Items by Greg Hanscom
Can one of the West's most conservative, anti-federal lands lawmakers broker a mega-wilderness deal in the Beehive state?
Voices in the Utah wilderness debate
The ski industry, for whom bad press means all the difference between a banner year and a bust, tries to manage public perception of climate change's impact on snowfall and resort conditions.
The chief of Recreation Equipment Inc. has worked hard to support conservation and get people of all ages and colors outside. Can she do the same at the Department of Interior?
California's Mammoth Mountain provides a case study on the uncertainty of the ski business, and how global warming threatens to make it even more unpredictable.
Pioneering mountaineer Peter Metcalf built Black Diamond into a successful climbing-gear business when nobody thought it could be done. But his dream of turning the outdoor industry into a force for nature remains tantalizingly elusive.
A map showing the grants given by the Outdoor Industry Association's sister organization, the Conservation Alliance.
Outgoing High Country News editor Greg
Hanscom muses on the stories and issues the paper has covered in
the 10 years he’s been with it
HCN says goodbye to Greg Hanscom and
welcomes new editor John Mecklin; notes from readers
The Bush administration deserves credit for its "Water
2025" initiative, which provided grants that have helped the
Deschutes River Conservancy and the Central Oregon Irrigation
District begin restoring Oregon’s Deschutes River
As enjoyable as mountain biking is, bikes simply
don’t belong in the wilderness, partly because the faster you
travel through a place, the smaller – and tamer – that
place begins to seem.
Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth talks about how his
agency has changed over the years, defending current forest
management policies as well as the Service’s dealings with
the energy industry
Is it really true that the U.S. has no choice but to
employ a harsh form of triage in deciding which endangered species
should live, and which must die?
Ray Ring’s cover story on the libertarian stealth
campaign to put "takings" initiatives on Western ballots is the
biggest untold political story of the year
In a special summer reading issue, HCN
dishes up a science fiction story that imagines life in the
Southwest in 2030 or so, when "Big Daddy Drought" is in full
stride, and California claims all water
HCN seeks new editor as Greg Hanscom
announces plans to leave; HCN goes to diversity
school
Matt Jenkins leaves the HCN office to
become California-Great Basin correspondent; Western Slope
Environmental Resource Conference and North Fork River Improvement
Association hold annual meetings; visitors; "secretary" Bruce
Babbitt
As the outside world bullies its way into northern New
Mexico, the native Hispano culture has begun to fray, and today the
region has the highest rate of heroin addiction in the
country
Misinformation and exaggeration abound in the debate over
the Endangered Species Act’s critical habitat
provisions
The discovery of heretofore "undiscovered" small towns,
and their invasion by wealthy second-homeowners, brings money,
problems and often disillusionment to much of the West
Michelle Nijhuis has just won the 2006 Sullivan Award for
Excellence in Science Journalism for her series on global warming
in the West, which concludes with this issue’s feature
story
Supporting sustainable, local, organic food production is
one way to reduce our ecological impact and restore the
West’s rural communities
High Country News prides itself on
keeping close to the ground, but for this special issue, we look at
the energy boom in the West from a global perspective
HCN Holiday Open House; People’s
Choice Awards for HCN stories; thanks to Mark
Lellouch and Alison Davis; visitors
Thanks to readers for Research Fund gifts and the many
responses to HCN’s survey;
visitors
The same solitude that attracts nature-lovers to the
West’s public lands attracts lawbreakers as well –
particularly a growing number of Mexican
marijuana-growers
Santa Fe board meeting; Emily Stonington and Michael
Fischer leave HCN board; Tutti Skaar, Dan
Stonington and Florence Williams join board; Ruben Martinez and
Angela Garcia speak to HCN meeting; Laura Paskus and Hollis
Lawrence get hitched in Albuq
The Park Service has always excelled at managing visitors,
and as global warming makes itself felt in Yosemite, Glacier and
other national treasures, the agency should use its interpretive
skills to explain what’s going on
The abandonment of the American Southwest by the Anasazi
700 years ago – and the destruction of New Orleans by
Hurricane Katrina today – show that all civilizations are
fragile, complex, and ultimately at the mercy of the
climate
