When in doubt, climb; fences are made for hopping.
Raccoonboy’s guide to urban wilds
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
Out-Migration Option
I found “Unite and Conquer” fascinating, informative and thorough. It appears Ms. Mulroy has moved the Southwest water conversation to greater depths indeed. What I find disappointing, however, is that despite all talk of openness, one option is unfortunately dismissed out of hand. Why not spend the billion dollars suggested for a groundwater-pumping alternative to pay people to […]
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
Mulroy’s Plan B
“Unite and Conquer” left out an important fact about Mulroy’s Plan B to pump groundwater from rural eastern Nevada to Las Vegas. At least part of the groundwater in question is shared with Utah and used by ranchers in Utah’s West Desert. In 2013, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert decided not to sign an agreement with […]
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
International tourists in Western states, by the numbers
Where they’re from, where they go and where they spend their money.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
HCN writers publish books and garner awards
Plus visitors to the office and corrections.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
Fire squads in Utah, metaphysical debates in Arizona politics
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
Children in Alaska’s wild country
As parents, we watch our kids walk into vast new worlds — like it or not.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
Bold-Face Conquer
“Unite and Conquer” was a puzzling article (HCN, 3/2/15). I think the title should have had “Unite” in very small lower case and “Conquer” in large, capitalized bold face.Your heroine comes across as an 800-pound gorilla with a typical, to me, Las Vegas attitude: Give me what I want or I’ll bury you with my […]
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
An outsider’s guide to insider Portland
Dispatch from a dryland alien in the rainy Northwest.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
A wanderer’s guide to Western public lands
Cow patties, extraterrestrials and binoculars can help you figure out where you are.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
A German’s shattered romance with the West
An essayist asks whether the West is the most misunderstood region in the U.S.
Posted inArticles
Drilling Chaco: What’s actually at stake
It’s the archaeological landscape beyond New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon that is most threatened.
Posted inArticles
Are we in a megadrought?
As the dry-spell continues, a radio forum on water security in Western states.
Posted inArticles
As drought pervades, can markets make us water-wiser?
Proponents say market tools can better move water where it’s needed.
Posted inArticles
Permafrost’s ticking “carbon bomb” may never truly detonate
New research suggests that carbon stored in frozen soil will be released gradually.
Posted inArticles
Rural counties to lose the most from defunded lands programs
What happens to local budgets when Congress stops these federal payments.
Posted inArticles
Forest Service sticks up for coal mining on roadless lands
The agency will calculate climate impacts of mine expansions in western Colorado.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
On the road with America’s sightseers
A photographer looks at three decades of tourism.
Posted inArticles
At Hart Mountain, the land came back
Cattle are hard on streams. There’s no getting around it. They’re large creatures, they travel in big herds unlike native ungulates such as mule deer and pronghorn, and they love to hang out in streambeds where the living is easy, with plentiful water to drink and delicate plants to munch on. The damage they do […]
Posted inArticles
Will the Northwest Forest Plan come undone?
The Forest Service and BLM embark on revising the iconic plan and may allow more logging.