High Country News December 24, 2012
Feature
A mining rush in Canada’s backcountry threatens Alaska salmon
Canadian governments back proposals for more than a dozen new mines along salmon-rich rivers that flow to the Alaska coast.
Current
BLM plans for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
A controversial proposal for the nation’s biggest chunk of public land aims to allow energy development -- and protect wildlife.
Fighting development in floodplains
Conservationists challenge insurance program that harms salmon and other endangered species.
An underwater forest reveals the story of a historic megadrought
Scientists find a climatic archive at the bottom of an alpine lake in California's Sierra Nevada.
Reviving Custer: Re-enactment and revision at the Little Bighorn
A Custer impersonator confronts old and new racial tensions as he performs in a Battle of the Little Bighorn re-enactment in Montana.
Editor's Note
A different borderland blues
Mining in British Columbia could have big impacts on parts of Canada -- and the U.S.
Dear Friends
HCN takes a holiday break
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Paonia, Colo.
Book Reviews
Western water, in poetry and policy: A review of Dam Nation
Stephen Grace’s new book explains the intricacies of Western water policy -- in a poetic way.
A review of Last Water on the Devil’s Highway: A cultural and natural history of Tinajas Altas
The story of a waterhole that, for centuries, has kept travelers from death as they passed through the desert.
Essays
At home with the oil rigs
A California resident learns to love the tiny lights twinkling far out to sea.
