Congress still hasn’t figured out how to pay for wildfires. Choked by partisan bickering and entrenched refusals to compromise, the 113th Congress has passed the fewest pieces of legislation of any Congress in the past two decades — just 108 significant laws, compared to nearly 170 per session from 1995 to 2010. One of the […]
Congress ignores the West’s firefighting needs
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Hurdles mount for Northwest coal exports
How high are the stakes for Western coal producers?
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Two flat tires on the sage grouse express
Some interests potentially inconvenienced by the Endangered Species Act are so terrified of the law that it often succeeds best when threatened but not invoked. So it may be with ongoing efforts to save the greater sage grouse. In 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave states, private landowners, the Forest Service and the […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
When is lightning likely?
The National Weather Service’s new lightning potential index.
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A conversation with Chuck Bowden from 2002
The late writer discusses the ‘cannibalism of society’ and other ills.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
On the hunt for fireflies in Utah
Scientists find the flashing bugs after a 30-year search.
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Nevada wins the Tesla battery factory giga-race
Massive incentive package raises questions about corporate welfare.
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Ruling green lights temporary nuclear waste storage
With no central underground depository, above-ground casks will have to do.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
No solutions in border story
Normally, I find your articles balanced and productive, often with suggestions for solutions and remedies. This one was simply a Border Patrol-bashing article (“Border Out of Control,” HCN, 6/9/14). The problems for the desert, its environment and the wildlife certainly were well documented, which is a good thing. But Ray Ring offers absolutely no solutions […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
A fine idea
Your wilderness issue (HCN, 7/21/14) was waiting for me on the day I returned from my own five-day reverie in Oregon’s Three Sisters Wilderness. I went on this trip to contemplate life and salute all who had a hand in creating the Wilderness Act 50 years ago. First, Christopher Ketcham’s article, “The Death of Backpacking,” gave me […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
Species shortsightedness
Sarah Jane Keller’s speculation on what the Endangered Species Act could do for animals facing climate pressure reveals a maddeningly narrow scope of political will among lawmakers and judges (“A new climate for wolverine protection,” HCN, 8/4/14). If science can give us projections of future threats to species — and it can — why wouldn’t […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
Safe crossing
Thank you for such thought-provoking articles, especially “Roads Scholar” (HCN, 8/4/14). I traveled from Ronan, Montana, to Missoula, Montana, every day to work and soon realized how valuable those animal-safety crossings would be. Then I got to see them being built. The amount and types of road kill were very dramatically reduced, thus saving lives […]
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
Beautifying degradation
The stunningly beautiful photographs on HCN’s Aug. 4 cover and illustrating “Idaho’s Sewer System” effectively neutralize the incisive messages in Richard Manning’s well-researched article. I bet any Idaho Big Ag exec would be proud to display any one of these on a corporate waiting room wall. After all, do not these crystalline-sharp, color-saturated views convey the […]
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At ease by a creek in the wilderness
I am on my way to Kootenai Creek, a neighbor and laughing friend who spends all day, all year, all everything, tumbling down the western side of the Bitterroot Mountains in southwestern Montana. This is the edge of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, over a million acres of forest that stretches between Montana and Idaho. Kootenai Creek […]
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Celebrating the birth of the Wilderness Act
High Country News coverage of the evolution of wilderness since 1970.
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We need new words for the Bakken boom
I live in western North Dakota in an area filled with life, from feisty small towns to wildlife, prairies, a national park and the national grasslands. But all of this has been buried underneath one simple term: The Bakken. The Bakken is the geological term for a shale formation of the same name that extends […]
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Yes, wildlife contraception works
When my 12-year-old son encounters any phenomenon that doesn’t yet fit into his worldview, he’ll sometimes ask, “Dad, is that a ‘thing,’” meaning, is it something worth caring about? This isn’t just my son’s problem, of course; at times we all face bewildering novelty. And if it’s a thing like a new technology that makes […]
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Want a trophy buck? Ditch the camo and get a guide
Study looks at successful types of big game hunters
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
Zen and the art of wildflower science
In the Rocky Mountains, a long-term study yields surprises.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
Murder in Old San Francisco
Review of ‘Frog Music’ by Emma Donoghue