Letter to the editor

Weaponized landscape or great place to drink Tecate? The tone of this piece is way out of whack with the story it purports to tell: how author Francisco Cantú transformed himself from a (brutal? we never find out) Border Patrol cop to a teacher, writer and (we are led to believe) sympathizer with those he […]

In the recent article “The Changing Face of Woods Work” (HCN, 10/30/17), the author describes the challenge of putting young Americans to work in the woods. Though the article was well-written, the author did not mention that there is indeed a new generation of Americans hungry to work outside, to rebuild and care for our […]

I was appalled by Linda Hasselstrom’s poem “Spring” and your newspaper’s commentary on it (“Heard Around the West,” HCN, 10/30/17). Hasselstrom categorizes drowning kittens and bashing them with a wrench as “taking responsibility.” What she calls “taking responsibility” is really a grotesque and wholly unjustifiable lack of responsibility. Her “stark choices” are no more than […]

Thank you, Hal Herring, from the bottom of my tree-planting heart. You presented the situation for forest workers that many of us have been trying to address for the last 20 years (“The Changing Face of Woods Work,” HCN, 10/30/17). You connected the dots in just the right way. You didn’t blame the victims (guest […]

Toward the end of his excellent essay “The Changing Face of Woods Work,” Hal Herring gets to the core issues of what is — yes, Hal — a “vast right-wing conspiracy” (HCN, 10/30/17). The goal is to create, in the minds of as many people as possible, a distaste for anything associated with the federal […]

Coyote,     the adaptable one. Never listening     to what you think, Save to leave     when he can         to avoid danger. The howler to the moon,     to the train,     the plane,     and most certainly,         the siren. The longing croon. The desert,     our home. Thank you, Julie […]

In your short article, “Why the Bundy crew keeps winning in court,” you stated that some of the trial attenders felt that the judge was prejudiced against the defense (HCN, 9/18/17). I attended much, although not all, of the Bundy trials here in Portland, Oregon, and had an opportunity to overhear some conversations among defense […]

I am a former archaeologist and currently a professional geographer, so I especially enjoyed the recent feature article “Following Ancient Footsteps” (HCN, 10/2/17). Among the many highlights was the small but effective map that put the whole story into a geographic perspective.  Unfortunately, I have found that maps in feature stories are the exception. I […]

I’ve learned a lot from HCN in the last few years, and it’s responsible for my year-long detour to Grand Junction, which will always be a life highlight. But I’m increasingly tired of your magazine’s world-weary white man’s editorial perspective, and what appears to be a lack of commitment to reflecting and representing the diversity […]

Krista Langlois’ article “Busting the big one” (HCN, 9/4/17) aptly describes the existential dilemma of whether or not draining Lake Powell into Lake Mead would increase/maximize the amount of water available for human use. If more studies are carried out to determine the best storage of available Colorado River water now and into the foreseeable […]

I read Brian Calvert’s “Down the Dark Mountain” essay in the July 24 issue. He is entitled to his opinion; however, his language needs cleaning up! I have been very unhappy with the liberal bias that this publication has developed over the last few years, but seeing the F-word used sealed it for me: You […]

Editor-in-Chief Brian Calvert described dams as “providing clean hydropower” (“Compromise amid the canyons,” HCN, 9/4/17). Actually, a spate of new research shows that there is basically no free greenhouse-gas lunch when it comes to generating electricity, and the burden of hydropower is increasingly coming into focus. The news is not good. For example, a recent […]

Thanks for the nice article about the Elwha (“The Elwha, Unleashed,” HCN, 9/4/17). It jogged some memories and provided some amusing solace and closure. Twenty-five years ago, I owned a one-quarter interest in an offshore racing sailboat. On the already very eventful return trip from a race to Hawaii, our boat hit a log in […]

Thank you for Jonathan Thompson’s article on “The Bid for the Big Grid,” as well as Elizabeth Shogren’s on the Nevada power situation (HCN, 8/21/17). For the first time, perhaps, I am reading on the “how to” of switching to renewables instead of endless sorrow at what the United States seemed incapable of doing — […]

I am a member of one of those California Sierra Club chapters that Jonathan Thompson mentions in his excellent feature, “The Bid for a Big Grid” (HCN, 8/21/17). Our concern has been more about the fact that up to 25 percent of the power transmitted long distances via high-voltage power lines is lost during transmission. […]

The Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition (AQRC) was delighted to see Krista Langlois’ very informative article “Trail Blazing” (HCN, 6/26/17). It deals with a topic that is dear to our hearts — providing high-quality opportunities for human-powered recreation on Alaska’s public lands. We certainly agree that encouraging the development of more hiking, cross-country skiing and biking […]

I felt compelled to share these thoughts with you after  I read “Down the Dark Mountain” by Brian Calvert (HCN, 7/24/17). I spent seven years working for the U.S. Forest Service cleaning up logging slash in clear-cuts. Although I actively provided input to timber-sale projects, the decision was always to log. My personal answer to […]

As a former HCN board member and former journalist, I write to express my disappointment and frustration with the lead article “Down the Dark Mountain” (HCN, 7/24/17) which was headlined on your front page as a guide to the ongoing ecocide of the planet. This article trivializes the coming disaster. For nine pages it wanders […]

A Response to Brian Calvert’s article “Down the Dark Mountain” (HCN, 7/24/17): Yes, all these famous men these deep thinkers we revere make laments in beautiful words while the world goes on. While women give birth, nurse babies care for sick and dying parents. While nuns shelter the poor, teach in ghettos, visit death row […]

Ruxandra Guidi’s exceptionally good piece “Los Promotores” (HCN, 8/7/17) could be subtitled “Welcome to America! Harvest Our Food and We’ll Give You a Nice Little Place Next to the Dump.” Her article takes us into the remote desert corners of Southern California where the nearly concealed sins of environmental and social injustice become so terribly […]