Lately we’ve noticed that we haven’t been hearing from our readers as often as we used to. One of the best things about HCN is our sense of community, exemplified by your intelligent, thoughtful letters. We know you’ve got lots of opinions, ideas and reactions to stories to share — so please drop us a […]
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Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Rocky Mountain noir
The Long Slide Blair Oliver and Peter Soliunas 200 pages, softcover: $20. World Audience, Inc., 2010. The first collaboration from authors Peter Soliunas and Blair Oliver, The Long Slide is at once a pulpy romp across the Rockies and a mash note to the works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. But where those authors […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Not quite so SAD
Since at least 2004, sudden aspen decline, or SAD for short, has killed trees in five Western states in sweeping fashion. By 2008, in Colorado alone, more than a half million acres were afflicted. But after a few wet, cool years, the fatal phenomenon is finally relenting. “We’re pretty sure that the drought in 2002 […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Mining Reform: Deja vu again and again
This Editor’s Note accompanies the HCN feature story: Hardrock Mining Showdown. “Mining Reform May Hit Paydirt in 1993.” That was the headline of a story I wrote for High Country News following the election of President Bill Clinton and his appointment of the reform-minded Bruce Babbitt as Interior secretary to oversee the West’s federal lands. […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Lone shepherd on a distant promontory
From where I sit, I see a lone shepherd on a distant promontory, two trusty dogs at his side, a storm posting with all speed from the cold north as a rogue wolf works the edges of the band. The guard dogs, Great Pyrenees and Akbash, are not quite enough to beat off those wolves, […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
In Tancredo’s corner
The mainstream media routinely distort the position of those opposed to illegal immigration. For example, the Oct. 25, 2010, issue of High Country News called Tom Tancredo, who lost the Colorado Governor’s race, “an anti-immigration rabble-rouser.” Actually Tom Tancredo — as well as the overwhelming majority of Americans — is not “anti-immigration,” but anti-illegal immigration. […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Dam removal is not for dummies
As a retired engineering geologist and self-styled “dam doctor” who had the honor of breaching a dam before Bruce Babbitt, I would like to add a few cautions to Nick Neely’s story (HCN, 11/8/10). Readers should not think it is simple. The upper-right graphic shows that there were plans developed for the removal of the […]
Posted inBlog
Good news and bad news for New Mexico’s Navajo communities
At the end of a year defined by the Gulf oil spill, failed climate legislation, and an ever-mounting urgency as the weather intensifies, federal leadership makes strides towards clean energy at the same time that leaders continue to dig in their heels in favor of fossil fuels. And, as everywhere in the world, indigenous peoples […]
Posted inRange
Tanned, rested and ready?
Despite his train wreck of a campaign for governor Colorado this year, former congressman Scott McInnis says he hasn’t ruled out another run at political office. McInnis, a Republican initially based in Glenwood Springs, Colo., served in the state legislature before winning a 1992 race for an open congressional seat from the Third District, which […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
There’s something in the water
A Colorado family discovers that their clear “Rocky Mountain Spring Water” is unsafe to drink
Posted inRange
Leave it to beaver?
By John Abbotts As we’ve noted before, scientists say that climate change could create quite a water supply problem east of the Cascades. Warmer winters are already melting mountain snows earlier in the spring, leaving streams and rivers short on water in mid-summer—just when the salmon, farms, and homes really need it. And many scientists […]
Posted inGoat
If you can’t catch it, you can’t cut it
Let’s get this one thing straight: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s plan for regulating greenhouse-gas emissions from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act — a “tailoring rule,” which goes into effect January 2, 2011 — is nothing radical. States may be suing, a bipartisan swarm of senators may be politicking to stop it, energy […]
Posted inRange
HCN reader photo – Outside Taos
This reader-submitted photo was taken on Highway 68, approximately 10 miles southwest of Taos, New Mexico. We loved the bright sky and the contrast of dried flowers. The photo comes from Flickr user and HCN group member Justin Morris. Add your photos to the High Country News community photo pool on Flickr! We feature selected […]
Posted inBlog
A new article of faith: don’t make the poor balance the budget
There is a political article of faith: “Don’t raise taxes during a recession.” Just Google the phrase and you’ll find some 2.5 million results. The popular idea is that deeply embedded into our political thinking. Of course it makes economic sense: You want people to spend their money on goods and services. Then producers will […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
That bites!
ARIZONA As foreclosures increase throughout the West, ex-homeowners slamming the door on the way out sometimes abandon cats, dogs and other pets, including exotic snakes. And then there are the native snakes that slither back to reclaim their turf once the humans are gone. The variety of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes co-existing with subdivisions can […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
The windhover
Wildlife biologist Travis Booms tracks remote Alaska gyrfalcons
Posted inRange
Promoting forest biomass
Jodi Peterson’s succinct report – “Burning questions about biomass” — in High Country News’ November 8th edition — summarizes the many issues which surround efforts to develop biomass energy production in the West and elsewhere. Once viewed as a panacea for the region’s energy needs, a way to reduce carbon emissions and a solution for […]
Posted inGoat
How Big Oil won California
Count these among the things that will get more difficult after the midterm elections: passing a federal energy bill, being openly gay in the military, and governing California. It’s already hard enough. This is the state that has been pronounced “ungovernable” almost since its inception, and has been confirmed so in recent years by Forbes, […]
Posted inRange
Rants from the Hill: Customer Cranky
“Rants from the Hill” are Michael Branch’s monthly musings on life in the high country of Nevada’s western Great Basin desert. Some of you may remember the novelist William Faulkner’s famous Yoknapatawpha County, which, though fictional, was based upon the Mississippi town in which Faulkner lived. Well, I’m now ready to give a fictional name […]
Posted inBlog
Go play outside
An article in the most recent edition of New Scientist about a fascinating study conducted at the University of Washington offers yet more evidence that investing in community green space can pay off in significant public benefits. The University of Washington study tracked the Body Mass Index of 3,831 children over two years, New Scientist […]