A writer contemplates love and disaster in a city of transients.
Seeds in a sandstorm
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Save water, skip the burgers
Sena Christian, in “Growing Heavy,” explains that many of California’s farmers, in order to cope with the ever-decreasing water supply, are putting their resources into their most valuable food crops, which also happen to be the most water-intensive. But many of the state’s most water-intensive field crops are not even destined for human consumption, but […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Missoula’s rape problem
Jon Krakauer’s latest book explores a flawed justice system that fails victims.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Latest: WIPP nuclear waste spill investigation concludes
Workers incorrectly packaged waste shipped to the facility, whose future remains unclear.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Latest: Courts backs domestic sheep reduction near Idaho’s Hells Canyon
An Idaho court upheld a 2007 plan intended to protect bighorn sheep.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
How Nevada became the first Western caucus (and why it matters)
The early caucus drew attention to Western issues. In November, the state will play an even bigger role.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Getting beyond yes or no
The Feb. 22 article “Fractured” corresponded in several ways with my own experience in dealing with management issues at the Carrizo Plain National Monument in Southern California. In the course of an oral history project, I interviewed a great many ranchers who were often unhappy about the restrictions placed upon grazing. On a number of […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Drugged up fishes, Bundy’s feral cattle, and a how-to for cannibalism
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Drought brings unexpected water relief to California communities
State and federal funds are paying for desperately needed infrastructure in the Central Valley.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Does conserving species actually curb development?
A new study suggests ESA doesn’t stop economic growth, but the devil’s in the details.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Crime and grit: A retrospective collection from the don of Chicano noir
An uneven but often rewarding collection from one of the West’s masterful storytellers.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Clean Power jolt, East Coast meddling and shrinking wetlands
HCN.org news in brief.
Posted inArticles
Five sea level rise studies that could help cities plan for climate change
A slew of research points to rapidly rising oceans. How will the West Coast adapt?
Posted inArticles
In southern Utah, a ranger is jailed under questionable circumstances
The region has a history of sheriffs butting heads with federal land agencies.
Posted inArticles
West Obsessed: What’s the deal with Wildlife Services?
For an agency that researches non-lethal predator control, they sure kill a lot of critters. HCN writers discuss an agency trying to rethink its role.
Posted inArticles
Western states struggle to reform recreational streambed mining
Recent bills to change suction dredging regulations faltered in Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
Posted inArticles
Oil bust puts tribes, towns over a barrel
The Bakken bust has stranded schools and communities that hoped for revenue from a boom.
Posted inArticles
I inherited an oil field. Now what do I do with it?
A writer faces a moral dilemma: fight the bureaucracy to end oil extraction on family land or give in?
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Meet the caribou hunter of Arctic Village, Alaska
Photos of this winter’s hunt and a community’s subsistence way of life.
Posted inArticles
Fairy tales about the West are fueling public lands conflict
Last month, a federal court indicted the armed extremists who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon on multiple counts of felony conspiracy, making threats and other serious charges. The property damage they caused, which is still being assessed, will likely be charged to the American taxpayers on whose behalf they claimed […]