Rarely has good news emerged from Libby, Mont., in recent decades. Hundreds of residents of the small town have died and thousands more have been sickened from exposure to asbestos fibers, which spread from a local vermiculite mine throughout the community, ending up lodged in people’s lungs. Kids used to play in mine waste, and […]
A small victory for Libby
Posted inSeptember 5, 2011: For the love of hummers
Farmland conservation program may be plowed under
Third-generation rancher Tony Malmberg remembers driving down a road in western Nebraska with his grandfather 38 years ago and watching clouds of blowing dirt darken the sky above their heads. “A bunch of Kansas farmers had come in and bought a bunch of this sandhill country and were plowing it up,” says Malmberg. His grandfather […]
Posted inRange
Oil, gas, and the roadless rule: too complex for newspapers?
Editor’s note: Sharon Friedman blogs on forest policy at “A New Century of Forest Planning” and will be posting occasionally on the Range blog. As you all know, I think it’s really important that the public gets a chance to understand Forest Service (publicland, natural resource) issues so they can make informed choices. The problem […]
Posted inWotr
Beware of wolves cloaked in “access”
America’s national forests belong to everyone, and all Americans deserve and rightfully demand access to this national birthright. Such access is like oxygen for hunters and anglers, but beware: Industry barracudas and their pals in Congress are trying to hoodwink sportsmen into supporting bad legislation by promising more lenient access. Today’s case in point is […]
Posted inGoat
Calories and economics on public lands
Back in the glitzy ’80s, uber-designer Diane von Furstenberg gained notoriety for telling women “you can never be too rich or too thin.” Turns out she was wrong on both counts. But those central obsessions of Americans, weight and wealth, have become a lens through which to view the benefits of a surprising array of […]
Posted inGoat
Bill Koch, coal, and political cash
The cynic in me hardly batted an eye when I read recently that Republican House Speaker John Boehner is raking in coal-stained cash. Nor did I spill my coffee when I noticed that one of Boehner’s big new donors is a Koch brother. My interest was piqued, however, when I saw that it wasn’t David […]
Posted inGoat
The costs of climate change
From California beachside communities to remote villages in subarctic Alaska, the impacts of climate change are becoming ever more tangible, as shown by two government studies released this week. “Sea-level rise is here and we need to start planning for it,” said Philip King, associate professor of economics at San Francisco State University, in the […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Where’s the good news?
While I was interested in the article, “Looking for Balance in Navajoland,” and am well aware that controversy and upset sell better than routine good performance, I wonder if you could manage at least a couple of stories on some of the success stories in Indian Country (HCN, 8/22/11). There must be many, but one […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
The turn of the wheel: the many lives of writer H. Lee Barnes
“A lot of the themes that I work with are within the context of the lives I have lived,” says Nevada author H. Lee Barnes. “My characters are grassroots people who struggle to make it to the next day.” An Army brat who grew up “all over the Southwest,” Barnes was a Green Beret in […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
‘The most sacred form of welfare’
Nevada has two large bodies of natural water within its borders: Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake (HCN, 8/8/11). The state of Nevada has made the choice to sacrifice Walker Lake by over-allocating the upstream water rights to a few upstream communities. As your article stated, irrigation brought glorious benefits, from onions to potatoes, alfalfa and […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Tales of sagebrush and murder: A review of Assumption
AssumptionPercival Everett272 pages, softcover: $15.Graywolf Press, October. There aren’t nearly enough books set in New Mexico. With its cinematic lighting and uniquely off-kilter characters, the state should grow great novels as plentifully as chiles. Strangely, though, it hasn’t. California author Percival Everett sets out to change that with Assumption, a trilogy of mysteries starring Ogden […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Survival and opportunism in Butte: A review of The Richest Hill on Earth
The Richest Hill on EarthRichard S. Wheeler320 pages, hardcover: $29.99.Forge, December. In the run-up to an election year, what can the past reveal about public figures and the role they play in shaping business policies? Montana author Richard S. Wheeler’s historical novel The Richest Hill on Earth dramatizes the rivalry between the 19th century “Copper […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Stories like a bale unrolling: a review of Conjugations of the Verb To Be
Conjugations of the Verb To BeGlen Chamberlain193 pages, softcover: $11.95.Delphinium Press, September. The fictional ranching town of Buckle in eastern Montana is the setting for Bozeman writer Glen Chamberlain’s short-story collection Conjugations of the Verb To Be. The stories, though independent, are skillfully intertwined; the lives of the characters overlap and intermingle in the many […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Skipped issue, HCN: the German edition, visitors and a remembrance
After a busy summer, the HCN staff is taking a two-week breather, one of four publishing breaks we take each year. Look for your next issue around Oct. 17. How do you say cougar in German? HCN associate editor Sarah Gilman‘s Writers on the Range essay, “Ordinary Wild,” about a cougar that wandered into downtown […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Rebuilding a river as Washington’s Elwha dams come down
In his autobiography, Conquering the Last Frontier, Olympic Peninsula pioneer Thomas Aldwell described his first encounter with the land that would be his legacy: “Below the cabin was a canyon through which the Elwha River thundered, and 75 feet or so in front of it was a spring of crystal clear water, overhung by vine […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
No bones about it: two books on the disappearing Everett Ruess
Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness ExplorerDavid Roberts416 pages, hardcover: $25.Broadway, 2011. Everett Ruess: His Short Life, Mysterious Death, and Astonishing AfterlifePhilip L. Fradkin296 pages, hardcover: $24.95.University of California Press, 2011. There’s nothing like an unsolved disappearance to create an enduring cult hero. Maybe that’s why Amelia Earhart and […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Living close to the bone in modern Alaska: A review of Bear Down, Bear North
Bear Down, Bear North Melinda Moustakis144 pages, softcover: $24.95.University of Georgia Press, September. Bear Down, Bear North plunges its reader deep into tangled relations and beautiful places. This small craft of 13 linked stories holds everything necessary to survive the frigid Alaskan waters. Washington writer Melinda Moustakis works words attentively and playfully, slipping like a […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Hope and redemption
Seven years ago, Daniel McCool, a political science professor and director of the American West Center at the University of Utah, wrote an eloquent essay for this magazine, in which he said, “A dam slated for the wrecking ball is a kinetic form of politics — falling concrete that embodies the energy of a whole […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
“Flow trails” for mountain biking
The following comments were posted in response to Kimberly Hirai’s blog, “Illegal trailblazing as a negotiation tool?” “Flow trails” for mountain biking don’t necessarily cost more to build than hiking trails. But sustainable trails for any user group do cost more than trails cut randomly through the woods. One reason is land managers often bring […]
Posted inSeptember 19, 2011: Redemption
Fall books for the sweetly socked-in
The changes seem to happen overnight: Even under the stifling lid of late-summer days, September’s dusk begins to come on cool, its mornings curling at the edges with damp chill like the pages of a book. Along the ditches and river, the cottonwood leaves are first to drop, scattering the ground with gold. Tea becomes […]