A controversial water project planned by Las Vegas threatens the tiny inhabitants of many remote Great Basin springs.
A guide to the past — and the future
A 1930s Montana guidebook contains lessons for today
Water across the Divide
How the failure of an aged ditch got in the way of Wilderness
Parties ‘R’ Some Of Us
Even as many Westerners struggle with layoffs, pay cuts, medical bills and other economic troubles, wealthy people in resort towns are whooping it up. That’s the report from the companies that supply banquet tables and chairs, enormous tents, portable dance floors, sound and lighting systems, antler chandeliers, artificial trees, eruptions of flowers and other party-throwing…
Audubon feathers fly in Arizona
Huge mine proposal deepens schism between state’s green groups
That shrinking feeling
As a mountaineering instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), I have spent a significant amount of time living and traveling on North Cascades glaciers over the past five years. I just returned from a 10-day mountaineering course on Mount Baker to see Ana Maria Spagna’s essay, “Living on Glacial Time,” and the article…
Welcome, new HCN employees
In August, Mike Maxwell became our new Web and IT manager. Mike maintains the HCN Web site, analyzes web traffic data, and advises the managers on online marketing strategy. Mike, who has a B.A. in political science from the University of Colorado at Denver, has been in Paonia for three years now with his partner,…
Crowded attic in New York too
If Andrew Sean Greer had ridden the Staten Island Ferry more often — or ever — he’d know that New York City’s sky can be as complex as any in the West (HCN, 9/14/09): limpid blue, thick with rainclouds, striped with vivid sunset cirrus … an approaching squall to starboard, shafts of sunlight jeweling the…
Finding the middle ground
Comment on Writers on the Range column at hcn.org, “Conservationists wrong to oppose wolf hunt” by Mike Medberry Mike Medberry’s column on reasonable wolf management is a breath of fresh air. I too think there is a lot of middle ground for responsible management. But the states sure haven’t shown that intention, and I suppose…
‘Leave no trace’ art
AGE 21 HOMETOWN Whittier, Calif. VOCATION Junior; majoring in sculpture at Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City HCN SUBSCRIBER SINCE 2004 Installation artist Levi Jackson prefers to work early in the morning to catch the best light for photographing his ephemeral, site-specific works. On a May morning, Levi drove to a desert plateau outside Caineville,…
“A blip on the radar screen”
I find the Uncommon Westerners column frustrating at times because it seems like filler with no real rhyme or reason. For instance, the latest personality, Guiseppena Bellandi, certainly had a story as to how she came west, but her life seems like a blip on the radar screen, with no real impact on how she…
Merit, more broadly defined
Ray Ring’s article “Is Obama’s goal of diversity trumping other goals?” suggests that the administration’s decision to hire minorities for key governmental positions compromises environmental goals in favor of ethnic diversity (HCN, 8/17/09). While there are undoubtedly some traditional “heavy hitter” white men who would merit these positions, merit in this context should be understood…
Empty nest
Making a case for the California condor’s return to the Northwest
Biotech beet-down
Judge orders a new, hard look at Monsanto’s sugar beets
Suck this, Vegas!
It’s time to change the way we think about water in the West
Vegas forges ahead on pipeline plan
Great Basin pumping project is closer to reality
Silenced Springs?
Great Basin waters face threats big and small.