Letter to the editor

I certainly agree with the article, “Forest Service might limit public comments,” (HCN, 7/22/19). It is not that they “might,” though, in my opinion, but that they will. I have made personal comments to the agency, and I can see how the U.S. Forest Service plans to remove opportunities for public comments by categorically excluding most […]

You’ve heard the old saying: “You can take the policy wonk out of D.C., but you can’t take the D.C. out of the policy wonk” — or something to that effect (“Critics wary of moving BLM,” HCN, 7/22/19). I find it pretty humorous, the recent administrative trend to move federal agencies out of Washington, D.C., […]

Crazy, heartbreaking investigation (“None of This Happened the Way You Think it Did,” HCN, 6/10/19). “No matter how much meaning their loved one’s body carried, someone else could have viewed it as a product, taken it apart, put it in a box and sold it.” Abbey GingrasSanta Fe, New Mexico This article appeared in the […]

To me, this story has zero contact with HCN’s mission. It is simply a local crime story. Dennis OlmstedMontrose, Colorado This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Losing Your Mission.

Thank you for reminding us that nature is for everyone (“Five reasons to keep geotagging,” HCN, 6/10/19). I put lots of hiking and nature photos on my Instagram account and recently have read a bit about whether to geotag or not. This brief piece in the magazine helped me make my decision. Hayley BredenDenver, Colorado […]

In the most recent issue of HCN, I read a blurb that claimed that an organization called the Melanin Base Camp was accusing the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics of racist “gatekeeping” and of perpetuating “purity tests” (“Five reasons to keep geotagging”). As one who began reading HCN in 1974 and who has […]

I lived in Roswell for 14 years, worked at the Roswell Museum and Art Center, and have a much less skewed view of Roswell than the authors of the article “Atomic Road Trip” (HCN, 5/13/19). The arts scene in Roswell is quite substantial, with four museums, active galleries, the New Mexico Military Institute and Bitter […]

Fine, fine, fine. I just subscribed to a couple years of the magazine, thanks to this story — largely because I should’ve done it a while ago and just never got around to it. Mark OlaldeWashington, D.C. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Sign me up.

It’s sad reading examples of religion bringing suffering to people’s lives (“The queer Mormon policy reversal is not enough,” HCN, 5/27/19). I was relieved near the end of the commentary to read that the author was no longer a practicing Mormon. Members of a church may think of themselves as devout and moral, but most […]

Interesting reaction to “The Atomic Road Trip” (Letters, HCN, 5/27/19). Don’t be so defensive. The essay focused on the sanitization of human history and the commercialization of most everything. The “Land of Enchantment” has everything to do with people. I love New Mexico. The best we can do is to be inconspicuous and unpretentious. Doug […]

I so enjoyed being introduced to the Nizhoni Girls’ music and story (“Nizhóní Girls,” HCN, 2/4/19). The decision by HCN to dive into a medium rarely seen in reporting made me think more deeply about what exactly journalism is, and why some forms might be unfairly thought of as less rigorous, less serious, or less […]

In 1971, we became irresponsible and emotional and legislated the National Wild-Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Wild horses and wild burros were made into political giants not to be managed carefully on public lands. The program was twofold: Leave horses and burros to graze feely on the public lands, and if the numbers increased […]

Thanks for putting “wild” in quotes in the article “Arizona’s Wild Horse Paradox” (HCN, 3/18/19). Could you either do that in the title next time, or better yet, refer to the animals as feral, which is what they actually are? Romanticizing them just makes them harder to manage. Cait RottlerEl Reno, Oklahoma This article appeared […]

Thank you for “On the Road to 50: A grand beginning,” (HCN, 5/13/19) and your reporting on the artificially regulated Colorado River and the conundrum surrounding Grand Canyon’s identity. When the Marble Canyon Dam project was canceled, the real trade-off was the Navajo Generating Station and the Black Mesa Mine. These provided the power necessary […]

As a longtime fan of High Country News, I have depended on HCN’s insightful and balanced journalism on Western U.S. issues for many years. So I am surprised by “The Atomic Road Trip” (HCN, 5/13/19), in which everyone and every place is guilty of one awful thing or another. The authors’ judgmental over-simplifications neglect a […]