Federal coal sale brings $54 million

The economic state of ranching and farming in the United States today is so gloomy that any reasonable business-person would ask, ”Why the hell is anyone in agriculture?” Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.8/download-entire-issue

Nationwide, almost four billion tons of topsoil are lost every year to water erosion. About half that loss is on cropland. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.8/download-entire-issue

Montana Governor Ted Schwinden has a folksy style, but he he has built a powerful political network to establish a following that defies political parties. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.7/download-entire-issue

Despite becoming the bustling hub of the West’s energy boom, Denver is tied to an outside business elite, and remains a secondary center of power whose major role consists of dominating more exploited regions of the interior. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.7/download-entire-issue

Environmentalists oppose bills, supported by snowmobiling and timber interests, that would establish more wilderness in Montana and Wyoming. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.6/download-entire-issue

Workers are flooding Dickinson and Williston, the two largest towns in western North Dakota, to take part in the oil boom. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.6/download-entire-issue

Forest managers are responding to the mountain pine beetle epidemic, which is killing trees across the Rocky Mountain region, with an environmentally-based method called “integrated pest management.” Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.5/download-entire-issue

When the board of directors of the Washington Public Power Supply System voted unanimously to stop construction of their nuclear power projects 4 and 5, they sent a message to other utilities: There’s no such thing as electricity too cheap to meter. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.5/download-entire-issue

Utah Gov. Scott Matheson is requesting a long-delayed federal public land swap, as well as other land exchanges to consolidate Utah’s widely dispersed state lands into more manageable blocks. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.4/download-entire-issue

Utah officials are skeptical of federal legislation that would limit the undocumented, illegal workers who figure centrally in the state’s agricultural economy. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.4/download-entire-issue

The U.S. Department of Energy may build a nuclear waste storage facility in Davis or Lavender canyons, near Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.4/download-entire-issue

Questionable hunting practices on the Wind River Indian Reservation raise issues about tribal autonomy and wildlife management. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.3/download-entire-issue

With the rise of innovative heating systems and home designs, often owner-built, building codes are becoming more controversial. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.3/download-entire-issue

Montana’s 1972 Constitution has led to a flowering of the initiative process, by which citizens have voted on three anti-nuclear measures, a bottle bill, sweeping lobbyist disclosure and other proposed laws. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.3/download-entire-issue

See a list of all High Country News articles published in 1981, categorized by subject. Click link to view PDF. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline 1981 Index.

Is U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service head Robert Jantzen cutting an already undernourished budget and favoring ranching interests over wildlife in his predator control and grazing policies? Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/14.2/download-entire-issue