The minuteae of the political process matter and are sometimes based on outdated systems.
The Colorado caucus system works — sort of
Posted inArticles
Podcast: Why won’t white West Coast progressives talk about racism?
Conversations about race need to happen regularly, not just every once in a while.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Stop trying to make biking in wilderness happen. It’s not going to happen.
I shouldn’t be writing this, and you shouldn’t be reading it. Far more pressing issues face our public lands. But a vocal minority is drudging up the long-resolved question of mountain biking in wilderness. They have even drafted a bill for somebody to introduce in Congress — the Human-Powered Wildlands Travel Management Act — that […]
Posted inArticles
How progressives are taking a page from ALEC’s playbook
Conservatives push agendas through a centralized state network; progressives are building one of their own.
Posted inArticles
Utah senator blocks emergency bill for Flint, Michigan
Lee’s opposition helps build his brand as a hardcore conservative.
Posted inArticles
At Malheur, Sally Jewell was missing in action
The secretary of the Interior instead took a trip to Africa to combat wildlife poaching.
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Recent criminal justice reforms by state
California has led the way for other states to reduce prison populations.
Posted inArticles
Forest Service rejects Grand Canyon luxury village
The setback is just the latest in a 30-year push to develop the rim.
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The Bundy bust-up
Charges rain down on militant leaders of Bundy family standoffs in Nevada and Oregon.
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Ranch Diaries: The era of the landless agrarian
I’m part of a generation of young farmers and ranchers who will struggle to ever own the land they work.
Posted inArticles
Are Clean Power Plan targets out of reach for Western states?
Experts say emissions targets are attainable, but uncertainty over how to get there remains.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
Whiteness reigns in a new film celebrating national parks
The new film National Parks Adventure aims to inspire its viewers, as producer Shaun MacGillivray puts it, “to get off their couches and get outdoors.” Its destination of choice is our national parks, which are celebrating 100 years of management by the National Park Service in 2016. MacGillivray and his crew used every IMAX 3-D […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
Tracing America’s Borderlands history along the Anza Trail
Immigrants still follow Juan Bautista de Anza’s historic route.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
The tricky allure of unpeopled places
Longing for solitude on the land, and feeling uneasy.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
The parks less traveled
I’ll never forget the misty June morning I caught a glimpse of a gray wolf, loping like a ghost dog through the green of Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley. Or the March afternoon I squeezed through the claustrophobic Joint Trail in Canyonlands, emerging sweaty and exhilarated into a surreal landscape of red and white sandstone hoodoos. The […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
Secrets of the National Park Service
Readers and staff speak out on surprising favorites.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
Protecting the Oregon Trail from the development it helped create
Dedicated volunteers fight to preserve one of the trails that brought settlers west.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
On the road between here and there
We love Paonia, Colorado, the small town where High Country News is based, but we couldn’t function without our correspondents and editors, who are scattered all over the West. Our far-flung colleagues adventure through the region’s most unusual and beautiful places, reporting and writing the stories you find in the magazine. A lot of great […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
NPS unveiled: Meet the people that make the national parks run
Thousands of individuals in parks from Denali to Petrified Forest do little-known but essential jobs.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
Irreverent newspaper writers and easy-peasy science
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.