In his essay about racing his BMW on the track in eastern Colorado, Daniel Brigham reinforces the old myth that the wilderness is only for men, only for those with “a certain amount of grit,” and, worst, only for those with access to an expensive, powerful machine (“Mechanized wilderness,” HCN, 11/11/13). The sensations he describes […]
Unmechanized wilderness
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
What’s happening in other Western forests?
AspenAfter hundreds of thousands of acres of aspen in the West perished during the 2000s, William Anderegg, a Princeton University forest and climate researcher, set out to test tree physiologist Nate McDowell’s hypothesis that drought killed trees in one of two ways: thirst or starvation. Anderegg found that aspen primarily died of thirst, but it […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Snapshots of a forest two years after a megafire
Southwestern forests have become burdened by wildfires that burn much hotter than those that preceded nearly a century of fire suppression. These so-called “high-severity” fires have been stoked not only by plentiful fuels, but by dried-out vegetation and hot, dry weather. The 2011 Las Conchas Fire, which burned through 156,000 acres in New Mexico’s Jemez […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
The Latest: Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site looks more distant than ever
BackstoryAfter decades of indecision about where to store nuclear waste, in 2002 President George W. Bush approved building a permanent repository at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. In 2009, under political pressure, President Obama halted construction plans. Still, the U.S. Department of Energy continued collecting fees from nuclear power plants for […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
The Latest: Interior approves a 990-mile-long transmission line
BackstoryThe proposed Gateway West transmission line through southern Wyoming and Idaho could deliver up to 3,000 megawatts of power, including wind. But such projects require complex permitting and lengthy review processes, even as upgrading the grid becomes increasingly urgent. In 2011, the Obama administration created a “rapid response team” to help expedite clean-energy infrastructure, including […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
It’s time to get all the lead out
Kudos to the California Legislature for doing the obvious, and banning lead bullets for hunting (“The Latest: Lead bullets,” HCN, 11/11/13). Here’s hoping other states will soon follow suit, NRA paranoia notwithstanding. It’s worth noting that only one Republican legislator voted for the bill on either the Senate or Assembly floor. Shouldn’t environmental protection be […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
For the love of trees
Last summer, after 15 years in western Colorado, my family moved back to the Pacific Northwest. The move was a shock in many ways, taking us from dry to wet, rural to town, red politics to blue. The topography here is different, the wildlife is different, and the trees are very, very different. But our […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Exploring the intersection of animal and human
Survival SkillsJean Ryan197 pages, paperback: $15.95.Ashland Creek, 2013. Early in Jean Ryan’s debut collection of stories, a woman in a wetsuit strokes an octopus’ head while it caresses her face with the tip of one arm. The scene illustrates one of the author’s favorite themes: We’re at our best, we humans, when we allow ourselves […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Ed Quillen anthology available now
Last June, regular High Country News contributor, Denver Post columnist and dear friend Ed Quillen died suddenly. Now, his daughter, Abby Quillen, has compiled an eBook anthology, Dispatches from the High Country: Essays on the West from High Country News, available on Amazon Kindle and through Smashwords. She’s also gathered his best Denver Post columns […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
Can more oil extraction cut CO2 emissions from power plants?
Some environmentalists are getting behind enhanced oil recovery.
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
A tiny town gets a new name and a coyote joins a 5K race
THE WESTAs writer Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson puts it, “There were lots of ways to lose money during the government shutdown that choked off Grand Canyon river trips for 11 days in early October.” There were also unusual trickle-down effects, so to speak. A Flagstaff-based company called River Cans Clean disposes of most of the human waste […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
A review of West Coast: Bering to Baja
West Coast: Bering to Baja Photographs by David Freese, Foreword by Naomi Rosenblum with text by Simon Winchester, 191 pages, hardcover:$60. George F. Thompson Publishing, 2012. “I have always been drawn to transitional places,” writes photographer David Freese in West Coast: Bering to Baja. “For me, there is no more fascinating place on Earth than […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2013: The Tree Coroners
A broader view on secession
As a Vermonter who lived out West for 10 years in my 20s, I have been a loyal High Country News subscriber since 1992, and was pleased to read Krista Langlois’ fine article about secession (“Breaking up is hard to do,” HCN, 11/11/13). I would like to offer a few additional observations. 1. Secession is […]
Posted inGoat
The Grand Canyon, temperature inversion and the worst parenting ever
I have two daughters, ages 12 and 14. They’ve lived in the Southwest for most of those years, and they’ve never seen the Grand Canyon. This, in my wife’s eyes at least, is a sin. My sin. “Why don’t you take them if it’s so important?” “Hey, you’re Mister Southwest guy. I took them to […]
Posted inGoat
Could the fight for Colorado’s Browns Canyon finally be over?
The struggle to protect Browns Canyon, a rugged stretch of the Arkansas River in central Colorado, has been waxing and waning since the area was first studied for wilderness designation in the 1970s. Several attempts to create a new federal wilderness have been floated since then, and though they’ve come tantalizingly close, none have yet […]
Posted inGoat
Negotiations speed up endangered-species listings
In northern Arizona, a tiny cactus, not more than 3.5 inches tall, lifts a creamy yellow flower above the desert rock each spring. Roughly 1,000 of these rare plants still grow, living 10 to 15 years and rising from the earth to flower each season before sinking back after fruiting. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife […]
Posted inNovember 25, 2013: Ecosystems 101
On (not) being Jane Goodall
A writer wonders what it would be like to study the coati, a Southwestern cousin of the raccoon.
Posted inGoat
Fracking, public lands, ag bills to watch at the close of legislative year
There are just four days left before the legislative year ends and Congress calls it good – or mediocre, as it may be – for 2013. This Congress passed the fewest number of laws since 1947, earning the unfortunate title of “least productive in history.” So it should come as no surprise that several major pieces […]
Posted inWotr
Fracking in Utah’s Escalante canyons?
Powerless when a company comes to my small town.
