A writer finds that Colorado small-town life and Mongolian mishaps strengthen her human connections.
People & Places
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
In the barren Central Valley, a woman unravels
A review of ‘Into the Valley’ by Ruth Galm.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
Mitchell S. Jackson finds another Portland
An author speaks on growing up black in 1990s Portland and countering his city’s hipster image.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
Overlooked author Lucia Berlin gets brought back to the light
‘A Manual for Cleaning Women,’ her posthumous book of stories, reveals a formidable talent.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
Sketching water chemistry on the Animas, hunting mushrooms in the Northwest.
Hcn.org news in brief.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
The human cost of Westward expansion
A review of ‘American Copper’ by Shann Ray.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
Where agriculture and aesthetics go hand-in-glove
Former Seattleite and author Bryce Andrews writes and ranches in Montana.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
Writing beyond the reservation stereotype
A Native author creates characters who are making a life in the urban West.
Posted inArticles
Bringing a long-lost artifact back to the Hopi
Iconic Western author Katie Lee journeys with a tribe’s spiritual talisman.
Posted inArticles
Inside the transient world of mushroom pickers
People spend months scouring forest floors for money-making fungi in the Pacific Northwest.
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
The lonesome, crowded West
Review of ‘The Water Museum’ by Luis Alberto Urrea.
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
Hunting the Arctic’s disappearing treasures
Ancient artifacts in the thawing North vanish before archaeologists can document them.
Posted inArticles
An interview with the first African-American president of the Sierra Club
Aaron Mair hopes to shift the club’s mission toward policies that better include the needs and values of minorities.
Posted inArticles
Many still living in FEMA’s toxic trailers, investigation finds
From oil fields to reservations, post-Katrina trailers have spread far and wide.
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
Montana farmers start talking climate change
The Montana Farmers Union is fighting political polarization with pragmatic discussions about how to adapt and what to expect.
Posted inArticles
Dispatch from a medic on the North Star Fire in Washington
What base camp and wildfire look like from one firefighter’s perspective.
Posted inArticles
Wild Science: Migratory birds on the Great Salt Lake
Scientists explore how phalaropes respond to less water and increased salinity.
Posted inAugust 17, 2015: Little Big Bird
Dreaming where I walk
An Indian writer becomes an American citizen — and finds herself.
Posted inArticles
Fatal shooting in Wyoming raises questions about racism
Were two tribal members the victims of a hate crime?
Posted inAugust 3, 2015: Outflanked
It’s time to end Custer worship
A Montanan faces up to the West’s own history of racism.