Red tape makes it difficult for veterans in Indian Country to access a key federal assistance program.
Politics
Posted inDecember 23, 2013: Beauty or Beast
The fignificent fig man
Lloyd Kreitzer’s journey as New Mexico’s premier fig grower.
Posted inDecember 16, 1977: Yellowcake spilled; clean up slow, disorganized
Family gaining independence with sun, wind, wood
The Ricks family in Rexburg, Idaho experiments with new technology and makes much of it themselves, including an all-electric car. Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/9.24/download-entire-issue%3C/p%3E
Posted inGoat
The Wilderness Act at 50: In 2014, what makes a place wild?
In December 1960, the iconic Western author Wallace Stegner wrote a letter to a University of California, Berkeley researcher in support of what would become the Wilderness Act. Wilderness is important, he wrote, because it “was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed. The reminder and the reassurance that it is […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2013: Beauty or Beast
Obama’s most effective environmental action?
Utah and other states like the new EPA regulations on vehicle emissions.
Posted inDecember 23, 2013: Beauty or Beast
An unvarnished view of America’s best idea
To Conserve Unimpaired: The Evolution of the National Park IdeaRobert B. Keiter368 pages, hardcover: $35.Island Press, 2013. In To Conserve Unimpaired, Professor Robert Keiter provides an unvarnished view of “America’s best idea”: the National Park System. Keiter, the country’s pre-eminent legal expert on the subject, tackles the question: Why does the park idea still evoke […]
Posted inDecember 23, 2013: Beauty or Beast
The Latest: First federal prosecution of wind farm bird deaths
BackstoryDespite their clean-energy appeal, wind farms have a reputation for mowing down birds and bats. Much of the “bird blender” blame rests with one of the first farms, poorly placed on Altamont Pass near San Francisco (“Birds, blades and bats,” HCN, 5/02/05). But even with wildlife-friendly siting and better turbine technology, hundreds of thousands of […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Inside the BLM’s abrupt decision not to ban shooting in an Arizona national monument
Why guns, politics and saguaros don’t mix.
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Alaska’s unexpected catch in catch-share
Fishing reform drives inequality in coastal communities.
Posted inGoat
Second Yarnell investigation reaches damning – and tragic – conclusions
As we reported in October, the first investigation of Arizona’s Yarnell Hill Fire, in which 19 hotshots were killed this summer, drew extremely cautious conclusions. No “direct causes” of the accident were identified, no one was blamed. Policies and protocols, the report said, were not violated. It was almost strangely timid, leaving some to wonder: […]
Posted inRange
Senate, House nearing a budget?
This is the week to watch Congress. If all goes well, Senate budget chairman Patty Murray will make a deal with the House budget chairman Paul Ryan that outlines federal spending for the rest of fiscal year 2014 and 2015. What kind of deal? As The Washington Posts Wonkblog puts it: “The budget deal Patty Murray and […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
A broader view on secession
As a Vermonter who lived out West for 10 years in my 20s, I have been a loyal High Country News subscriber since 1992, and was pleased to read Krista Langlois’ fine article about secession (“Breaking up is hard to do,” HCN, 11/11/13). I would like to offer a few additional observations. 1. Secession is […]
Posted inGoat
Could the fight for Colorado’s Browns Canyon finally be over?
The struggle to protect Browns Canyon, a rugged stretch of the Arkansas River in central Colorado, has been waxing and waning since the area was first studied for wilderness designation in the 1970s. Several attempts to create a new federal wilderness have been floated since then, and though they’ve come tantalizingly close, none have yet […]
Posted inGoat
Fracking, public lands, ag bills to watch at the close of legislative year
There are just four days left before the legislative year ends and Congress calls it good – or mediocre, as it may be – for 2013. This Congress passed the fewest number of laws since 1947, earning the unfortunate title of “least productive in history.” So it should come as no surprise that several major pieces […]
Posted inNovember 25, 2013: Ecosystems 101
The national park popularity contest
An Oklahoma senator’s financial fix for our national treasures.
Posted inNovember 25, 2013: Ecosystems 101
The Latest: Court strikes down BLM plan in Utah
BackstoryDuring the George W. Bush administration’s final months, the Bureau of Land Management released six massive resource management plans for 11 million acres in southern Utah. The plans, which opened large areas to energy development and designated 17,000 miles of off-road vehicle trails, were released on a short timetable that allowed little opportunity for public […]
Posted inGoat
California fracking regulations proposal gets mixed response
Last week, California regulators proposed new rules to oversee hydraulic fracturing across the state, and depending on whom you ask, they are either a move toward stronger oversight of the extraction of the state’s oil reserves, or a thinly veiled capitulation to industry. The regulations come as a result of SB 4, which was introduced […]
Posted inGoat
Will the farm bill leave private lands conservation behind?
Right now, following the farm bill’s progress seems a lot like watching corn grow. The bill is due for reauthorization and the senators and representatives charged with finding a compromise are under pressure to make progress before Thanksgiving. The major hurdle to clear right now, and that’s received a fair bit of media attention already, […]
Posted inWotr
Will there ever be a 51st state?
When we work together, we work to form a more perfect union.