Most Recent
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Roadless returns!
Judge reinstates Clinton roadless rule
by Staff, Oct 02, 2006 -
Dottie Fox, one of the greatest old broads
Dottie Fox, a tireless wilderness advocate and co-founder of the group Great Old Broads for Wilderness, dies after a long fight with cancer
by Betsy Marston, Oct 02, 2006 -
Homegrown news: Money can't buy it
In an introduction to this special issue celebrating independent media, High Country News associate editor Jonathan Thompson recalls the exciting, exhausting, high-caffeine years he spent publishing his own newspaper in a small mountain town
by Jonathan Thompson, Oct 02, 2006 -
From the ground up
The Crested Butte News, a successful independent newspaper in a small Rocky Mountain town, has come full circle and is once again owned by a chain
by M. John Fayhee, Oct 02, 2006 -
Heard around the West
Pretending to be an illegal immigrant; Olympia’s gangsta raccoons; advice on selling Bibles door-to-door; peculiar – and pricey – ads in Colorado; Snakes on the Ground are scaring folks in Arizona.
by Betsy Marston, Sep 18, 2006 -
The memory of mountains
The author remembers a long-ago hike up Pikes Pike with her mother, who later died having no memory of that hike, or of her daughter.
by Diane Sylvain, Sep 18, 2006 -
Hits and missives from Cactus Ed
In Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast, David Petersen assembles some of the correspondence of Western writer Edward Abbey into an eminently readable but ultimately unenlightening collection.
by Brian Kevin, Sep 18, 2006 -
Undoing the myth of Western exceptionalism
California’s decision to tackle global warming is a sign that the West is finally growing up enough to realize that it is not an "exceptional" place, entirely detached from the rest of the modern world.
by Matt Jenkins, Sep 18, 2006 -
Is the great federal land debate over?
Two trends are almost as dangerous as the idea of directly selling off the public lands: land transfers done in the name of economic development, and the outsourcing of jobs in the federal land-management agencies.
by John Freemuth, Sep 18, 2006 -
A pilgrim with a battered Nikon
Albuquerque photojournalist Jaelyn deMaria has devoted the last few years to documenting the pilgrims who come to the shrine of Monte Cristo Rey on the United States-Mexico border near El Paso.
by Lee Ross, Sep 18, 2006 -
Running on empty in Sin City
Although many rural Nevadans are unhappy with Las Vegas’ plans for a giant groundwater project, the six other states that rely on water from the Colorado River are hoping the Nevada project goes ahead.
by Matt Jenkins, Sep 18, 2006 -
Unpaved with good intentions
A new breed of land trusts seeks not merely to preserve undeveloped landscape, but to keep it in agricultural use – particularly in organic farming.
by Seth Zuckerman, Sep 18, 2006 -
Duke City dustup
The nation may be intrigued by the contest between incumbent Republican Rep. Heather Wilson and New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid, but the New Mexicans who will actually vote in the election seem fairly disinterested.
by Laura Paskus, Sep 18, 2006 -
Ballot box hangover
Even as Oregon tries to deal with the chaos of Measure 37, which overturned the state’s old land-use regulations, "The Big Look," an attempt to revive and re-create planning laws, is quietly under way.
by Randy Stapilus, Sep 18, 2006 -
Will Montanans reject their bagman?
Even Montanans critical of Sen. Conrad Burns admit he’s a genius at bringing home the pork – a fact that may make it harder for his Democratic challenger, Jon Tester, in the November election.
by Ray Ring, Sep 18, 2006 -
Fractures on the right
National pundits say the nation’s political parties are moving toward the extremes, but in the West, Republicans – unhappy with some far-right politicians – seem to be heading back to the middle.
by Ray Ring, Sep 18, 2006 -
Energy Colonizes the West
Acres leased for drilling in the West
by HCN Staff, Sep 18, 2006 -
A little wild
Percentage of federally owned land and wilderness in Western states
by HCN Staff, Sep 18, 2006 -
Two weeks in the West
Bush cuts EPA library budget; BLM admits failure to protect air quality and wildlife around Pinedale, Wyo., gas fields; California announces perchlorate limits for drinking water; Grand Junction, Colo., passes ordinance against drilling
by Staff, Sep 18, 2006 -
Leave the wheels out of wilderness
As enjoyable as mountain biking is, bikes simply don’t belong in the wilderness, partly because the faster you travel through a place, the smaller – and tamer – that place begins to seem.
by Greg Hanscom, Sep 18, 2006






