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Jonathan Thompson
Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands. Follow him @LandDesk
Posted inJanuary 11, 2010: Breakdown
Water war, or peace?
As 2009 came to an end, I asked readers of our HCN Commons e-mail newsletter what they thought the West’s big issues would be in 2010. The predominant response wasn’t all that surprising: Water, water and water. Several people agree that this could be the year when water agencies finally acknowledge the natural limits of […]
Posted inDecember 21, 2009: Wind Resistance
The messy mix of energy and sage grouse
Will turbines deal a deadly blow to the imperiled bird?
Posted inDecember 21, 2009: Wind Resistance
Wind Resistance
Will the petrocracy — and greens — keep Wyoming from realizing its windy potential?
Posted inDecember 21, 2009: Wind Resistance
Battle for the core of Wyoming
Sage grouse concerns have pitted fossil fuels against wind
Posted inDecember 7, 2009: Dueling Claims
When the sacred becomes toxic
In 1680, the Pueblos of New Mexico organized a revolt against the Spaniards who had colonized the region. The uprising, which involved Pueblos from Taos to Zuni, successfully chased the Spaniards back to El Paso, where they would stay and sulk for the next 12 years. The Puebloans had plenty of grievances: The invaders had […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Ski strangeness and caged chickens
FROM THE SKIOCRACY For people in ski country, the months between late September and early December are a sad and desperate time. Gray days, cold nights and nary a flake of snow drive recreationists indoors, wreaking havoc with their circadian rhythms. Everyone with any sort of sense — and a trust fund — flees to […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
Give language a chance
In mid-November, about 50 experts on the world’s endangered languages gathered at the University of Utah. They were tasked with beginning an ambitious effort to catalog these languages and produce an online, updatable database where they can be stored. The goal is to keep the languages alive. If that doesn’t work, they hope to at […]
Posted inNovember 9, 2009: Roadless-less
Interior scandal: Rated G(reen)
During the waning years of the Bush administration, officials with the U.S. Department of Interior got a little too cozy with — hold on to your Sierra Club card — environmentalists. So says a recent report by the department’s Office of Inspector General. The investigation looked at the National Landscape Conservation System, which was created […]
Posted inGoat
Coming soon to MTV: The Oilfield Blowouts
Don’t ask me how I found this. Okay, go ahead and ask: I was actually hard at work researching a story and, during one of those long, winding, fruitless trips down Google lane, I stumbled upon this. It was at roughneckcity.com, which is such a cool site that I’m hesitant to share it with all […]
Posted inAugust 31, 2009: The dark side of dairies
How the West made cheeseburgers cheap
Way back when I was in high school, kids used to snatch copies of the student newspaper right off the racks. They were literally starving for what was inside it. That doesn’t mean they were interested in the content. No, what they wanted was the coupon for McDonalds that appeared in each issue. And that’s […]
Posted inWotr
Whose sovereignty is it?
In late September, Joe Shirley Jr., president of the Navajo Nation sent out a provocative press release charging that “environmental activists and organizations are among the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty.” Shirley made his attack while joining northern Arizona’s Hopi tribal council in “unwelcoming” conservation groups from those tribes’ lands, which sprawl across portions of […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
The newest Westerners
See end of story for a complete package of refugee stories in this issue. It was right about the time that my teeth sank into the Basque BLT (marinated pork loin, bacon, the works) that I had my epiphany. OK, maybe the timing wasn’t quite that serendipitous, and maybe it was less an epiphany than […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Indians vs. Greens?
“Environmental activists and organizations are among the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty.” So said Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. in late September, shortly after he joined northern Arizona’s Hopi tribal council in “unwelcoming” environmental groups from those tribes’ lands, which sprawl across portions of three Southwestern states. The national press regurgitated the story with […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
Suck this, Vegas!
It’s time to change the way we think about water in the West
Posted inWotr
Con: The cult of canning exposed
I hate this time of year. The leaves crackle underfoot like the bones of tiny children. And the light takes on a certain harshness that reminds me that, even as I grow closer to death, I have gotten no closer to realizing my dreams. Most of that is made tolerable with a dose of self-medication, […]
Posted inRange
HCN reader photo: Dead television
This week, we’re featuring a photo by Flickr user VexingArt. It’s not only a nice shot, with plenty of depth and character and that cool old photo look, but it also captures one of those common features of so many Western landscapes: The shot out appliance. To see more High Country News Reader photos, or […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
UnBEARable
An adventurous bear in Snowmass, Colo., didn’t need surgery, just a ladder. Apparently hoping to do some rad riding, he dropped into the town skate park’s bowl. Unable to skate vert, he was then busted down there, with no way out. One can imagine young onlookers confusing him with some shaggy old-school skater, before realizing […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Serpentine Siamese Split
The cow that belonged to the aforementioned tongue didn’t fare very well except, perhaps, as carne asada. But a rather unusual pair of rattlesnakes is doing just fine after a 45-minute surgery at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum outside of Tucson. The two snakes were found as one – conjoined just below the head – […]