AMERICAN BIKERS, IRISH DOGS, BRITISH WALKERS Jay Bagley came to town for the “Top of the Rockies” BMW motorcycle rally, held in Paonia every year. Jay says he’s fallen in love with this part of Colorado and might move here from Sacramento, Calif., where he works in Medicaid fraud reduction. Another biker, Vern Holm of […]
Colorado
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Dear friends
PARTY WITH HCN AND REP. MARK UDALL If you happen to be in western Colorado Thursday, Aug. 23, please join us for an HCN summer celebration. Our special guest will be Colorado Democratic Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall, who will discuss the key issues facing the region and Congress’ role in addressing them. […]
Posted inArticles
Love for the clay-loving buckwheat
By 8 a.m., the July day felt like a scorcher. Waves of heat rippled along the western Colorado adobe hills, shriveling plants and baking the soil to a fractured crust that crunched with every step. Two white tents peeking from between golden hills could have been a mirage, if it weren’t for the sizzle of […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
Dear friends
SUMMER BREAK As we do every June and December, we’ll be skipping an issue. Our staff plans to spend the last two weeks of June catching up on the long-term projects that we never quite find time for, enjoying family and friends, and battling the bindweed that’s overtaken our gardens. Look for the next HCN […]
Posted inJune 11, 2007: Brave New Hay
Dear friends
WELCOME, NEW HCN EMPLOYEES Shaun Gibson, HCN’s new designer and production assistant, designs pages and promotional materials, finds photos and artwork, and helps post each issue on the Web. Shaun has spent most of his life in small towns in Colorado. His great-grandfather was a miner in Crested Butte, and his grandfather was one of […]
Posted inMay 28, 2007: Problems In Paradise
Dear friends
WELCOME, HCN SUMMER INTERNS After a degree in zoology from the University of Washington and three years at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Morgan Heim wanted a change. It’s not that Morgan, who grew up catching snakes and crabs in Virginia Beach, didn’t love following salmon or studying orcas. But ultimately the relentless single-mindedness […]
Posted inMay 28, 2007: Problems In Paradise
Heard Around the West
MONTANA Blame YouTube, the Internet source for stupid and hilarious videos, for delaying Montana’s Legislature and governor from finishing a state budget. Negotiations stalled for two days while more than 17,000 people went to YouTube to view a red-faced rant by Republican House Majority Leader Michael Lange. Leaving an unproductive budget meeting with Democratic Gov. […]
Posted inMay 28, 2007: Problems In Paradise
Of feral dogs, and feral Westerners
Feral dogs are more common in the rural West than bathtub methamphetamine labs or chainsaw carvers. They roam dumps, harass and attack wildlife and livestock, and, I know from painful experience, they lie in wait on two-lane roads to discipline bicyclists. “Rez” dogs may be famous for scavenging in roadside ditches outside Tuba City, Ariz., […]
Posted inMay 14, 2007: Two Views of the Verde
Dear friends
PARTY IN PAONIA You’re invited to a High Country News potluck party for readers, board members and staff. As a special treat, some of our former interns will also be in town for the first-ever HCN intern reunion. Join us on Saturday, June 9, 6 p.m., at the town park in Paonia, Colo. Please bring […]
Posted inApril 30, 2007: Rural Education 2.0
Heard around the West
COLORADO A ski instructor at Powderhorn Ski Resort near Grand Junction, Colo., was riding a lift some 30 feet above the Red Eye trail when he looked down and saw a wide-awake black bear. It was standing at the mouth of a cave no longer blocked by snow. Rick Rodd took a quick photo, but […]
Posted inApril 30, 2007: Rural Education 2.0
Rural Education 2.0
SPRINGFIELD, COLO. — The man in the Sodbuster Bar walks with a slight limp, the result of old injury. “I was operating a seismograph rig when it went off a hillside outside Meteetsee, Wyo.,” he said. “It fell 382 feet with me inside. I wasn’t supposed to make it, but I did. I eventually got […]
Posted inApril 30, 2007: Rural Education 2.0
Dear friends
VISITORS It’s not often that we get an international visitor. A journalist from Tokyo, Japan, dropped by in late March. Takashi Kikuchi, who writes for Festival magazine, was in western Colorado to cover The String Cheese Incident, a bluegrass/calypso/funk jam band from Boulder, Colo., that has toured in Japan. Takashi came to Paonia to see […]
Posted inApril 16, 2007: Phoenix Falling?
Dear Friends
THERE’S LIFE AFTER HIGH COUNTRY NEWS We’ve recently gotten exciting news from some former HCN interns. Patrick Farrell (summer 2005) just landed a job as a video journalist at the New York Times. Katie Fesus(fall 1996) now teaches English at Lake Tahoe’s Sierra Nevada College and directs ARC (Adventure, Risk, Challenge), an outdoor adventure and […]
Posted inApril 2, 2007: Disposable Workers of the Oil and Gas Fields
Harvesting the sky
Thirsty Santa Fe catches on to catching rainwater
Posted inApril 2, 2007: Disposable Workers of the Oil and Gas Fields
Dear friends
VISITOR, SINGULAR Spring is coming to our valley, but visitors are still far and few between. Wilf Bruschke of nearby Montrose, Colo., came by recently to check us out and start a new subscription. BURY ME GREEN Singer/songwriter John Winn of Grand Junction, Colo., tells us his latest CD, Wild Stallion, contains a song titled […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Dear friends
VISITORS Denis Brunke, a longtime subscriber from Logan, Utah, stopped in to say hello. He was taking the scenic route back home after visiting a friend in nearby Snowmass. An HCN reader since the days of Tom Bell, Connie Brown of Lander, Wyo., visited us. She was in the area to study yoga with teacher […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
Don’t send a check, send yourself
When I first visited “Carnage Canyon” in the 1970s, it was clear to me how it got its name. The place was a mess. It had become a racetrack for racing bikes and motorcycles that zipped up and down the sides of the canyon. A few years later, people dragged in old refrigerators, cars and […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
We’re Honored
High Country News Northern Rockies Editor Ray Ring has won the 2006 George Polk Award for Political Reporting for his story, “Taking Liberties,” an in-depth look at a secretive libertarian campaign to cripple land-use planning in six Western states. One of the most prestigious prizes in American journalism, the Polk Award was established at Long […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 2007: One nation, under fire
Dear friends
VISITORS Richard Heede stopped by in early January to fill us in on his Snowmass company, Climate Mitigation Services, which can pinpoint a particular company’s contribution to climate change. In 2003, Heede completed an inventory of ExxonMobil’s emissions between 1882 and 2002. Now he’s expanding the study to the world’s 85 top corporate greenhouse gas […]