On Oct. 17, history was quietly made: The surface elevation of Lake Mead, a huge reservoir on the Colorado River near Las Vegas, dropped below its record low and continued to fall about a tenth of an inch per day over the following days. Those fractions of inches might seem insignificant, but when projected across […]
Draining the tub
Posted inGoat
Sharing the (reduced) bounty
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hasn’t made a secret of its preference for catch shares as a management tool for the nation’s fisheries. And Friday, the agency, which is headed by marine biologist and fishing quota proponent Jane Lubchenco, released a formal policy that pushes catch shares as the primary management tool for America’s […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Fascinating conundrums
THE SOUTHWEST That wistful Iowa farm boy in the ads for a language-learning software called Rosetta Stone — “He was a hardworking farm boy. She was an Italian supermodel. He knew he would have just one chance to impress her” — now has an opportunity to learn Navajo, too, reports the Daily Times of Farmington, […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
Oklahoma vs. the West
This dispute includes drilling, wilderness, guns and climate change
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
How outsiders shape the West
Note: This is the editor’s note for a package of stories about Oklahoma vs. the West (links at the end). — The biggest story happening now — the Nov. 2 elections and their results — is impossible to cover in this edition of High Country News. We go to press a few days before the […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
The dark side of Indian law
In his new book, In the Courts of the Conqueror, Walter Echo-Hawk discusses the 10 worst Indian law cases ever decided.
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
HCN bids farewell to an old friend
Sometimes we are fortunate enough to get a closer look at the lives of our remarkable readers. Shortly after longtime HCN reader and donor William L. Berry Jr. died on Sept. 30 from pancreatic cancer, two of his sons, John and Scott, got in touch with us to tell us a bit more about their […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
Dam removal for dummies
Your plain-English guide to more free-flowing rivers
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
Coal reality check
It’s a risky time to invest in coal. Production was down almost 8 percent in 2009, and consumption fell even further. Environmentalists have fought new coal-fired power plants tooth and nail — and won. Some plants are already planning a switch to natural gas. Meanwhile, the shape of future federal carbon regulation, a looming threat […]
Posted inRange
A bear’s gotta eat
For the six months or so of the year that grizzly bears are active, they have one thing on their mind: food. And they need lots of it. To survive the long winter months of hibernation, a four- to six-hundred-pound adult grizzly bear must be constantly eating whenever it has the chance, a process known […]
Posted inRange
What does this week mean for Northwest climate policy?
By Eric DePlace It’s conventional wisdom that the heavier GOP configuration in Congress spells bad news for climate policy in the Pacific Northwest. There’s some truth in that, but there’s a more positive story for advocates to tell too. Here’s how I see the events of this week through the lens of climate policy. The […]
Posted inRange
Beyond Boardman
By Jennifer Langston Oregon has been having a robust debate over the appropriate date for closing the state’s lone coal power plant. The Boardman plant could theoretically operate until 2040, but its owners have proposed an earlier closure to avoid investing in expensive pollution controls. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether the plant […]
Posted inGoat
The morning after
The Tea Party didn’t take the West Tuesday night. Power did shift to the right, as it did nationwide, but not dramatically. In New Mexico, Republican Steve Pearce took his House seat back from Harry Teague, but the state’s other two Democratic congressional incumbents held on. The GOP gained two seats in the House in […]
Posted inBlog
Where should green planning efforts come from?
Hundreds of urban planners, architects, developers, environmentalists, entrepreneurs and policymakers danced around this question last week as they convened on Portland for the second annual Ecodistricts Summit. Hosted by the Portland Sustainability Institute (PoSI), the event complements a maturing experiment to make five of the Oregon metropolis’s neighborhoods into “Ecodistricts,” neighborhoods designed to be more […]
Posted inRange
California state parks funding measure fails
Dominated by the Sierra Club, California’s “Environmental Establishment” operates politically largely as a subsidiary of the Democratic Party. This fact plays heavily in what sorts of environmental initiatives this establishment chooses to put on the California ballot. This year, the state’s environmental establishment put Proposition 21 on the ballot. It proposed a surcharge on vehicle […]
Posted inRange
We, the American people, are united by our divisions
All election night the message was about how the people have spoken with a clear voice and returned Republicans to power. In Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul called it the “Tea Party tidal wave.” Or the soon-to-be Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said “it’s clear tonight who the real winners are, that’s the American […]
Posted inWotr
Hoover Dam: marvel and folly
Seventy-five years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt declared Hoover Dam — then called Boulder Dam — “a marvel of the 20th century.” But I predict that when the dam turns 100 in 2035, no one will be celebrating what now appears to be a 20th century folly. The third decade of the 20th century and the […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2010: Lynch-Mob Politics
Us and them vs. all the rest
Ethnic diversity strengthened early Butte, Montana – and still can.