Essays
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Easterners tilt at windmills while Westerners joust with a real foe
Cape Cod’s opposition to a proposed offshore wind farm sounds crazy to Westerners, who would gladly exchange nuclear waste dumps, coal mines and gas wells for some renewable energy
by Joshua Zaffos, Mar 07, 2005 -
This boom will end like all the others - in a deep, deep bust
The history of small towns in the West has always been a cycle of booms and busts.
by Ed Marston, Sep 05, 1994 -
Imagine
A teacher asks his students and the rest of us to imagine: What would the world be like if we had the courage to use our imaginations?
by David Oates, Apr 16, 2007 -
The romance of deceleration
The noisy contrast between snowmobiles and cross-country skis awakens the author to the similar contrast between the life she has always wanted and the one she currently has with her partner, Billy.
by Deanna Wittmer Clauson, Mar 19, 2007 -
Norton Departs
Interior Secretary Gale Norton’s decision to resign prompts a look at Interior’s conservative counterrevolution during her tenure, along with its unintended consequences
by Paul Larmer, Apr 03, 2006 -
What’s it like to live in the West?
Brian Doyle answers the question “What’s it like to live in the West?” with exuberant poetry.
by Brian Doyle, Oct 01, 2007 -
Old West meets Old World in Big Horn
In Big Horn, Wyo., in the shadow of the Big Horn Mountains, Westerners have been playing polo for more than a century
by Peggy O’Neill, Aug 20, 2007 -
The owl and I
Melissa Hart’s relationship with an owl transforms her life
by Melissa Hart, Aug 06, 2007 -
Lost in the Land of the Ugly Stepsister
Great Falls, Mont., suffers from the Ugly Stepsister Syndrome, a cognitive disorder that makes it willing to trade a Lewis and Clark historic landmark for a dirty coal-fired power plant
by Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, Jun 25, 2007 -
The resurgence of hook-and-bullet conservation
Hunters have done a huge amount over the years to preserve wildlife and habitat, but the powerful group Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, with its obsessive focus on killing predators, seems to be taking a step backward
by Paul Larmer, Jun 25, 2007 -
Piscatorial theology
For Irle White’s father, fly-fishing was the one true religion
by Irle White, Jun 11, 2007 -
Epiphanies on the range
As teacher Phil Brick travels the West with 21 of his students, he encourages them to ask difficult questions about environmental issues
by Phil Brick, Jun 11, 2007 -
Wilderness Lost
Rebecca Stanfel always planned to take her young son Andrew on wilderness expeditions, but the onslaught of illness has taught her that nature can also be found much closer to home.
by Rebecca Stanfel, May 14, 2007 -
Safe out there
To an aging, mentally ill woman named Jade, the beautiful Colorado day is filled with sinister, frightening demons, and even a well-meaning neighbor can do nothing to drive them away.
by Laura Pritchett, Apr 30, 2007 -
The American Dream, sans gasoline
The author’s successful search for a car that can run on biodiesel helps her understand the lure of the open road
by Michelle Nijhuis, Aug 08, 2005 -
In the suburbs of Los Angeles, your futureawaits
The neighborhoods of suburban L.A. can serve as a useful model for the West’s urban planners
by D.J. Waldie, Aug 08, 2005 -
The allure of the gnarled
It took a while, but the writer eventually came to see the strange, harsh beauty of the gnarled old pinon and juniper trees in Canyon Country
by Joshua Zaffos, May 16, 2005 -
Why should the Arctic Refuge matter to the ski industry?
If the United States doesn’t come up with an intelligent energy strategy, global warming could spell the end of the ski industry
by Pat O'Donnell, May 16, 2005 -
The knowledge of mules
After more than a decade of a solitary existence packing mules in the Northern Rockies, the writer is seriously injured and must reconsider his way of life.
by Jason Fisher, Mar 05, 2007 -
The bigger the mine, the better the deal
Land swaps, like the one planned to save land near Yellowstone National Park from mining, are a bad habit with a bad history in Montana's national forests.
by Ray Ring, Sep 30, 1996
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