Dear Friends

Lately we’ve noticed that we haven’t been hearing from our readers as often as we used to. One of the best things about HCN is our sense of community, exemplified by your intelligent, thoughtful letters. We know you’ve got lots of opinions, ideas and reactions to stories to share — so please drop us a […]

Sometimes we are fortunate enough to get a closer look at the lives of our remarkable readers. Shortly after longtime HCN reader and donor William L. Berry Jr. died on Sept. 30 from pancreatic cancer, two of his sons, John and Scott, got in touch with us to tell us a bit more about their […]

High Country News welcomes new assistant editor Cally Carswell. Cally has spent the last nine months here as a multimedia fellow after completing an internship; now, she’ll continue her excellent work reporting and writing stories, editing articles, and producing video and audio as a permanent staff member. Born in New Mexico but raised in Chicago, […]

Eight members of the High Country News board of directors joined staff for a meeting in Fort Collins, Colo., Sept. 17-18. The main business was passing an annual budget, a task made easier by the tremendous financial support from readers during our 40th Anniversary. Despite the recession, HCN’s reserve remains at nearly $500,000, about the […]

A heads-up: HCN staffers will be taking a much needed two-week publishing break after this issue to catch up on work and R&R. Look for your next issue on Oct. 11. We’re always flattered by how many folks decide to stop by our Paonia office, but Kim and Mark Schultz of Colorado Springs positively made […]

We continue to enjoy a steady stream of visitors to our Paonia, Colo., office. We’re always impressed that so many of you find us, since our little town is more than an hour and a half from the nearest interstate highway. In mid-July, subscribers Lucy Meinhardt and Dave Zumwalt left us a note. “It seems […]

Along with cherries and apricots, summer always brings a bountiful crop of visitors to our offices in Paonia, Colo. Author and photographer Dave Showalter came by on a Western Slope trip from his home in Arvada, Colo. He’s working on a conservation book depicting the beauty of the West’s sagebrush ecosystem and the many threats […]

ETown, the eco-groovy weekly radio music show based in Boulder, Colo., will honor HCN Founder Tom Bell and HCN‘s 40th Anniversary with its E-chievement Award at a special concert July 30 at the Redrocks Amphitheater near Denver. The “Greenrocks at Redrocks” event will feature great music from Lyle Lovett and Taj Mahal, a little stage […]

Earlier this week, I drove through a stretch of barren landscape about 50 miles from our Paonia home, as I’ve done many times before. It’s an unremarkable part of western Colorado. The sparsely vegetated hills contain radioactive waste, an old bombing range, an experimental chicken farm and a lot of shot-up appliances. Soon, hundreds of […]

To save some money during these tight times, the High Country News Board of Directors held its late spring meeting over the phone and Internet on May 20. Thanks to the marvels of technology, including the tiny cameras in most of our computers, the experience wasn’t half bad. Board president Florence Williams of Boulder, Colo., […]

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve received the prestigious 2010 Utne Independent Press Award for Environmental Coverage. “High Country News covers this vast (Western) landscape like an experienced backcountry guide, pointing out the threats along with the wonders,” wrote the Utne judges. “Whether its writers are watchdogging resource-intensive industries like ranching, mining, drilling, and logging […]

A couple of issues back, you may have noticed that High Country News was advertising for a new editor in chief. Jonathan Thompson has decided to leave HCN and Paonia in June and head out on a new adventure with his family, leaving the Four Corners region in which he has spent his first 40 […]

Paonia, Colo., was a planned rest stop for visitors Helen Pohlig and Marilyn Rudolph, who were driving from Arizona to Helen’s home in St. Paul, Minn. “We purposefully chose a route that would take us through here,” said Helen, a lawyer and longtime subscriber. On their tour of HCN headquarters, she brought her dog Annie, […]

Here in Paonia, Colo., March brought us 60-degree days and 20-degree days, glorious sunshine and freezing sleet — sometimes during the same half-hour. Zac and Lisa Tuthill stopped by on one of the wet, snowy days, on their way home from Moab to Laramie, Wyo., where she’s a psychotherapist and he’s studying civil engineering. A […]

In our 22-issue-per-year publishing schedule, we’ll be skipping the next issue. Look for HCN in your mailbox again around April 12, and in the meantime check our Web site, hcn.org, for news and commentary. SMALL-TOWN DISCOVERIESIntern Nick Neely had only been working at High Country News for three weeks when he happened to stroll past […]

Despite running head-to-head with President Obama’s State of the Union speech and a talk on campus by Native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko, our Jan. 27 panel discussion on energy, activism and the role of the media on the Navajo and Hopi Nations drew more than 100 Tucsonians. “Power Struggle,” co-hosted by the University of […]

It’s been cold, snowy and oddly humid here in Paonia, Colo., but a few intrepid souls still ventured out to visit us. Longtime subscribers Dave Morgan and Bobbie Sumberg dropped by our office while on a trip from their home in Santa Fe, N.M. Unfortunately, by the time they reached HCN, we’d already closed for […]