Updated 3/12/12 3:01 p.m. The Devil’s Hole pupfish is arguably one of the cooler species around. These tiny iridescent blue fish, just a bit over an inch long, live in one place only, a deep pool in the Amargosa Valley of west Nevada, in a place called Ash Meadows, an outpost of California’s Death Valley […]
Blogs
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U.S. is net energy exporter! (Psych!)
By now you’ve surely read the headlines that proclaim, “US Nears Milestone: Net Fuel Exporter” or “US Becomes Net Oil-Product Exporter” or, the most ambitious and egregious, “U.S. Becomes Net Energy Exporter.” The stories affixed to the headlines certainly have a triumphant air to them, and why shouldn’t they? After four decades of our leaders […]
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Friday news roundup: solar flares and hoot owls
Temperatures rose here in our home base of Paonia. Perhaps it was the solar flare. The dawning spring added a tinge of anxiousness to our office seats as thoughts of Frisbee and barbeque and mountain tipi trips distracted our work. Like many small rural towns, Paonia fosters diverse friendships. New social ecology research from Wellesley […]
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Slippery science: avalanche prediction still tricky
We’ve got one month left of prime avalanche season, and in the U.S. there have been 25 fatalities. Here is a vote for no more. Around the West this winter we’ve had relatively light, late snowfall and fluctuating temperatures; and recent fatalities have led to talk of of this year being especially bad for avalanches. […]
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Money flows through it
Gird yourselves Western folk: Those of you who live in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico — all coveted 2012 presidential swing states — are in for it. You’ll endure the brunt of the negativity that is sure to flood the airwaves during this year’s advertising campaign … er, election season. And, as you’ve probably heard, […]
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Pipeline pushback
How do you move a fluid natural resource from where it’s extracted to where it’s needed? The obvious answer is a pipeline. Here in the West, pipelines move oil, gas and water – but perhaps we should take a cue from Germany, where in Munich, a 300-meter pipeline carries beer. A few years ago in […]
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All dogs great and small
There’s a western myth out there that needs to be set right: the myth of the western mountain dog, the notion that to be a great canine companion in the rough and tumble American West, a dog must be robust, daring, unpampered, as comfortable in the rugged backcountry as it is on the couch. A […]
Posted inRange
Expedition Denali, exploring why diversity matters
For the first time a team of African-American climbers is assembling to make a bid for the summit of the tallest peak in North America, Denali. Led by the National Outdoor Leadership School in 2013, this expedition aims to encourage minority youth to enjoy outdoor recreation as part of an active lifestyle as well as […]
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Friday news roundup: Endangered species, oily disappointments
This week was a tough one for news watchers. Our favorite Monkee died, yet another member of that rare, endangered species — the moderate Republican — fell by the wayside, and good manners seem ever on the wane. Even upstart subway station ads are becoming shockingly rude. Despite our general melancholy, we still took heed of tweets […]
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Into the Big Empty
Cross posted from the Last Word on Nothing. I grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York State, and went to college in western Oregon — both beautiful places, beloved by many. But I never knew what it was to love a place until I spent a college summer in southern Utah, where I worked […]
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Fear and loathing in Arizona
Though I can’t recollect exactly what I ate, Dr. Brown had a BLT. Our Texas governor had recently left for the White House. We were having lunch at IHOP on University Street in College Station and talking about black film, rapper Tupac Shakur (she disliked him) and romances gone sour. Dr. Brown taught “African Americans […]
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Crowd control and wilderness redux at Yosemite’s Half Dome
By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House Every year, from sunup ‘til sundown, from Memorial Day into October, there’s a traffic jam of sorts high above the Yosemite Valley floor. The trek to the top of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park’s iconic peak, is a destination hike for people from all over the world. The trail, which ascends […]
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Lessons from the Musselshell: the aftermath
Editor’s note: This is the fourth blog in a series by contributor Wendy Beye, chronicling a restoration effort on Montana’s Musselshell River. Floodwaters dallied in Musselshell River’s floodplain for months, precluding any attempts at damage assessment or repair. The first priority was to restore community water systems and roads. Dump trucks, excavators, and graders were tied […]
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Land of Disenchantment
The Territory of New Mexico became the 47th state of the union in 1912, so the state is celebrating its centennial this year. It’s also looking for a new marketing slogan to revive its tourism industry. For nearly 80 years, it’s been “the Land of Enchantment,” but the spell seems to be wearing off. As […]
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Climate debate hearkens back to days of the bison
An old bison bone on my desk has me thinking about air pollution, climate change and the American mind. You remember the basics from history class: Tens of millions of bison roamed the Great Plains. Along came Manifest Destiny and market hunters shot them for hides, tongues and just to get the great beasts out […]
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All (climate concerned) eyes on D.C. court
For environmental law wonks, the debate unfolding in a Washington, D.C., federal appeals court this Tuesday and Wednesday is the courtroom equivalent of the Super Bowl: the stakes are high and everyone is watching. Playing offense are a few states, including Texas, Utah and North Dakota, along with Big Coal, Big Oil, Big Ag, the […]
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Left out of the Arizona debate: energy
On Wednesday, February 23rd, the four Republican presidential candidates were in my town, Mesa, Arizona, for yet another round of “debate.” As everyone knows (and as Tom Zoellner’s recent book excerpt reminded HCN readers), Arizona is friendly turf for these guys, and conservative Mesa may be friendliest of all. The audience at the Mesa Arts […]
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The battle for new wilderness: A closer look at Montana’s Sleeping Giant
Editor’s note: This is the last story in a group of pieces produced for High Country News by students in the University of Montana’s online news class. They ran over a period of two weeks in the Range blog. You can see a list of all the stories here. By Daniel Viehland On Nov. 10, […]
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Friday news roundup: environmental antiheros and solar booms
Picking apart the news through the hurried swoosh of this stunted week, I leaned back in my rickety desk chair for a few minutes to consider which rugged individualist in this day and age concerns me more. Is it the ironman fugitive on snowshoes who vanished in the powdery woods of Southern Utah nine years […]
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Of tooth, claw and plane: Making my peace with predator control
Updated 3/6/2012 A troubling item appeared in the news last month, troubling to this news consumer and, if they could read, troubling to the predators of Alaska. Out of a desire to save caribou, moose, elk and in particular musk oxen, the state’s Board of Game now allows state officials to shoot bears from planes […]