Letter to the editor

Your piece on the differing responses to wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone was a welcome change from the oversimplified accounts that have dominated media coverage (“Have returning wolves really saved Yellowstone?” HCN 12/8/14). One important factor was missing, even though it is likely to become the most critical one: climatic change.   Our University of New […]

I read with great interest this week’s feature about the Indian perspective on salmon restoration in the Columbia Basin, a subject I have studied for many years (“The Great Salmon Compromise,” HCN, 12/8/14). The author covered one aspect of a complex subject rather well, but he left out several pertinent facts. Hatchery-bred fish do not […]

Willows are pioneers of raw, moist habitats (“Have returning wolves really saved Yellowstone?” HCN, 12/8/14). Except for the few, but often common, species capable of vegetative reproduction, dense grasses are anathema to willow spread, and young plants grow fastest. The story of moisture-loving riparian species, such as willows and sedges, catching sediments is writ large […]

Rebecca Clarren’s excellent report on the exposure of Oregonians to herbicides sprayed by timber companies brings to mind a similar struggle by the state’s citizens in the late 1970s (“Fallout,” HCN, 11/10/14). Back then, a small group of women from Alsea, Oregon, who had suffered miscarriages after exposure to herbicides sprayed by the U.S. Forest […]

I met Barrett Funka many years ago on the trails in the Bob Marshall Wilderness (“Pack-Man,” HCN, 11/10/14). Nice to see he has “made it.” I say that tongue-in-cheek, because I know what he gets paid, and that the real reward is not in a bank account, but rather in the pride in a job […]

In a paranoid response to publicity over the recent dramatic increase in severity of wildland and interface fires, there’s a lot of forest thinning going on in a misguided attempt to reduce fire danger (“Lost in the Woods,” HCN, 9/1/14). In the 1970s, when we were thinning the Southwestern forests, I’d probably killed about a […]

“Fallout” was an extraordinary report on the perils of modern-day pesticide spraying in Gold Beach, Oregon. Apparently, the consequences of DDT spraying epitomized in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 have sunk deep into our memories and are now almost forgotten, once again allowing history to repeat itself. Unfortunately, most people, including senior editor Jonathan […]

Regarding “Defuse the West” (HCN, 10/27/14), these conflicts are not restricted to the West. Most of these confrontations are initiated by redneck motorheads who apparently think they are living in 1880 and can do anything they please. These fools don’t seem to grasp the fact that ever-increasing use of our public lands demands that there […]

Chuck Bowden’s thoughtful side is what I will always remember (“Charles Bowden’s Fury,” HCN, 10/13/14). Arriving with the newspapers on my Sedona porch some 25 years ago, just when sunlight was sneaking through early morning clouds, was an unexpected visitor. Standing there was a hefty man, ruggedly handsome, in a windblown sort of way, dressed in […]

“Bad Medicine” makes some valid points, but it turns me cold when it starts out with name calling, specifically “ultra-right” and later in the article “ultra-conservative.” Simply disagreeing with the author’s point of view seems to make people extreme, in the author’s opinion. If you want to draw people towards your point of view, then don’t call them inflammatory names. At best, it […]

About two-thirds of Utah’s legislators are tied to banking, insurance, land title, development, real estate or other firms that would benefit from the transfer of lands to the state (“Bad medicine,” HCN, 10/27/14). Utah’s Legislature is over 80 percent Republican, with highly gerrymandered districts to ensure that the 30 percent or so of Utahns who […]

I can’t decide if High Country News is part of the problem or not (“House of Misrepresentatives,” 10/27/14). You seem to be deathly afraid of offending Republicans; every time you publish something like this, it’s always “Congress” doing it, never “Republicans in Congress.” At least you used the “R,” and I noticed it’s all “R”s. […]

Chuck Bowden smoldered. He was a volcano, and he bled for us. Pure courage, he never wavered, shifting from his earlier genre of Thoreau-esque, outdoor meditation to hard-boiled organized crime coverage of a horrific and dangerous nature. His style was elemental, raw, alternating between a love of the region and its people, and a healthy […]

So he had literary flair and put himself at real personal risk — all very admirable — but if Charles Bowden produced anything in any way helpful to understanding and dealing with the Mexican border crisis and migration, it is nowhere evident in the pieces by or about him that have appeared in HCN (“Charles Bowden’s Fury,” 10/13/14). None […]

I would like to thank High Country News for “Defuse the West” (10/27/14). I retired after serving for 30 years with both the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and can attest to the ugliness that has crept into the public discourse regarding public lands and forests. I have been on the […]

I found “Defuse the West” to be quite one-sided. To add balance, it would have been good to include events such as the BLM’s commando-type raid on several citizens in southeastern Utah on June 10, 2009.  This event has received much media attention and has still not seen resolution. I would have liked to have […]

In the summer of 1969, my then-husband and I, in our mid-20s, enjoyed a refreshing swim in the Snake River after a hiking trip into the Bridger Wilderness Area. The current was fast, so we cooled ourselves off near shore, blissfully unaware that future generations might be denied this experience if they valued their good […]

I wanted you to know how much I love the cover of your “Books & Essays” special issue (HCN, 9/15/14), with the Serena Supplee painting. I have her artwork on every wall in my office, the walls of which are painted pink and orange to evoke the Colorado Plateau’s red rock at sunset and sunrise. […]