The wolf pot continues to boil in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Now, another state has been added to the stew. In Oregon, environmentalists are protesting the piecemeal removal of wolves from the Endangered Species list, hunters want less competition from wolves, and ranchers complain that wolves are killing their livestock. In eastern Oregon, where there […]
Wolves: The debate is seldom rational
Posted inWotr
Dressing for success in the mosquito-ridden West
Rain in the West is always an occasion for celebration, and this year in South Dakota we’ve had a lot of moisture to celebrate. To complain about this would be against the code of the West; heck, the code doesn’t let us complain about stuff like broken arms or legs, either. Several neighbors casually mentioned […]
Posted inGoat
The Heart of the Beast
As a kid in northern Wyoming, I watched my dad dump a five-gallon bucket of Powder River Basin coal into the heater in our living room every winter night before bed. I’d lean against the stove in my jammies, enjoying its warmth while a blizzard rattled the chimney pipe. Though most Americans never hear coal […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Exercises in discretion
OREGONVincent Ruark was sitting at home with his two dogs in northern Oregon recently, not doing much of anything, when two Klickitat County officers knocked on his door. Aerial surveillance had spotted marijuana plants growing in his yard, they informed him, and they wanted permission to conduct a search. Taken by surprise and flustered, Ruark […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Vermillion surprise
BLM’s no-drilling decision in Colorado startles locals
Posted inRange
The meaning of marmot whistles
How about replacing Groundhog Day with a Feb. 2 Marmot Day?
Posted inGoat
It’s getting warmer in here – and drier
A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) offers a mixed picture of how climate change will affect Western water supplies. Some places will see more moisture, most will see less. For the majority of the region, sustainability of water resources is set to become a serious problem. The study was conducted by […]
Posted inGoat
We’ve got hot dates
Here at High Country News, we’re proud of the fact that we’ve got all of our stories from 1993 on available online, in a free searchable archive. But over the last few years, a bug worked its way into the system. You may have noticed that when you did a search, most older stories showed […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Case in point
Artifacts roadshow connects archaeologists to lost treasures
Posted inWotr
The atomic bomb and me
This year, the bomb and I became senior citizens. We were both born 65 years ago at nearly the same time in different parts of the West. Since then, nuclear reality has come to define everybody’s lives. But for me there’s even more of a connection, because of the radiation still lurking inside my body […]
Posted inWotr
The Gulf spill catastrophe can be a goad to do the right thing
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from BP’s disastrous oil spill, it’s how missed opportunities can come back to haunt you. One glaring example has received little attention, however. Back in 1965, Congress began funding land conservation through royalties from offshore oil and gas production, believing that the environmental cost of developing the outer continental […]
Posted inGoat
In defense of a rock
When I was in the fourth grade south of San Francisco, I squirted a glob of Elmers glue onto an index card, pressed a rock into it, and used a black felt tip pen to write a pretty cool sounding word beneath my specimen: Serpentine. Then, I added a brief description on the card in […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Seeing the triceratops for the trees
Kirk Johnson combines science and art to create an ancient landscape
Posted inWotr
Bison are flourishing, but not always in the right place
Though images of bison aren’t the first thing that pop into mind when you think of Grand Canyon, the animals that lumber like walking boulders have become a significant attraction for visitors to the North Rim. The bison are part of a herd that was introduced to the Kaibab Plateau in the early 1900s, courtesy […]
Posted inGoat
Will the real data please stand up?
Facing a comprehensive federal investigation on the health and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing of gas wells, some natural gas advocates seem resistant to finding any answers at all. In preparation for its much-anticipated study this summer the Environmental Protection Agency is holding public hearings around the country, asking citizens to help determine the study’s […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Beware the leprechaun
THE WESTWhat is it about summer and people acting nutty in cars? In Salt Lake City, “a naked woman led police on a wild chase with two stolen cars — including their cruiser,” reports the Salt Lake Tribune. A week later, a Utah man ran Wyoming state police ragged by first driving erratically, then taking […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
The HCN mix
“I have been a subscriber for a long time … I have concerns about how HCN has changed over recent years. It has become like a glossy news magazine … Is HCN still relevant to what is happening in the West?” That recent note from a careful reader got the attention of the editors here. […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
Strength in small victories
Two letters slammed Kim Todd’s essay “Walking Woman” for alleged inaccuracies of grammar and, more deeply, for incorrectness of attitude — demonstrating exactly what too often turns us enviros into self-defeating scolds (HCN, 5/24/10). First, to the would-be grammarian: In 30 years of hiking and climbing the range as a native-born L.A. boy, I and […]