Meet the new Sagebrush insurgents, a well-connected and well-armed network of malcontents bent on delegitimizing the federal government. Plus, how a landmark water agreement fell apart, and the legal case for climate action.
The BLM’s arms race on the range
The agency has armed up since 1978, but it’s still outgunned without local backup.
Cursing the mountain
An adventurer asks whether his failures in the alpine zone are caused by blasphemy.
The exotic dancing boom in North Dakota goes bust
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region
Fresh faces and fresh powder
Over the past month, we’ve finally received our fair share of snowfall in Paonia, Colorado, and along with it welcomed our new interns, Lyndsey Gilpin and Bryce Gray. They’ll begin nearly six months of reporting, and (assuming we let them out of the office) they might even squeeze in a few outdoor adventures here on…
Graphic: The hidden connections of the Sagebrush Insurgency
Where a sprawling network of actors find common cause.
Greed trumps cooperation
The Dec. 7 feature “Good Neighbors” was an interesting article, and hooray for the “kumbaya” factor among the parties involved. But the author failed to explore the real story of fossil water mining that he alludes to. I have an old friend who lives in the Sulphur Springs Valley, and because of the obscene thirsts…
Sagebrush Insurgency connections
Connecting the dots within a vast right-wing network of militia members, state and local politicians, and others.
Hope fades for Klamath River accords
Could the breakdown of the landmark water agreement imperil other collaborative deals?
In ‘Gold Fame Citrus,’ the nascent genre of cli-fi looks to California
A new climate change novel predicts a dystopian West of sand and refugees.
How a huge Arizona mining deal was passed — and could be revoked
Pushed through Congress, the Resolution Copper deal could damage sacred Apache sites.
The rise of the Sagebrush Sheriffs
How rural ‘constitutional’ peace officers are joining the war against the feds.
In Washington, activists and the ‘necessity defense’ on trial
The ‘Delta 5’ made a legal and moral case for their actions, with mixed results.
Latest: Ranching family whose battles with the feds preceded the Bundys’ loses in court
So ends the legal saga of Wayne Hage and Wayne Hage Jr., who argued that their historical water rights gave them grazing rights, as well.
Lethal tools
Ben Goldfarb shines an even-handed light on Wildlife Services, a federal agency operating in the shadows whose purpose is “controlling” targeted wildlife species, by any means (“The Forever War,” HCN, 1/25/16). The 2014 statistics Goldfarb cited show just how effectively and quietly the agency goes about the job of killing. Its objectives reflect and remain…
Local measures for desperate times
Regarding your Dec. 7 feature “Good Neighbors,” I’ve never understood why Peter Kropotkin’s book Mutual Aid has been buried for over a century in favor of a “survival of the fittest” mentality. The scholars mentioned in this story would do well to look it over if they aren’t familiar with it. The American West is…
Not rebels, but insurgents
The closest I ever came to understanding genuine terror was in Sri Lanka, in 2007. For five weeks, I’d been reporting on the insurgency of the Tamil Tigers, a separatist group fighting the Buddhist majority government. The insurgency had grown increasingly violent over the years, and bombings around the country had intensified. When my work…
Obama moves on coal and readers respond to Sagebrush coverage.
HCN.org news in brief.
Past and present in a New Mexico town famous for its pies
A review of “Pie Town Revisited” by Arthur Drooker.
Risks and regulations
Wonderful trenchant article on the surface, but the real story lies just below ground (“Coal company bankruptcies jeopardize reclamation,” HCN, 1/25/16). The article mentioned the various methods that are used to ensure a mine site would be cleaned up in the future, i.e., surety bonds, letters of credit, cash deposits, etc. As a young bank…
Sugar Pine Mine, the other standoff
How a small-time mining dispute in Oregon readied a network of militias for the Malheur occupation.
Rep. Rob Bishop is chipping away at Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy
Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop is using his position as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee to wage a war on the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, our Republican president from 1901-1909. The latest front in this war is Bishop’s plan to mangle the mission of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The fund helps…