The agency’s main Freedom of Information Act office appears incompetent or overworked.
The BLM fails to provide public records
Posted inArticles
Report warns of illegal drilling on federal land
Outdated rules and budget shortfalls make it hard to catch.
Posted inArticles
The push is on to “take back” public lands
Utah is ground zero this year for the attempt by some Western states to claim federal lands. In September, when Southern Utah University hosted a debate on the controversial proposal, close to 250 people packed the hall as two professors, Bob Keither and Dan McCool, argued that however messy its oversight, the federal government should […]
Posted inArticles
The Young and the reckless: Alaskan congressman’s offenses draw spotlight
Don Young might be the most volatile politician in America.
Posted inArticles
Making sure every Native voter has the opportunity to cast a ballot
Less than a week to go until Election Day. Its one thing to make the case that every American Indian and Alaska Native should vote. Its another to make certain that the door to the voting booth is actually open and there is a ballot ready to go. Across the country thats the challenge. One […]
Posted inArticles
In small-town baseball, a wider world
My anxiety-prone 7-year-old son, Elias, was so nervous about his first baseball game that he felt sick. “Those are called butterflies,” I said. To help him out, I took him into the backyard and pitched some balls, all the while reciting a litany of “great athletes who got nervous” stories. I told him that the […]
Posted in2014
High Country News awarded grant to serve college students
For immediate release: Oct. 28, 2014 High Country News has just received a $30,000 INNovation Fund grant from the Investigative News Network. The magazine –– one of only eight nonprofit newsrooms to receive a grant –– plans to use it for the High Country News University program, which works with colleges and universities nationwide to integrate HCN’s […]
Posted inArticles
Extraction taxes are on the ballot
North Dakota and Nevada voters might learn something from Wyoming.
Posted inArticles
Will a small town’s underground economy get legitimized?
A little-known battle in this country’s marijuana war is underway in a small town of 1,500 in western Colorado, known – if at all — for its underground coal mines, 12 wineries, a microbrewery, organic vegetables and fruit, and, its perfect climate for growing pot. The town is Paonia, and this November, its registered voters […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
Mapping threats on public land
Intimidation of federal officials is widespread across the West.
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
Western states eye federal lands—again
The ultra-right ‘remedy’ for public lands.
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
The lost navigator
Before Parkinson’s, my father never needed to consult a road map.
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
The Latest: When wind and solar need reliable backup power
Western grid operators can now buy backup power on a real-time, open market to smooth intermittent renewables.
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
The Latest: Sustainable seafood advocates vs. wilderness purists
After years of court battles, an oyster company in a national park agrees to shut down.
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
The grayest of grays
I had never heard of Charles Bowden until the Oct. 13 High Country News. I am moved to tears by what he saw and how he lived and the words he shared. He saw the darkest of all of us and did not shy away from it, shun it, or ignore it. He stayed and dug in […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
Standing up to bullies
Remember Guy Pence? Pence — as Jeff Ruch, director of the nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, reminded me during a recent phone interview with four public-lands veterans — was a district ranger on Nevada’s Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in 1995 when someone firebombed his office in Carson City and then dynamited his van in […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
An expedition along the imperiled Rio Grande
The river’s future may include longer droughts, larger floods and shrinking snowpack.
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
Review of “The Color of Being Born” by Michael Cadieux
Paintings that depict the precarious relationship between humankind and the natural world.