UTAH If you want to watch the latest death-defying sport in the red-rock outback of southeastern Utah, check out “World’s largest rope swing” on YouTube, which has racked up more than 17 million views, according to TheSalt Lake Tribune. The video shows roped climbers leaping off the top of an arch and then swinging back […]
Departments
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Are whale watchers taking a toll on Puget Sound’s orcas?
Some orcas won’t tolerate being tagged, but a few, Candice Emmons says, are willing to play ball — like K33, who on a gray September day is swimming high and slow in Puget Sound. Emmons, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologist, angles her boat at the big male, who almost seems to like the […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Deconstructing environmentalists’ opposition to renewable energy
KDNK, a public radio station in Carbondale, Colo., regularly interviews High Country News writers and editors, in a feature they call “Sounds of the High Country.” Here, KDNK’s Nelson Harvey talk with High Country News associate editor Sarah Gilman about why some environmentalists are divided about the appropriate way to address climate change. Thumbnail image courtesy […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
On losing nothing
Sir John Franklin would not recognize today’s Arctic. When the British explorer set out through the vast archipelago at the edge of North America in 1845, he had reason to believe he could find the Northwest Passage — a valuable shipping route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific. Much of the continent’s northern coast had been […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Bikers aren’t the only bandits
I just returned home from a long vacation to southern Arizona to find High Country News’ travel issue in my mailbox. “Volunteer tourism” by Henry Ring and Craig Childs’ “Secret Getaways of a BLM Groupie” were particularly well done (HCN, 3/18/13). Thousands of volunteers give tens of thousands of hours to protect and maintain our […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Downstream depletions
The practices of San Luis Valley farmers also have dramatic consequences for communities downstream (“Farming on the Fringe,” HCN, 2/18/13). The Rio Grande Compact allows the dewatering of the main stem of the Rio Grande through Taos County, N.M. Frequently, because of the heavy irrigation demands of the San Luis Valley farmers, the river is […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
A fresh take on an old crime: A review of The Case of D.B. Cooper’s Parachute
The Case of D.B. Cooper’s ParachuteWilliam L. Sullivan411 pages, paperback: $14.95.Navillus Press, 2012. In November 1971, a man traveling under the name “Dan Cooper” hijacked a Boeing 727 flying between Portland and Seattle, demanded $200,000 from the FBI, then parachuted from the plane into history, somewhere in the Northwestern wilds. The FBI has searched unsuccessfully […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Ruins ruined in New Mexico, too
Tsankawi, a satellite ancestral Pueblo site of Bandelier National Monument, like the archaeological sites of Cedar Mesa, has been minimally supervised, and because it is right off the highway to the park it is often visited by people who want a less-groomed experience (“Ruining the ruins?” HCN, 3/4/13). Unfortunately, that hands-off approach has taken its […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Beatification of a sinner: a review of The Soledad Crucifixion
The Soledad CrucifixionNancy Wood336 pages, paperback: $21.95.University of New Mexico Press, 2012. In Nancy Wood’s newest novel, The Soledad Crucifixion, we find ourselves in Camposanto in the Territory of New Mexico, in the year 1897. Lorenzo Soledad has just been nailed to a cross. “On this, the last day of his life, the priest found […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Federal austerity hits home in the West
When the Tea Party tide crested in 2010, a number of Western Republicans surfed it into the U.S. House of Representatives. There was Colorado Springs’ Rep. Doug Lamborn, who promotes gutting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, saying it’s “low-hanging fruit” that must be picked to shrink the federal deficit. New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce harnessed […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Where’s the skepticism?
From reading “Gambling on rez tourism,” it seems HCN has become a voice for the gambling industry (3/18/13). After touting the wonderful financial benefits to be gained by building increasingly outlandish theme park-style casinos, this article spent scarcely a word on the negative impacts suffered by locals. There was one dismissive paragraph that began: “Putting aside some […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
How the amount of fish you eat impacts water quality
Idaho plans to conduct a $300,000 study to learn how much fish its residents eat from state waters. The amount consumed helps determine regulatory limits for pollutant levels in rivers and lakes. Most Western states use the EPA’s default fish-consumption rate, a cracker-sized 17.5 grams per day, to set human health standards for dozens of […]
Posted inApril 15, 2013: Sacrificial Land
Waiting with bated breath
We’re pleased to announce that High Country News has been nominated for the 2013 Utne Media Award in the Environmental Coverage category. (The other finalists are Grist, OnEarth and Resurgence/Ecologist.) Presented by Utne Reader, a digest of independent media, the awards “publicly celebrate the (media outlets) which consistently impress us with the high quality of […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Trading fish for sewage
One-percenter travel Western “luxury hotels” are offering innovative high-end outdoor recreation experiences to attract wealthy customers, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colo., advertises an “ultimate adventure package” that includes “a three night stay in a Deluxe King room, a snowshoe tour (with lunch) and a twilight dog sledding excursion through […]
Posted inMarch 18, 2013: Second annual travel issue
Strolling San Francisco with a special guidebook to street trees
Note: This story is part of a special HCN magazine issue devoted to travel in the West. San Francisco, California Let’s say you’ve freed up a couple days and more than a couple bucks to visit San Francisco. Unlike the hordes of tourists who visit this city each year, you’d rather not spend your entire […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Pot pilgrims
Traveling in the clouds “Marijuana tourists” are expected to converge on Colorado and Washington, hoping to score without fear of handcuffs, because voters in those states legalized recreational pot last November. Arthur Frommer, founder of the famous Frommer’s Travel Guides, observes that “already, hotels in Seattle and Denver are reporting numerous requests for reservations by […]
Posted inMarch 18, 2013: Second annual travel issue
Volunteering provides a special experience in national parks
Note: This story is part of a special HCN magazine issue devoted to travel in the West. Big Bend National Park, Texas The Rio Grande is slow and muddy along the Mexican border, at the base of Santa Elena Canyon, on a sunny November day. My roommate, Alex Brachman –– like me, a fresh-out-of-college intern […]