Feature

The West has come late and gradually to the experience of cultural diversity and aggressive minorities. But the 1992 election tells us that the region is finally experiencing what it means to be part of America in the late 20th century. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.21/download-entire-issue

The atomic age began with a big bang. The buildup to the Cold War took place in a few short years. But the struggle over its legacy and lessons for humanity have just begun. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.20/download-entire-issue

Eugene, Ore., boasts a concentration of conservationists perhaps unmatched in the rest of the country. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.19/download-entire-issue

A decision by the Wind River Indian Reservation tribes not to appeal an adverse Wyoming Supreme Court water decision in June signals — at least for the moment — an end to litigation launched nearly 16 years ago by the state of Wyoming. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.19/download-entire-issue

The 1992 election will redraw the West’s political map, but the new shape is almost impossible to predict. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.18/download-entire-issue

Today, across the West, scientists, rockhounds and those who collect for profit are battling over the bones of the 100-million-year-old wildlife of the Mesozoic. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.17/download-entire-issue

Pulling his horse up short, U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Steve Posey turns to watch a helicopter fly overhead with another load of concrete and building materials dangling from its belly … Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.16/download-entire-issue

Beavers on a ranch in Idaho have turned a previously gouged creek bottom into a wetland brimming with wildlife and produced a new pasture for the ranch’s livestock. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.15/download-entire-issue

The $4 billion Central Arizona Project project provides water, but few can afford to buy it. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.14/download-entire-issue

One of the West’s largest utilities may be betting that the future lies with coal-fired power plants rather than efficiency and alternative fuels. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.13/download-entire-issue

The region’s electric system was built on vast resources, federal subsidies and freedom from environmental regulations. Now, the industry may be forced to change its strategy — but not without a fight. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.13/download-entire-issue

To help coal survive as the nation’s number one source of electricity, the federal government subsidizes a wide range of clean-coal research programs. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.12/download-entire-issue

Pacific Gas and Electric, a huge California utility, tries to turn on a dime, abandoning nuclear power in favor of efficiency and alternative sources of energy. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.12/download-entire-issue

A century-long battle for water rights waged by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona ended as Western film rarely do: The Indians won. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.11/download-entire-issue

Two Idaho and Montana studies by the Forest Service represent the first full-scale efforts by the agency to control damage caused by grazing, but substantial improvements on the range may be a long way off. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.10/download-entire-issue

For more than 100 years, the last thing the people of Victor, Colo., would think of doing is to say “no” to gold mining. Now they are saying “whoa.” Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.9/download-entire-issue

Politicians, environmentalists and business leaders agree, the 1992 congressional campaign in Montana (between Pat Williams, a Democrat, and Ron Marlenee, a Republican) is likely to result in the most important — and interesting — election in perhaps a generation. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.8/download-entire-issue

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has repeatedly criticized the Bureau of Land Management’s handling of livestock grazing on the nation’s public lands, citing overgrazed, cattle being favored over wildlife, lack of land management planning, and grazing of excess numbers of livestock. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.7/download-entire-issue

Until recently, Las Vegas appeared to be thriving on its unique brand of illusion, while the rest of the country wallowed in a deepening recession. Now hard times have come to Glitter Gulch and the Strip, too, once thought immune to economic doldrums. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.6/download-entire-issue

The leader of the Oregon Natural Desert Association explains why participation in grazing-reform working groups by environmentalists is a waste of time, or even a sabotage of environmentalist goals. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/24.5/download-entire-issue