilion of these aspen leaves, now blanketing forest floors across the West, brought me a bright remembrance of Colorado’s autumn moments, which I wanted to share with you. Across most of the West it’s […]