Feature

Bred for success

The Peregrine Fund has mastered the art of breeding aplomado falcons and other endangered birds of prey, but critics say the organization is blind to the importance of wildlife habitat

Editor's Note

The West is not a zoo

The Peregrine Fund has proven that it can breed and release endangered birds of prey as often as it needs to, but do we want to treat Western wildlife like a crop of annual flowers that has to be re-seeded every year?

Dear Friends

Dear friends

HCN says goodbye to Greg Hanscom and welcomes new editor John Mecklin; notes from readers

Uncommon Westerners

State of Jefferson: A place apart

Brian Peterson considers himself the interim governor of the State of Jefferson, an area in Northern California and southern Oregon that has been talking about secession since the early 1940s

News

Tribal religion trumps eagle protection

A recent court ruling on the ceremonial killing of eagles by American Indians collides with the Endangered Species Act, possibly sending the issue to the Supreme Court

Trees — A different shade of green

Increasingly, Western cities are planting trees to save energy as well as provide beauty

Spinning coal into gasoline

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is eager to build a synfuels plant to turn coal into diesel, but it will neither easy nor cheap to make gas gasification a reality in the West

Book Reviews

A whole lot of shaking

In his book A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester takes a comprehensive look at the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and warns of the geological perils still facing the region

Elementary, my dear cowpuncher

In Steve Hockensmith’s historical mystery, Holmes on the Range, Montana cowboys inspired by the Sherlock Holmes stories try their hand at solving a murder

Four decades of the Sierra Club

Michael McCloskey’s autobiography, In the Thick of It: My Life in the Sierra Club, covers four decades of his life and work as an environmentalist

Essays

A decade of difficult questions

Outgoing High Country News editor Greg Hanscom muses on the stories and issues the paper has covered in the 10 years he’s been with it

A Proud Member of PAOBHA

Today’s rural West with its monster homes and Hummers sorely needs a group like PAOBHA, People Against Ostentatious and Boorish Housing

Heard Around the West

Heard around the West

Worms at work; stupid hunter tricks; fighting starlings with falcons; cemetery soccer; Schweitzer’s dang-tootin’; Mount Rushmoo

Two Weeks in the West

Two weeks in the West

Interior Deputy Secretary Julie MacDonald 'edited' Fish and Wildlife reports to change scientists’ conclusions; Platte River Cooperative Agreement comes together; railroad wants to blast avalanches in Glacier National Park; largest biodiesel refinery bein

Sidebar

Terms of endangerment

The Endangered Species Act’s categories of endangered, threatened, experimental essential, experimental nonessential, and safe harbor release are defined