Whether grazing on public land is a ‘right’ or a ‘privilege’ is one of the region’s most contentious issues. Here’s why.
Interactive timeline: Livestock grazing in the West
Posted inArticles
Tiny houses won’t solve our affordable housing problem
In Salida, Colorado, little homes come with a big price tag.
Posted inArticles
The disappearing wetlands in California’s Central Valley
Where water is scarce, waterbirds pay the price.
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How an East Coast think tank is fueling the land transfer movement
ALEC is becoming increasingly involved in the public lands debate by providing model bills for Western states.
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The neglected history that began in the Utah desert
Last year we observed the 70th anniversary of our atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Back then, we were told that the A-bomb shortened the war and saved lives. Americans are still told that, though the truth of this is questionable. What most of us don’t remember – or more likely never knew – is […]
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Online editor Tay Wiles talks Oregon militia standoffs with KDNK Radio
The latest episode of Sounds of the High Country.
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Presidential candidates vie for the Western vote
The Nevada caucus brought Western issues into the fray this political season.
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West Obsessed: What the heck is a Sagebrush Sheriff?
Behind a lot of anti-fed sentiment, you’ll find ‘constitutional’ peace officers. Here’s why that’s worrying.
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In Utah, a massive water project is gaining ground
The project could divert 86,000 acre-feet from Lake Powell to the retirement community of St. George.
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Ranch Diaries: Dispatch from a confab of women in agriculture
When holistic management is too land-focused, the needs of the people on the land gets lost.
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Can food hubs make small farms economically feasible?
A new effort near Tahoe, California, brings farmers and food buyers together to buck the system.
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Wolves are already headed for Colorado. Let’s make it official.
The official reintroduction of a breeding pair could help ecosystems and prevent conflict.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Colorado activists set their sights on a ballot measure to limit drilling
Previous attempts have been blocked and current regulations disappoint.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
The fractured terrain of oil and gas opposition
In one of the West’s biggest arguments, the battle lines are complicated and opaque.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Bishop’s ‘Grand Bargain’ in Utah is no deal, say enviros
The much-anticipated land-use plan has ramped up the tensions it promised to defuse.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Talk about overreach
Your article on Wildlife Services (“The Forever War,” HCN, 1/25/16) was informative, but much too complimentary of that rogue federal agency, which simply needs to go away. Its use of public funds to kill public resources (native birds and mammals) on public lands at the behest of private industry (livestock producers with federal grazing permits) […]
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Something to chew on
Perhaps the only coherent message to come out of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge debacle in eastern Oregon has been this: Local people, rather than the federal government, should control the land around their own communities. Just “give back” the refuge and other public land in Harney County to those who believe they should rightfully […]
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Scientists dig up the past in packrat middens
The animals’ sturdy nests can preserve clues about the climate for 50,000 years or more.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Latest: New Mexico land deal opens wilderness access
The Sabinoso Wilderness Area was impossible to access for years, thanks to private landowners.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Latest: Klamath dams to come down
A deal that would have supplied water to irrigators and tribes fell apart.