Feature stories
Browse High Country News feature stories
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INNOVATE, Part III
Westerners have a knack for new and innovative thinking, such as: Redefining rancher politics, A rediscovered renewable, Creating public nooks and crannies and more.
by Marty Durlin, Ray Ring, Sandra Tassel, Sarah Gilman, Terray Sylvester, Jennifer Anderson , Mar 12, 2009 -
INNOVATE, Part II
Westerners have a knack for new and innovative thinking: Green detective, Healthcare for the hard up, Developing to stop development, Low carbon brews and more.
by Jodi Peterson, Ray Ring, Terray Sylvester, Jonathan Thompson, , Mar 10, 2009 -
INNOVATE, Part I
Westerners have a knack for new and innovative thinking, as this special issue of HCN shows.
by Ray Ring, Tom Beal, Emily Underwood, Terray Sylvester, Sarah Gilman, Mar 09, 2009 -
How low will it go?
If Eric Kuhn is right about the Colorado River, then the state faces a dry and difficult future of fighting for water.
by Matt Jenkins , Feb 23, 2009 -
The Half-life of Memory
A writer tries to dig up the buried history of Colorado’s Rocky Flats weapons plant, now home to a controversial wildlife refuge.
by Hannah Nordhaus, Feb 17, 2009 -
Non-navigable River Blues
An obscure legal ruling muddied U.S. water-protection standards, leaving Western intermittent streams and rivers unprotected.
by Tony Davis, Feb 02, 2009 -
All Aboard
American railroads -- especially passenger trains -- seem to be at last on the brink of a revival.
by William Moore, Jan 26, 2009 -
Mountain of doubt
The long-delayed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., faces a new challenge: Barack Obama’s presidency.
by Judith Lewis , Jan 19, 2009 -
Blood Quantum
The system that determines membership in most American Indian tribes could threaten the survival of those tribes.
by Andrea Appleton, Jan 12, 2009 -
Out in the cold
When Julene Bair sold the family farm, she severed her lifelong connections with a sense of place and her own childhood.
by Julene Bair, Dec 03, 2008 -
The missing puzzle piece
In southwestern Colorado’s Crow Canyon, archaeologists are working with Native Americans to solve the historical mysteries of the Four Corners area.
by Ernest Atencio , Dec 03, 2008 -
Digging deep
An innovative local program helps Hispanic heroin addicts recover by renewing their ties to the land.
by Angela Garcia, Dec 02, 2008 -
Desperate measures
Over the years, Westerners have come up with a lot of wacky schemes to get more water.
by Jonathan Thompson , Nov 24, 2008 -
Ultimate solution?
Southern California wants to use desalination to increase its water supply, but critics think the idea needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
by Tony Davis , Nov 21, 2008 -
Who’ll clean up when the party’s over?
There are efforts to reclaim oil and gas drilling sites, but many fear it’s too little, too late.
by April Reese , Nov 10, 2008 -
Still Howling Wolf
Ranchers and environmentalists in Wyoming are still squabbling over wolves as the animal bounces on and off the endangered species list.
by Daniel Glick , Nov 10, 2008 -
The coming quake
Scientists are studying the southern San Andreas Fault to help Southern California prepare for future earthquakes.
by Judith Lewis , Oct 21, 2008 -
Prophets and politics
The Mormon Church works to ban gay marriage in California, even as gay people in places like Rexburg, Idaho, come out of the LDS closet.
by Ray Ring , Oct 20, 2008 -
Back to the future
A long time ago, the earth warmed considerably; now, scientists study fossils to find out what happened – and what it might mean for us today.
by J. MADELEINE NASH, Oct 13, 2008 -
The street hierarchy
Aaron Gilbreath mulls the very large difference between being a pedestrian in ultra-cool Portland, Ore., and in sprawling Phoenix, Ariz.
by Aaron Gilbreath, Sep 15, 2008
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