Our society has deep sympathy for and allegiance to the image of the Western cowboy. That sentiment plays out in the news story of two Oregon ranchers serving time for arson of public lands receiving a presidential pardon, as well as this issue’s feature, which looks into a troubled Oregon program that reimburses ranchers for livestock killed by the state’s burgeoning wolf population. Meanwhile in North Dakota, Indigenous women are missing and being murdered at high rates, with little attention being given to the crises.
When cattle go missing in wolf territory, who should pay the price?
A program to reimburse Oregon ranchers for livestock killed by wolves is in trouble.
A cheery cherry celebration
The annual Cherry Days Festival brought hot temperatures and more visitors.
The political power of the cowboy
Oregon struggles with the reintroduction of wolves into lands where they have long been hated and hunted.
Wandering kangaroos; gun junkyard; freewheeling bulldozers
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
A double-edged sword
I always appreciate Jonathan Thompson’s excellent journalism, but I didn’t quite get the point of his recent essay on air travel (“Jet Lag,” HCN, 5/14/18). I just returned from a multi-week cross-country trip myself, which is why I only now got around to reading it. Certainly air travel is uncomfortable and at times dehumanizing, but far…
Hidden costs
While the serious potential economic (and other) costs of genetically engineered/genetically modified plants escaping into natural and agricultural landscapes (“Little Weed, Big Problem,” HCN, 6/25/18) are only beginning to be realized, they as yet pale in comparison to the massive and well-documented costs of the myriad non-genetically engineered/genetically modified plants that have escaped to invade…
Misleading comparisons
I find the update on the Kilauea Volcano (HCN, 6/11/18) puzzling in the extreme. First of all, it describes the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens as the backstory to Kilauea’s current eruption, claiming that “Lessons from Mount St. Helens are proving useful in understanding Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano.” The two volcanoes are entirely different with…
Nothing new
Since the acquittal of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupiers in October 2016, HCN Associate Editor Tay Wiles has suggested that extremists on the radical right — bent on privatizing federal lands in the American West — have made great headway in rallying rural Westerners to their cause. “A Separatist State of Mind” (HCN, 1/22/18) argues that right-wing troubadours…
The Colorado, lifeblood and sculptor of an arid West
In a new book, a longtime river-runner invites readers to sit down by the Colorado’s riverside and listen to its stories.
Latest: Park Service to remove problematic mountain goats
The rapidly multiplying population in Olympic National Park threatens visitors.
Latest: Lands returned to the Mountain Maidu tribe
The tribe is the first federally nonrecognized tribe to get lands back in California.
California’s rural-urban divide blurs in crucial House race
Water and immigration are key issues as Democrats seek to unseat an incumbent.
Saving baby Jo from the smoke
A mother grapples with her decision to flee the 416 Fire with her infant daughter.
An owl fly-by prompts a second look at an Arizona mine
Wildlife managers revisit the impact of an expanding mining operation.
After Malheur, side effects of the Bundys’ extremism linger
But in Harney County, Oregon, collaboration around public lands grows.
How California is bringing solar energy to low-income renters
An array on an infamous down-and-out building makes solar more equitable.
‘No crime scene’: The search for Olivia Lone Bear
Native families grapple with scant support to locate their missing loved ones.