High Country News December 06, 2010
Feature
Debating Preservation in the Southwest's Spanish Missions
Archaeologists debate how best to preserve Arizona's crumbling missions – and sometimes ask if it’s time to let them die.
Oil and Water Don't Mix with California Agriculture
In Kern County, Calif., the oil industry shares land and water with fruit-growers and farmers -- not always comfortably.
Farming's Toxic Legacy
Long-banned pesticides linger in the soils of neighborhoods built on former agricultural land in central Washington.
Current
Western Climate Initiative moves forward, smaller than imagined
Cap and trade is dead in Washington, D.C., but a few states are hoping to limit emissions through the Western Climate Initiative.
All hopped up
Organic hop growers are toasting new regulations that require organic beers to use organic hops.
Ocelots in Arizona?
The first confirmed ocelot sighting in Arizona in 50 years spurs an update of a federal recovery plan.
A visit to a ghost town in San Francisco Bay
The federal government has decided to let the tides take what's left of the San Francisco Bay ghost town known as Drawbridge.
The supposedly protected Wyoming Range faces new energy development
Roughnecks and hunters are fighting plans to drill for natural gas in the Hoback-Noble Basin of the Wyoming Range.
Editor's Note
What lies beneath
When pesticide chemicals were found underneath the houses of Barber Orchard, N.C., it aroused fears nationwide about the risks of building on former agricultural land.
Dear Friends
Santa goat is coming to town!
High Country News will host Holiday Open House; poets, bikers and wine-lovers come to call; clarifications.
Writers on the Range
Poetry in motion
That odd-looking woman on the sidewalk ahead of you is not just talking to herself; she's trying -- loudly -- to memorize a poem.
Book Reviews
A contaminated history unearthed
Investigative reporter Judy Pasternak describes uranium's effects on the Navajo Nation in Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed.
Seven months of solitude
A young writer named Steve Edwards spends seven months living by Oregon's Rogue River in his memoir, Breaking into the Backcountry.
Essays
Room for everyone
A "hodgepodge of humanity" visits Mojave desert hot springs -- and there's room enough for all.
Sidebar
Backyard poisons?
Soil samples from the yards of two Yakima families showed intriguing but not always comforting results.
How to Play Safely in the Soil
High Country News offers tips on how to garden safely if your home is built on at-risk former farmland.
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