High Country News August 08, 2011
Feature
Ganjanomics: bringing Humboldt's shadow economy into the light
Marijuana growers and government officials in California's notorious "Emerald Triangle" work towards legitimizing the local cash crop.
Current
Re-watering Nevada's dying Walker Lake
Walker Lake in northwestern Nevada has been dying for years, but locals and government officials are determined to restore it.
Barrow, Alaska: an unlikely boomtown
A Korean cabdriver finds an unlikely home in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town in the U.S.
Yellowstone leak highlights a different kind of oil spill
A recent oil spill in Montana's Yellowstone River reminds Westerners that not all such environmental disasters happen in the Gulf of Mexico.
Biochar makeover for abandoned mines?
Researchers are trying to restore the damaged, acidic soil around abandoned hardrock mines with the help of biochar, a special form of charcoal.
Settlements prompt federal decisions on hundreds of endangered species
In a settlement with environmental groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees to make listing decisions about more than 250 imperiled candidate species.
Editor's Note
Economies of vice
If marijuana becomes fully legal and taxable, it won't be the first time authorities have learned that it's easier - and more profitable - to manage vice than to try to eliminate it.
Book Reviews
Portraits of the frontier West: A review of Western Heritage
Editor Paul Andrew Hutton gathers some award-winning articles on Western history and culture.
A Western mystery with an environmental twist: a review of Buried by the Roan
In Mark Stevens' second novel, Allison Coil, a tequila-drinking hunting guide, investigates a mysterious death in a remote landscape much sought after by oil and gas developers.
Essays
Adventuring on Colorado's big peaks
A woman finds solace and delight in climbing Colorado's highest and most challenging mountains.
