The mountain lion brings attention to the role of urban wilds.
Famous Los Angeles puma holes up in residents’ crawlspace
Posted inArticles
Utah’s ‘Grand Bargain’ for public lands enters phase three
Bishop pushes what may be the West’s biggest reshuffle of the land checkerboard.
Posted inArticles
A street-smart chicken for your backyard
There are many ways backyard hens can die. If you raise them long enough, you’ll see your share. But buff Orpington chickens tend to be survivors. My first clue to their talent for living came when a Siberian husky sneaked into my backyard. A more efficient chicken-killing machine does not exist. The wolfish canine […]
Posted inArticles
Dispatch from Cliven Bundy’s latest gathering
Who showed up at the one-year anniversary of the BLM standoff? Most of them weren’t ranchers.
Posted inArticles
Forest Service is still in search of a mission
Perhaps Ken Burns had the right idea when he named his public-television series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. Even though I worked for the Forest Service for 34 years, I’m inclined to agree with him about the importance of our nation’s parks. But the national forests are surely our second-best idea, a priceless asset […]
Posted inArticles
EPA loophole allows streams of wastewater in Wyoming
Environmentalists challenge permits that result in dumping of toxic chemicals on tribal land.
Posted inArticles
Scientists document mega Oregon-Nevada pronghorn migration
Three hikers will track ecological conditions on the route this June.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
The West in 72 hours
Asian tourists look for space, spectacles and a decent bowl of noodles.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
Strangers in a familiar land
A few years ago, my family and I lived for a while in Germany. Soon after we returned, we went for a hike in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area in northwestern New Mexico. Bisti is surely one of the weirder and more obscure wilderness areas out there, a collection of otherworldly rock formations and badlands, surrounded […]
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
Readers’ foreign travel tales
Winners of the High Country News essay contest for our annual travel issue.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
Raccoonboy’s guide to urban wilds
When in doubt, climb; fences are made for hopping.
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.