For 33 years, High Country News has built its reputation on giving people news about the West’s environment. At times, it’s been a lonely business. Betsy Marston, who served as the paper’s editor from 1983 to 2001, says that in the 1980s, HCN was one of the only newspapers that consistently covered issues affecting the […]
Greg Hanscom
Greg Hanscom is the publisher and executive director for High Country News. Email him at greg.hanscom@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2003: Courting the Bomb
Dear Friends
Farewell, Radio HCN We’re writing today with both sadness and gratitude. We’re sad because, after years of hard work, we have decided to end our weekly radio program, Radio High Country News. But we’re grateful to you, our dedicated readers, because you believed enough to contribute to the Spreading the News Campaign, which allowed us […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 2003: Courting the Bomb
The best little radio show in the West
An appreciation of Radio High Country News,and of the band of brilliant, visionary and completely nuts peoplewho made it possible
Posted inAugust 18, 2003: Where the Antelope (and the Oil Companies) Play
Dear Friends
Louisiana’s Big Oil slayer There may be any number of environmental activists who run thriving Cadillac dealerships, but we only know of one: Harold Schoeffler of Lafayette, La. The grizzled 63-year-old recently camped overnight on Lamborn Mesa outside Paonia with the Boy Scout troop he founded 20-some years ago. They were taking an eight-day tour […]
Posted inWotr
It’s time for ‘quiet recreationists’ to speak up
At long last, the people who make our beloved backpacking tents and climbing ropes and kayaks have taken some responsibility for helping us trample freely about the wilderness. In May, leaders of the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) gave Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt an ultimatum. Leavitt had just signed deals stripping temporary wilderness protection from 2.6 […]
Posted inAugust 4, 2003: Pipe Dreams
Dear friends
We’re back! Following a two-week hiatus, the High Country News staff is back on the job, looking a little sunnier, and feeling refreshed. Temperatures on Colorado’s Western Slope have been rocketing over the 100-degree mark every afternoon, so it’s good to be back under the swamp cooler. Visitors Truckloads of HCN subscribers have ducked in […]
Posted inJuly 7, 2003: Invasion of the rock jocks
Speak up, ‘quiet recreationists’
At long last, the good people who make our beloved backpacking tents and climbing ropes and kayaks have taken some responsibility for helping us trample freely about the Western wilds. In May, Peter Metcalf, co-founder of the climbing-gear company, Black Diamond, gave Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt an ultimatum. Leavitt had just signed deals stripping 2.6 […]
Posted inJuly 7, 2003: Invasion of the rock jocks
Dear Friends
We need a vacation! Don’t be surprised that High Country News isn’t in your mailbox two weeks from now. Each summer, we skip an issue, to give staffers a chance to crawl out of their cubicles and frolic in the hills. Your next issue should arrive August 4. The board comes to Paonia The High […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Hear that whistle blow
Last year, Republican strategist Frank Luntz wrote a report, coaching Republicans on how to talk about the environment. Straight Talk is a fascinating, albeit nauseating, read — particularly the section about science. “Americans unanimously believe all environmental rules and regulations should be based on sound science and common sense,” it says. Then, Luntz does a […]
Posted inJune 23, 2003: 'Sound science' goes sour
Dear Friends
HCN in the spotlight Thanks go out to all the readers who have written e-mails, postcards and letters in recent weeks to comment on the paper’s new look. So far, the reviews have been mostly positive: “GREAT,” “easier to read,” “handsome and easy to handle,” “a job well done,” “I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new […]
Posted inJune 9, 2003: How we see the West
Dear Friends
A new supporter Once a year, High Country News dedicates almost an entire issue to essays. We hope this issue gets stuffed into the backseat of a few cars for the summer road trip, tucked into backpacks, or packed in dry bags for a little reading on the river. We’ll be back with more news […]
Posted inMay 26, 2003: A losing battle
Dear Friends
A new look, same old spunk Here it is, at long last — the new High Country News. As promised, the paper has a lively new look, but what’s inside remains largely the same: sagacious reporting, balanced perspective, a skeptical edge. Here’s hoping you like what you find. To research the cover story, our editor […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Dear Friends
Two weeks to launch time It’s true: This is the last issue of HCN in its current format. Your next issue will look a little different. We won’t give away the details of the new design, but thanks go out to all those who wrote in with ideas and critiques of the covers we printed […]
Posted inApril 28, 2003: Indian Power
The Latest Bounce
The Bureau of Land Management is doing its part for national energy security. In mid-April, the agency announced its new policy for approving oil and gas permits. Now, the BLM will simultaneously process multiple permits with similar characteristics, instead of evaluating and providing environmental analysis for each one (HCN, 4/14/03: Grass roots prevail in ANWR […]
Posted inApril 28, 2003: Indian Power
Dear Friends
Scratch the metamorphosis bit The notes from readers continue to roll in regarding our plans to redesign High Country News. We’ll spare you the details, but it’s great to get some thoughts from the outside world, since we’ve been staring at our work for so long that we’re all a bit cross-eyed. We received this […]
Posted inApril 28, 2003: Indian Power
New Mexico’s new governor must reckon with history
It’s tough to get in a fight in New Mexico without getting everyone’s grandparents involved. Here, history is somehow both deeper and closer to the surface than it is elsewhere in the West. Take the Aamodt water rights case, for example, which High Country News covered back in 1984. On one side of the fight […]
Posted inApril 14, 2003: Change comes slowly to Escalante county
Dear Friends
Your chance to weigh in Spring is springing in Western Colorado, and work continues on the redesign of High Country News. We’re getting a stream of good advice from readers. “HCN has made its mark by doing the kind of in-depth reporting that dailies now do less and less, and at the same time has […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2003: Tinkering with Nature
The best restoration tools are fangs and claws
The first thing I did when I got to Glacier National Park was go out for a run. It seemed like the obvious thing to do. I’d just graduated from college in New England, packed my belongings and spent three hard days driving West across the Plains. I was dying to get back to the […]
Posted inMarch 17, 2003: Bracing against the tide
Dear Friends
Fear and loathing in HCNland Change is always a little scary, and changing times at High Country News are no different, we’ve discovered. We mentioned in Dear Friends last month that we’re planning to give the newspaper its first major face-lift in probably two decades. The goal is to make the paper look more smart […]
Posted inMarch 3, 2003: The Wild Card
Dear friends
A wintry gathering As a gentle snow fell from a gray winter sky, 130 High Country News readers and friends jammed into the Cache La Poudre Grange in Bellvue, Colo., just outside Fort Collins. They brought splendid food and drink (thanks, New Belgium Brewery!), and a bevy of story ideas for the HCN staff. Issues […]