High Country News – Know the West

Wolves have a reputation that’s larger than life

Some hunters are blaming the Big Bad Wolf for a decline in the northern Yellowstone elk herd, but Dan Whipple points out that recent weather – and Montana hunting policy – are more likely to be responsible.

Dan Whipple Opinion Essay March 26, 2007

National grasslands up for review

Conservationists say a draft environmental impact statement on Northern Plains grasslands opens up too much land to the oil and gas industry.

Dan Whipple Dec. 17, 2001 From the print edition

A flagship forest in Wyoming shifts away from timber

In the Bridger-Teton National Forest, timber is losing and wildlife and recreation may be winning.

Dan Whipple Oct. 9, 1989 From the print edition

The fatal accident: An Indian, a coyote and readers come to the rescue

"I saw God when I worked for High Country News, and it surprises me that I have never been mentioned in the voluminous literature on the subject."

Dan Whipple Sept. 25, 1989 From the print edition

Montana fears Wyoming's 'water shovel'

Wyoming and Montana are apparently approaching gridlock as they try to work out the details of apportioning water from the Yellowstone River Basin under the Yellowstone Compact.

Dan Whipple Nov. 26, 1984 From the print edition

Missiles, men and Armageddon

The Rockies and Great Plains are home to virtually all of the United States' land-based nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Dan Whipple Aug. 5, 1983 From the print edition

Playing presidential politics in Colorado ski country

Gary Hart, Colorado's senior senator and the Rocky Mountain West's own presidential candidate, talks conservation in Snowmass Village.

Dan Whipple July 8, 1983 From the print edition

They built it with silver and gold

The water brought from the Colorado River by the $3.4 billion Central Arizona Project will be expensive.

Paul Talbot and Dan Whipple Opinion Feb. 4, 1983 From the print edition

Selling every seat in the House -- and Senate

Widespread use of political action committees, a relatively new phenomenon on the American political scene, is driving politics in many Western states.

Dan Whipple Jan. 21, 1983 From the print edition

The puzzle of the Rocky Mountain high

Does the Rocky Mountain identity really exist? Do people here feel the pull of regionalism like, say, midwesterners or New England natives?

Dan Whipple Dec. 24, 1982 From the print edition

All MXed up in Cheyenne

The basic paradox of the powerful nuclear weapons that reside in Cheyenne, Wyo. and other Western locales is that they are too powerful to be used. But if this is so, they lose all their strategic and diplomatic value -- so we have to keep threatening to use them.

Dan Whipple Dec. 10, 1982 From the print edition

The MX finds its home in the West

President Reagan announced Monday night that the controversial MX missile would be deployed at Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Dan Whipple Nov. 26, 1982 From the print edition

The Best and Worst of the West in Congress

A review of the West's congressional delegates, based on how well they accomplished their own agendas, regardless of whether they were pro- or anti-environment.

Dan Whipple Oct. 15, 1982 From the print edition

A talk with James Watt

An HCN exclusive interview with Interior Secretary James Watt during a visit to Lander, Wyo.

Dan Whipple Oct. 1, 1982 From the print edition

Rain, rain, go away

Acid rain, which could be exacerbated by oil and gas development, is harming lakes in Colorado and elsewhere in the West.

Dan Whipple Sept. 17, 1982 From the print edition

A $40 million pork barrel

The water bill passed by Wyoming's 1982 Legislature is being criticized by environmental groups, who say it lacks comprehensive, long-term water planning.

Dan Whipple June 25, 1982 From the print edition

Oil shale: no tears, but lots of tangle

Oil shale is not dead, despite what the daily newspapers may say. The promise or threat of oil shale will always be with us.

Dan Whipple Opinion May 14, 1982 From the print edition

Wilderness on the rocks

Environmentalists oppose bills, supported by snowmobiling and timber interests, that would establish more wilderness in Montana and Wyoming.

Dan Whipple March 19, 1982 From the print edition

Trying a "Bold" land swap

Utah Gov. Scott Matheson is requesting a long-delayed federal public land swap, as well as other land exchanges to consolidate Utah's widely dispersed state lands into more manageable blocks.

Dan Whipple Feb. 19, 1982 From the print edition

Feds study nuke dump near Canyonlands

The U.S. Department of Energy may build a nuclear waste storage facility in Davis or Lavender canyons, near Utah's Canyonlands National Park.

Dan Whipple Feb. 19, 1982 From the print edition

Open pit and economic pendulum

As the West's uranium industry declines, it should reclaim mines, not wait for economics to swing back in the industry's favor.

Dan Whipple Opinion Jan. 8, 1982 From the print edition

Sickness and health ... or profit and loss

The changes that Congress makes to the Clean Air Act when the act is renewed are sure to have an effect on the Rocky Mountain West.

Dan Whipple Oct. 16, 1981 From the print edition

Cattle, cussing and cowboys

HCN editor Dan Whipple follows a cattle drive in Utah's Uinta Mountains.

Dan Whipple Aug. 7, 1981 From the print edition

A mountain of money above a not-so-fruitful plan

When the Anaconda Copper Co. closed its Anaconda, Mont., smelter in October, the community appealed to the state for help in keeping the town alive. But the state's response has been disappointing.

Dan Whipple July 10, 1981 From the print edition

Blowing it: 'ecotage' in Jackson Hole

Sabotage of an oil and gas exploration rig outside Jackson, Wyoming, raises questions that divide the environmental community.

Dan Whipple May 1, 1981 From the print edition

Earth First! says it's time to be tough

Editor Dan Whipple examines and critiques the roots and new tactics of the radical environmental group Earth First!

Dan Whipple Opinion April 17, 1981 From the print edition

Wyoming loses million on ore tax

Because of outdated tax assessment methods, the state of Wyoming has lost about $10 million in uranium severance tax payments since 1977.

Dan Whipple Feb. 6, 1981 From the print edition

Prime wild lands open to oil and gas

The U.S. Forest Service has recommended opening to oil and gas leasing several Wyoming and Montana areas being considered for wilderness designation, and inserting environmental protections into the leases may be illegal.

Dan Whipple Jan. 23, 1981 From the print edition

Companies not leaping for synfuel subsidies yet

President Jimmy Carter's proposals to provide incentives for the production of synthetic fuels from coal have generated little new activity from companies involved in synfuel production.

Dan Whipple Sept. 7, 1979 From the print edition

OSM pressured to okay mine on Navajo land

Despite serious reservations at the federal Office of Surface Mining, political pressure may force the approval of a coal strip mine on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico.

Dan Whipple Aug. 10, 1979 From the print edition

Items by Dan Whipple

Featured stories