Las Vegas’ overall ambience, not to mention those jug-sized cocktails, tends to breed a certain lasciviousness among its human inhabitants and visitors. Turns out that the same lust is infecting the mollusks of southern Nevada. Quagga mussels invaded the East and Midwest before hitching their way westward on promiscuous boats, and they were discovered in […]
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 inArticles
Lakeside City
“I feel like a lakeside city.” She said this as she lay under the worn sheets of my bed and stared out the window. It was hot and if you were still and watched closely, you could see the pavement melt outside. Telephone wires crisscrossed the pale blue sky, the sun was high, and splotches […]
Posted inFebruary 18, 2008: Reluctant Boomtown
Men with boots
The stories Russ told always ended with a big chunk of uranium ore being dumped on the table, its yellow dust collecting as a thin film on top of my coffee. And they always began with the phrase: “There used to be 10,000 men with boots on in this town.” It was Silverton, Colo., 1996. […]
Posted inFebruary 18, 2008: Reluctant Boomtown
Reluctant Boomtown
Mining abandoned Superior a decade ago. Now the industry is ready to return, but this little Arizona town is not sure it wants it back.
Posted inArticles
Primer 1: Politics
From the outside – and even for many in the West – the West’s politics are usually seen as swaths of unbroken primary colors. The coast is blue (which in today’s color coding means Democratic) and the interior is Republican red, dotted here and there with liberal bastions such as Aspen, Boulder and Santa Fe. […]
Posted inJanuary 21, 2008: An energy oasis in the political desert
An energy oasis in the political desert
The presidential candidate stood on the back of the train in Helper, Utah, and declared: “The fuel for our machine age economy will be absolutely dependent at some time or other upon this great West.” The candidate was Harry Truman; the year, 1948. Besides being prophetic, the speech was significant because it was the last […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2007: Last chance for the Lobo
Canis fiasco
Government sharpshooters may soon stalk elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, picking off one animal at a time. They promise to do their shooting in the early morning, so as not to disturb park visitors, and officials have assured the press that they plan to preserve the herds’ “viewability” throughout all of this. After all, […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2007: Last chance for the Lobo
Two weeks in the West
When it comes time to court the ladies, male greater sage grouse puff up their chests, displaying bright yellow air sacs, and fan their tail feathers like a peacock. But former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior Julie MacDonald apparently had no taste for crazy mating rituals or, for that matter, wildlife in general. She did […]
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
Two weeks in the West
A few days before Thanksgiving, about five dozen employees of Vail Resorts were hard at work. The Colorado ski resort had staffed up for a mid-November opening, but these workers weren’t running ski lifts or grooming the slopes. Instead, they were picking up trash; the snow had not arrived, the opening was delayed and they […]
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
Coal’s other mess
As the air around power plants clears, another problem worsens
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Coming to a farm near you: Los Angeles
Each year, my family and I visit my father-in-law at his house in the desert, just over the mountains from Los Angeles. From there, we can’t see the great beast they call L.A., but we can feel it. The San Gabriel Mountains loom black against the city’s nighttime glow. At all hours, a steady stream […]
Posted inWotr
Exploring the shrinking marvel of Lake Powell
I grew up thinking of Lake Powell as sacred in the way that a mass grave is sacred. But I’m also a practical person, and I see the lake as a giant highway offering access to some of the most spectacular country in the West. It was the practical side that agreed when my wife […]
Posted inOctober 15, 2007: Cat Fight on the Border
Two weeks in the West
The price of that guacamole you love to snack on is probably going to climb. California’s farmers, already struggling with drought, are facing even drier times, and some avocado growers are hacking down trees to save water. California has withered under drought for much of the last decade, and this year could end up being […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Two weeks in the West
In southern Arizona’s Tumacacori Highlands, the tropics meet the desert. Black bears roam steep canyons and oak-covered hillsides alongside Mexican vine snakes, cuckoos and jaguars. Located just north of the border, the region is one of the most biologically diverse in the country. In September, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., introduced a bill that would protect […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
Two weeks in the West
“I’m sucking up to you. But you know, when you’re at 13 percent, you’ve got to do something.” —New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, seeking support for his Democratic presidential campaign at an Aug. 22 forum at the University of Nevada-Reno, where he vowed that if he wins, he’ll fund all kinds of education programs. All […]
Posted inArticles
Red Mountain miracle
In the late 1800s, some 3,000 people lived and worked in the Red Mountain Mining District near the top of Red Mountain Pass between Silverton and Ouray. Just about every acre was clear-cut, built upon or mined. Today, the miners are gone and aspen trees and tundra plants have reclaimed most of the area. The […]
Posted inSeptember 3, 2007: A Climate Change Solution?
Two weeks in the West
Many a mud-spattered pickup truck in Western mining communities sports a bumper sticker that reads, “Behind every light switch is a coal miner.” After the Crandall Canyon mine collapsed in central Utah on Aug. 6, the slogan took on a slightly different meaning for the anxiously watching American public: Behind just about every light switch, […]
Posted inSeptember 3, 2007: A Climate Change Solution?
The new land rush
In the West’s mountains, old mining claims are the latest real estate hotspots
Posted inSeptember 3, 2007: A Climate Change Solution?
Gunning with the in-laws
Jim Aldrich, my father-in-law, grins a lot. But today, as we stand on his deck in the desert of Southern California, his smile is especially pronounced, cutting deep creases into his stubbled cheeks. It’s not the blue sky brushed with contrails that makes him happy. It’s the gun. He just popped six rounds from a […]