Last week, California regulators proposed new rules to oversee hydraulic fracturing across the state, and depending on whom you ask, they are either a move toward stronger oversight of the extraction of the state’s oil reserves, or a thinly veiled capitulation to industry. The regulations come as a result of SB 4, which was introduced […]
California fracking regulations proposal gets mixed response
Posted inGoat
Emerald ash borers arrive in the West. How far will they go?
Alongside the spotted knapweed and zebra mussels, the non-native species is a new unwelcome visitor.
Posted inWotr
On being away from my primal landscape
It was no secret I didn’t want to leave the West.
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
A group of paddlers works to make kayaking legal on Yellowstone’s rivers
Should all national park waters be opened to boaters?
Posted inGoat
An important win for black-footed ferret reintroduction
Once a thriving predator on prairie landscapes, the black-footed ferret was squeezed out of its range by agriculture and development, and their populations ravaged by diseases like sylvatic plague, which was introduced from Asia at the turn of the 20th century. Ferrets’ main source of food, prairie dogs, have long been considered pests to agriculture […]
Posted inGoat
Will the farm bill leave private lands conservation behind?
Right now, following the farm bill’s progress seems a lot like watching corn grow. The bill is due for reauthorization and the senators and representatives charged with finding a compromise are under pressure to make progress before Thanksgiving. The major hurdle to clear right now, and that’s received a fair bit of media attention already, […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1981: Super-trains breed super-terminals
The strategic minerals debate
Two writers debate whether the U.S. should become more self-sufficient in its extraction of minerals critical to industry. Download entire issue to view this article: http://www.hcn.org/issues/13.17/download-entire-issue
Posted inRange
Putting politics before science won’t save the lobo
With winter upon us and the days getting noticeably shorter, so too is the time left to speak out on behalf of Mexican gray wolves. Among the country’s most imperiled species, there are only about 75 lobos left in the wild. The ultimate fate of these iconic animals could be decided in the next year […]
Posted inWotr
We need younger hunters
Hunters are aging, and without new hunters to carry on conservation traditions, wild game and habitat will suffer.
Posted inGoat
Why it doesn’t matter whether Colorado’s fracking bans hold up in court
If anything illustrates just how contentious fracking has become on Colorado’s urban Front Range, it’s the closeness of the vote on a Broomfield ballot measure to ban the practice for five years. When results came in after the Nov. 5 election, it had lost by a mere 13 votes, triggering a mandatory recount. Last Thursday, […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
Cosmic Prospecting in Lead, South Dakota
What happens when an old mining town recruits a physics lab and pursues Big Science?
Posted inGoat
Regulations for Native American ‘artifacts’ auctions may still be too lax
Two weeks ago, a Lakota sacred object advertised as a “Sioux Beaded and Quilled hide Shirt” was set to be auctioned off in Boston, Mass. and was expected to fetch $150,000-250,000. Minutes before the bidding began on Nov. 9, Skinner auction house pulled the item in response to pressure from attorneys and tribal officials representing […]
Posted inArticles
Drought, Glen Canyon Dam, climate change and God
Stopping by the dam during a days-long experimental flood, it’s clear that even this massive feat of engineering can’t fix the arid West.
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
KDNK Radio speaks with Marshall Swearingen
On this episode of Sounds of the High Country, KDNK Radio’s collaboration with High Country News, KDNK’s Nelson Harvey talks to reporter Marshall Swearingen. Swearingen wrote the feature story, “Cosmic Prospecting: What happens when an old mining town recruits Big Science,” in a recent issue of High Country News. Past editions of Sounds of the […]
Posted inGoat
Immigration reform is pivotal for the future of agriculture in the West
When farmer Kerry Mattics sunk several thousand dollars into building a bunkhouse for 12 workers to stay on his property during planting and harvest seasons, he figured the house would be useful for at least a decade. But by 2012, he had no workers to fill it up and his Olathe, Colo. fruit and vegetable […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
Wilderness found in a BMW
I never feel more Western than when I slide through turns at High Plains Raceway.
Posted inGoat
Pisaster disaster: When starfish wasting disease strikes, there’s only one man to call
Dr. Chris Mah may be the only man in the world who can correctly identify any species of starfish on sight. Growing up in San Francisco on a steady diet of sushi and Japanese monster movies, it was no wonder he was attracted to the weird, slimy invertebrates he plucked from the shores of the […]
Posted inWotr
Will there ever be a 51st state?
When we work together, we work to form a more perfect union.
Posted inGoat
Drought and population growth punch Colorado in face, state fights back with water planning
Last week, while speaking at lunch during the Upper Colorado Basin Water Conference in Grand Junction, the director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board could have put his audience to sleep in their cannoli. He was talking about the narcolepsy-inducing topic of water planning, after all. Instead, James Eklund captured the room’s attention by quoting […]