People in the Western United States like their trains, or so E.M. Frimbo, The New Yorker magazine’s great rail writer with the unusual name, liked to say. But Frimbo believed that Westerners lost track of what happened to so many railroad lines: We spent the last half of the 19th century building them up, then […]
On E.M. Frimbo and riding the Western rails
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How Western towns profit from detaining immigrants
Detention facilities provide economic stability for many rural towns.
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Ranch Diaries: Spared from drought, for now, in New Mexico
Dry spells take a toll on landscapes and livestock, but are also hard on people.
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Thanks, BLM, for letting the dirt shine through
Editor’s note: The following is a recent letter from Collin Smith, an aspiring geologist, to the Bureau of Land Management in Utah. He said he was happy to share it with us because the federal agency receives so little praise these days. Dear BLM: I am pleased as punch! I just got back from my […]
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Contaminated soil lingers where apples once grew in Washington
Soil at hundreds of properties contains lead and arsenic that can lower children’s IQs and increase cancer risk.
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Rants from the Hill: Fall brings a new bird to the neighborhood
A Northern Mockingbird stops by, its varied song a reminder of October’s restless nature.
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Drilling proposed in Montana’s Badger-Two Medicine
Tribes and former federal officials fight to cancel energy leases on sacred land.
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BLM mulls energy development in sage grouse habitat
Feds may restrict hardrock mining and put oil and gas leases on auction block.
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Washington’s long summer of fire and smoke
On Spokane’s west side, the Houston Fire was growing fast. If a wind were to come up and whip flames across a field of weeds, the gate that keeps the world at bay at the entrance to Erika and Andrea Zaman’s lane would do no good. Just in time, Andrea blasted back from the airport, […]
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Alaska’s wolves and bears get new protections
New regulations help wildlife on federal lands. But they’re still no match for state predator control.
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Park Service may strengthen its oil and gas regulations
Current rules give the agency little leverage to protect lands or restore damage once drilling companies pull out.
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Find a way to travel in the wilderness, without carrying a gun
Hiking the Mad Creek Trail north of Steamboat, Colorado, one day this fall, I glanced back at another hiker, who was accompanied by two yelping dogs. I was taken aback to see the man wore a pistol in a holster on his hip. He fell into step for a while with my daughter, Greta, who’s […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
High Country News: Origins
The first in a series celebrating our 45th anniversary
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Will the Land and Water Conservation Fund rise again?
Congress derails the nation’s most successful public access and recreation program.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Wild collisions
Driving in the rural West is a blood sport. During the spring and summer, it’s all I can do to avoid squashing the prairie dogs and rabbits drawn to the weeds along the asphalt, as they invariably dart the wrong way at the last moment. Almost every day I encounter the fresh carcass of a […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Where nuns are ranch hands
Colorado’s Abbey of St. Walburga is a spiritual refuge — and a working ranch.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Washington welcomes wolves back — across deep political divides
The state’s emphasis on non-lethal control is saving livestock and wolves, but rural residents are still leery.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Toxic mining legacy, part two
Although I now live in Portland, Oregon, I have followed the Animas River mine drainage spill issue with extreme interest, because I spent several years studying water quality issues related to mine drainage in Colorado in the 1970s. Jonathan Thompson’s article provides the most complete description of the incident that I’ve read or heard (including […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Toxic mining legacy, part one
Aug. 6, 2015, was the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and also the day the Gold King Mine above Silverton, Colorado, spewed a buildup of toxic mining waters into the Animas River flowing through bucolic Durango (“Animas spill,” HCN, 8/31/15). I am a gold-miner’s daughter. I moved to Durango in 1985 and […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
The Latest: Park Service takes the reins at Valles Caldera
The failed experiment in privatized land management has come to an end.