High Country News

Fire scientists fight over what Western forests should look like

Controversial new studies question the conventional wisdom on Western ponderosa forests and the severity of their historic wildfires.

by Emily Guerin, Sep 26, 2012
Fire on the mountain

A New Mexican watches Whitewater-Baldy fire burn the Gila National Forest, and even as it changes a place she loves, her ecologist self cheers it on.

by Martha Schumann Cooper, Jun 14, 2012
Why the Southwest is burning

This season’s wildfires are caused by three things: Climate change-induced drought, bureaucratic blindness and old-fashioned human folly.

by William deBuys, Jun 30, 2011
West of 100: Fire & Brimstone

The backstory to Emily Guerin's report on the scientific debate over how "normal" severe fire is, and a travelogue from the Gila Wilderness in the wake of this year's massive blaze.

by Cally Carswell, Emily Guerin, Neil LaRubbio, Sep 25, 2012
High Country Views: Fire in the foothills

The aftermath of Boulder's destructive Fourmile Canyon fire.

by Cally Carswell, Sep 26, 2010
Global climate change: We need to talk about it

It's hard for journalists to talk about climate change, but they need to keep telling the story, especially when writing about natural disasters.

by Allen Best, Jul 25, 2012
Life rises from the ashes, in the form of a humble toad

Ecologist Charlie Crisafulli has spent twenty-five years studying life on Mount St. Helens, especially the boreal toad, which is in decline almost everywhere else, but thriving at the volcano

by David B. Williams, Jul 25, 2005
Searching for the true causes of the West’s fire problems

Pepper Trail, a wildlife biologist in Oregon, says that this is not the time to log our way out of wildfire threats in the West.

by Pepper Trail, Aug 11, 2003
What scientists are learning from wildfire in New Mexico

New Mexico's Gila National Forest is a good natural laboratory for studying the effects of wildfire.

by Neil LaRubbio, Nov 14, 2012
The War on Wildfire

President Bush says the Healthy Forests Restoration Act and Initiative were needed to fight wildfire, but several years into the new rules, critics question whether the changes they brought were helpful or even necessary

by Kathie Durbin, Apr 17, 2006