From the Animas to Washington wildfire, here are the stories that our readers spent most time on in 2015.
Recreation
Posted inDecember 21, 2015: Secrets of the Deep
Two visions collide in Utah’s Wasatch Range
As ski resorts push for a mega-connection, backcountry skiers try to save some wild.
Posted inDecember 7, 2015: Good Neighbors
Adrenaline junkies get political
Do young recreationalists who like things faster and steeper care about the land the way their forebears did?
Posted inDecember 7, 2015: Good Neighbors
Latest: California’s plan for conservation-minded energy development takes its first step forward
The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan is intended to guide energy development, while protecting wildlife and recreation.
Posted inArticles
Leave your dog at home, please
What I say will not make me a popular person, but here it is: For excellent reasons, dogs should not be – and usually aren’t — allowed in the backcountry of national parks. Dogs, being predators, bother wildlife even when they’re leashed. Then there’s canine fecal matter, which carries a number of diseases and parasites […]
Posted inArticles
Pot growers put huge energy demand on the grid
Utilities should view legalization as an opportunity, not a threat.
Posted inArticles
What will become of the backcountry in Utah’s Wasatch?
In Park City, a decades-long battle against the resort industry may be all but over.
Posted inArticles
Ducks Unlimited fires writer over stream access fracas
An axed journalist accuses a billionaire of playing fowl with sportsmen’s rights.
Posted inNovember 9, 2015: The Campaign Against Coal
Can drilling and recreation get along in Moab, Utah?
The BLM unveils the unprecedented plan to balance oil and gas with conservation in canyon country.
Posted inNovember 9, 2015: The Campaign Against Coal
‘Legal monkey-wrenching’ on Western trails
One man’s guerrilla trail work aims to improve public access to public land.
Posted inArticles
The Hopi man who runs to protect his tribe’s water
What do you think about when you run? This is my favorite question to ask long-distance runners in the Arizona desert. When I asked Hopi runner and farmer Bucky Preston this question, he thought about the thousands of miles he has run to protect and honor his people’s water. “When I run, I meditate and […]
Posted inArticles
Alaska’s wolves and bears get new protections
New regulations help wildlife on federal lands. But they’re still no match for state predator control.
Posted inOctober 12, 2015: The Rise of Lisa Murkowski
Manifest destiny today, bees and climate, sage grouse legal wrangling on the horizon.
Hcn.org news in brief.
Posted inArticles
In Colorado, a ‘rental crisis’ forces workers into the woods
Tent cities, waste and overcrowding have created something foul in Crested Butte.
Posted inArticles
A trail runner defends his right to public lands
One September morning, with huckleberry bushes burning a fierce red against a dusting of snow on the banks of the upper Nisqually River, I left Mount Rainier National Park headquarters on a pilgrimage. Twenty-seven hours later, depleted but filled with a near-religious sense of reverence and elation I’ve rarely felt since, I arrived back where […]
Posted inArticles
Congress lets sun set on Land and Water Conservation Fund
The nation’s most successful conservation program is in jeopardy.
Posted inArticles
Endurance runners in the Grand Canyon are missing the point
When I was 18, back in the swinging ’60s, I ran with equally driven friends through the Grand Canyon, going from the North Rim to the South Rim in a single day. Our trek involved traversing the 14-mile North Kaibab trail, the 7-mile South Kaibab Trail and the Old Bright Angel Trail, 14 miles of […]
Posted inArticles
Anatomy of a flash flood
After a series of deaths, a writer considers his own close calls in canyons.
Posted inArticles
What Mt. Hood’s fading summer ski season means
As year-round skiing in the Pacific Northwest diminishes, what else will be lost?
Posted inArticles
Are nonprofit models an answer for small ski areas?
As climate and economic challenges mount, some community ski hills find a new path.