Visits to public lands and consumer spending grow, as agency budgets atrophy.
Kate Schimel
Kate Schimel is High Country News’ editor-in-chief. She lives in Bozeman, Montana.
Posted inArticles
Small towns look for a road forward, paved with fiber-optic
A group of New Mexico newsrooms examines the future of broadband access in rural communities.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: A resistance to oil and gas near Chaco Canyon
Tribal nations act to prevent more industrial exploration on their ancestral lands.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: Rural discontent feeds the desire for a 51st state
A discussion on the State of Jefferson, a California movement renewed under Trump.
Posted inArticles
Examining the disparity of urban and rural growth
A new project taps into how rural Montana is grappling with its uncertain future.
Posted inArticles
Timeline: A brief history of the Sagebrush Rebellion
An interactive, year-by-year look at the current insurgency.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: The Bundy trial looms in Las Vegas
Editor Tay Wiles unpacks how the legal dispute embodies this political moment.
Posted inArticles
Seeking economic health for small towns
A project looks at how communities are faring in rural New Mexico.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: Where climate adaptation is happening
The president may think climate change is a hoax, but communities across the West are facing reality.
Posted inSeptember 4, 2017: The Elwha, Unleashed
After its dams came down, a river is reborn
A look at the Elwha unleashed.
Posted inArticles
Details emerge on proposed monument cutbacks
Interior Secretary Zinke says he will recommend reductions to some monuments, but not eliminations.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: On finding our way in the Anthropocene
How to confront hard truths about climate change and ecocide.
Posted inArticles
5 things to read about the Yellowstone grizzly delisting
Trump’s Interior Department has announced the bear will no longer receive endangered species protection.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: The March for Science, out West
After Earth Day, a look at researchers’ economic influence and political sway.
Posted inMarch 6, 2017: Uncomfortable Corners
The Yaak Valley’s ‘Dirty Shame’
In the infamous Montana saloon, a lesson about home in harsh places.
Posted inArticles
Week in review: February 24
The staff of High Country News shares what they’re reading on state land sales, private prisons and CPAC.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: How pain pills spread in one Colorado town
The staff of High Country News discuss the cycle of addiction in the rural West.
Posted inFebruary 6, 2017: River of Healing
Latest: Future mining blocked around the Kalmiopsis
The moratorium will extend for 20 years.
Posted inNovember 28, 2016: A Weird and Perfect Wilderness
How to love a weird and perfect wilderness
A desolate Oregon landscape offers lessons on the modern wild.
Posted inArticles
How one tiny high school hacked Advanced Placement classes
Paonia High brings college-level coursework to rural students by partnering with its neighbors.