Tribes and former federal officials fight to cancel energy leases on sacred land.
Drilling proposed in Montana’s Badger-Two Medicine
Posted inArticles
BLM mulls energy development in sage grouse habitat
Feds may restrict hardrock mining and put oil and gas leases on auction block.
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
The Latest: Coos Bay natural gas terminal moves ahead
The Oregon terminal got the go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Shout-out to Heyday press
I was particularly touched by the article in the September issue regarding the California Maidu Indians’ recovery of their land, though as I continued through the various articles I was surprised that I didn’t find any reference to Heyday Press of Berkeley, California, and Malcolm Margolin, the publisher (“The Exact Same Place,” HCN, 9/14/15). Malcolm […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Photographing Wyoming Prairies
A review of ‘Wyoming Grasslands.’
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Lessons learned, and unlearned, from a life around guns
In my family, everyone got a hunting license, and everybody hunted big game.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
In the Mojave, a new relationship with trash
A new arrival finds traces of what we discard and what we bury deep inside.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Will the Migratory Bird Treaty Act survive in the modern era?
One of the nation’s oldest wildlife laws is fighting for its life in the courts.