Feature

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.

Editor's Note

Forget Wall Street, focus on the real issues

The urgency of the politicians' response to our economic troubles contrasts with the way we’re ignoring the greater crisis of climate change.

Uncommon Westerners

The invisible man

Chilean guest-worker Ricardo Arriagada herds goats that eat weeds to help prevent brush fires in Hercules, Calif.

Writers on the Range

A macabre measure of the human footprint

Susan Tweit says the huge numbers of road-killed wildlife point to a simple fact: There are too many of us.

News

Field Day

In some Western states, including Colorado, prison inmates are taking the place of immigrant farmworkers.

A good idea – if you can get away with it

Rainwater harvesting is against the law in many Western states, but folks in Utah, Colorado and Washington want to change that.

The great giveaway

Brand-new resource management plans from Utah’s BLM welcome ATVs and energy development onto some of the state’s most fragile land.

Acidifying oceans

Paleo-oceanographer James Zachos points to evidence of the last time climate change acidified the oceans, some 55 million years ago.

Book Reviews

On the Stegner trail

Philip L. Fradkin looks at the life of an iconic Western author in Wallace Stegner and the American West.

Essays

Bear necessities

Seth Cohen describes a close encounter with a grizzly – and an even closer encounter with grizzly-strength pepper spray.

Letters

Readers weigh in on HCN’s redesign

Greenwashing, literally

Taking your life in your feet

Unnatural selection

"1,000 messy facts"

Biodiversity? Not so much

West Watch

The end of Western welfare?

Paul VanDevelder considers the consequences of “capitalism without a conscience” and predicts the end of free lunches for the West.

Two Weeks in the West

Wildlife wars

There’s fighting over the endangered status of wolves, sage grouse, etc., and protecting wildlife from drilling.

Winning the West

Battleground!

High Country News looks at some of the more interesting political contests unfolding in the West.