Richard Shelton has taught writing in prisons for 30 years
A desert poet takes his work inside
Posted inArticles
Straddling the Canadian border
A Tulalip Indian works to maintain traditions with family on the other side
Posted inGoat
My pet gripe
Have you noticed that Americans are always declaring something in their back yard the biggest, longest, cleanest, dirtiest and my personal favorite, most pristine? One community in rural Northern California decided a while back to erect the nation’s “tallest” flagpole as an economic development project. Grants were obtained and the pole went up. For a […]
Posted inWotr
We need a renewables roadmap
If anybody had any doubt that clean energy has arrived, President Obama’s speech to Congress Feb. 24 should dispel those concerns. Obama told Congress and the nation that clean energy, along with education and health care, are central to our economic revival. Obama recognized that if the United States can “harness the power of clean, […]
Posted inGoat
Endangered Species Act restored
Gray wolves and other endangered species will be happy about President Barack Obama’s decision on Tuesday to bring back the original rules of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In December 2008, as a parting gift, the Bush administration introduced rules to allow federal projects to bypass a mandatory review from either the U.S. Fish & […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Closing in
Western military bases are getting squeezed by sprawl
Posted inGoat
Requiem for a jaguar
On Feb. 20, we wrote that for the first time ever in the U.S., scientists had trapped a jaguar and fitted it with a radio tracking collar. Just 10 days later, though, the big cat was dead. Known as Macho B, he had prowled 500 square miles of the U.S.-Mexico border region for more than […]
Posted inGoat
Western water woes
A deal in the 1920s divided water rights amongst Western states. But back then, water conditions were more ideal. Now that we’re in somewhat of a prolonged drought, many water managers are warning that there may not be enough water to fulfill the Colorado River Compact. Matt Jenkins spun an excellent tale about the issue […]
Posted inGoat
A loss for Klamath dam and water deals
In a defeat for those organizations and interests which support proposed Klamath River Water and Dam Deals, the California Water Resources Board has rejected a request from energy giant PacifiCorp to once again delay consideration of the impacts PacifiCorp’s five Klamath River dams have on water quality. In a late February letter to “interested parties” […]
Posted inWotr
What Wallace Stegner knew
In a tribute celebrating the 100th birthday of Western writer Wallace Stegner, New York Times columnist Timothy Egan recently wrote that if Señor Stegner were here to blow out the candles on his cake, he would still be angry about the “East Coast Media Conspiracy.” The beloved author of Angle of Repose and The Big […]
Posted inGoat
Tell me sweet little lies…
Bottled water has always been an elaborate PR scam– both an invented necessity and a bizarre symbol of luxury. Nevertheless, I buy it sometimes, especially on long car trips. I don’t know why, but I usually pick Fiji. Maybe it’s the square shape and snazzy palm frond label. I have always known that I am being seduced by […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Welcome to the era of scarcity
I have a classic Western postcard tacked to the bulletin board above my computer. It shows two men in a field with shovels raised above their heads, locked in mock battle. Behind them runs an irrigation ditch. The headline reads: “Discussing Western Water Rights, A Western Pastime.” The postcard makes me laugh because I know […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Train in vain
Nowhere in “All Aboard” do I find concern about what increased rail will do to small rural communities like mine (HCN, 2/02/09). We are facing a proposed railroad yard, the ninth largest in the nation, smack across from a state park and a new affordable housing development, which will destroy the upper Santa Cruz Valley, […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Stewardship, not politics
My husband and I count ourselves among those “who care about the West,” and we are activists on behalf of the natural environment. This does not mean, however, that we stand at the political left; nor do we want to be bombarded with liberal bromides. Case in point: “Putting our house back in order” by […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Remembering Rocky Flats
Regarding your story “The Half-life of Memory,” I had the pleasure of serving on the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board (RFCAB), and in 2000 we had the chance to tour Building 771 (HCN, 2/16/09). The DOE considered 771 to be the most dangerous building in America. The opportunity to walk through a building that was […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Political Sabotage
Denver Johnston’s letter to the editor claims HCN failed to provide “diverging viewpoints” on the Bush administration in the Dec. 22 issue (HCN, 2/02/09). Unfortunately, the people of the Bush administration who concocted the present disaster did not do so from merely divergent viewpoints, inadequate facts or confused values. They worked diligently and deliberately to […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Of flotsam and jetsam
As poetry students at a California university, my friend Merie and I walked to class along the beach. We often paused to examine dead seagulls, whose glazed eyes and tar-matted feathers we described in our would-be avant-garde verse. Somehow we never questioned where the birds came from or even why they were dead. Twenty years […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Long day’s journey
Mr. Thompson’s “Editor’s Note” and Mr. Moore’s article “All Aboard” failed to mention a couple of key points about traveling on Amtrak (HCN, 2/02/09). Although Mr. Thompson and his family paid for berths when they took the train, most Americans who take Amtrak travel in coach class. With children’s tickets at half price, the journey […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Let Cody pay
Your story, “Political guns,” says: “The park bosses hope to make the Sylvan Pass mission safer by buying three new over-snow vehicles for rescues, ambulance and crew transport. They also want to install more concrete reinforcement for the howitzer position and a hut where rangers can huddle for warmth. But such safety measures could cost […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
HCN board meeting – in cyberspace
To save money during these rocky economic times, the High Country News board of directors held its first-ever board meeting via telephone and the Internet on Jan. 30. Not surprisingly, the meeting focused on HCN’s financial condition and what the organization is doing to survive in today’s down market. Before the holidays, a dip in […]