I happen to live in a tiny Utah town, population approximately 175, with plenty of “move-ins.” I’ve yet to meet a “move-in” who wants to create massive changes there (HCN, 12/16/11 & 1/9/12, “Stranger in these parts”). In fact, the majority of them moved there precisely for what the place offers: community, beauty, and a […]
Letter to the editor
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
Captivity, clarified
We would like to provide a more thorough insight into our facility, the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, than was presented in “Possessing the Wild” (HCN, 11/14/11). The author’s description of our tour guides “tossing treats into wolves’ enclosures to hear their jaws snap shut” was a misinterpretation. We do not put our animals on […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
The suburban squeeze
I find the perilous journey across Wyoming’s energy fields to be far less harmful to the well-being of pronghorns than the rampant development along Colorado’s Front Range and elimination of their habitat entirely (HCN, 12/12/11 & 1/9/12, “Perilous Passages”). Try finding a pronghorn anywhere south and west of Greeley, in a huge range that they […]
Posted inFebruary 6, 2012: Can evolution help snowshoe hares adapt to climate change?
Viva la revolución!
I read with interest “Growing a Revolution” in the Nov. 28 issue by Jennifer Langston. While that approach certainly has great merit, there are other approaches to getting local food to local neighborhoods that can be equally successful. I am on the board of trustees of St. Luke’s Health Initiatives in Phoenix, and we have […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2012: Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote
Huntsman: not worthy
Obama should ditch Vice President Joe Biden for Jon Huntsman in the 2012 presidential campaign? It is hard to believe that High Country News would suggest such a move (HCN, 12/26/11 & 1/09/12, “A Westerner for the White House”). First of all, Huntsman resigned as ambassador to China to run against the president who appointed […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2012: Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote
Move over, Ed Abbey
Craig Childs is a treasure, and his essay in the last issue is but another jewel (HCN, 12/26/11 & 1/09/12, “Stranger in these parts”). I have been enjoying his words for a decade and have now come to realize that he is my favorite Southwestern writer since Ed Abbey. I think that Ed, whom I […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2012: Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote
No more stopgap solutions
The dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency and Mora Mutual Domestic Water and Sewer Association brings to the fore an issue that plagues many poor rural communities (HCN, 12/12/11, “Clean Water Conundrum”). Both septic systems and treatment plants distract from the real issue of human waste removal at the point of disposal — the household. […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2012: Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote
Small dairies raise big questions
In the article “Milk and Water Don’t Mix” by Stephanie Paige Ogburn (HCN, 11/28/11), the dairy industry was made out to be the bad guy, which it is in its present form as a huge, polluting concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO. But a combination of trends has created a monster from what used to […]
Posted inJanuary 23, 2012: Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote
What the flock?
I just finished reading HCN’s Dec. 12th issue, and discovered, on the back page, within Betsy Marston’s letter-perfect column no less, the unexpected: an aggregation of sheep referred to as a “herd.” “Holy sufferin’ sheep dip,” I blurted. “How can it be?” But then as I backtracked through the same report, I discovered that I’d […]
Posted inDecember 26, 2011: Perilous Passages
Is Colorado Springs the new Babylon?
“Is Phoenix the new Babylon?” resonates in Colorado Springs (HCN, 11/28/11). Colorado Springs Utilities, a city-owned full-service utility — gas, sewer, electricity and water — has committed $2.1 billion to build a pipeline to bring water to the city from Pueblo Reservoir, a project known as the Southern Delivery System. That amount does not include […]
Posted inDecember 26, 2011: Perilous Passages
Cream of the crop
“Milk and Water Don’t Mix,” was wonderfully interesting (HCN, 11/28/11). I was especially impressed when writer Stephanie Paige Ogburn mentioned the origin of feedlot dairying by Dutch immigrants in southern L.A. County, its subsequent shift to Chino in San Bernardino County, and more recently to the Bakersfield area. I didn’t think many people who didn’t […]
Posted inDecember 26, 2011: Perilous Passages
Lessons from Laos
I’ve been reading back issues of HCN while living and working in Vientiane, Laos. As a native Coloradan, outdoor enthusiast, and anti-corporate child of hippies, I tend to oppose commercial development of public lands and natural resources. However, on a small point, I found myself agreeing with the mining representative in “Hardrock Showdown” (HCN, 11/22/10). […]
Posted inDecember 26, 2011: Perilous Passages
Of (captive) wolves and men
“Possessing the Wild” illustrated two truths: First, the birth of any wolf into captivity is a tragedy (HCN, 11/14/11). Despite their close genetic relationship to dogs, wolves are not suited to living with people. Second, there is no universal captive wolf or wolf-dog experience. The vast majority of animals do not live in the facilities […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2011: Out on a limb
Bearly hanging on in the North Cascades
The following two comments were posted at hcn.org in response to Nathan Rice’s feature story, “The Forgotten Grizzlies” (HCN, 11/14/11). “The forgotten grizzlies” seems to suggest two things: (1) More research would somehow improve the chance for the grizzly bear to come in to the North Cascades. (2) More money would somehow allow the introduction […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2011: Out on a limb
In appreciation of simplicity
What could be better than harvesting your own wild game without consuming gas by the minute and purchasing hundreds of dollars worth of gadgets to augment the “hunting experience” (HCN, 11/14/11, “Food and friendship, fossil-fuel free”)? Keep it simple. It helps that Nadia and Andrew live practically in the lap of a game reserve. But […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2011: Out on a limb
Mountain bikes are vehicles, too
Mountain bikes are vehicles, and like all vehicle access, Nadia White and her partner got into a landscape they probably wouldn’t have if they had to walk (HCN, 11/14/11, “Food and friendship, fossil-fuel free”). That’s what happens when someone uses mechanical advantage to further access, and like all motorized and mechanical access, it degrades the […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2011: Out on a limb
Polluted air, coming soon to Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park is next in line for hazy, polluted air (HCN, 11/14/11, “Out of the haze”). Oil and gas development along Glacier’s eastern border with the Blackfeet Reservation is increasing drastically. Nearly all of the Blackfeet land is leased to oil and gas companies. Park officials and Superintendent Chas Cartwright are concerned with potential […]
Posted inDecember 12, 2011: Out on a limb
The trouble with transmission
New transmission lines are just another way to steal natural resources from low-population states (HCN, 11/14/11, “A transmission transformation”). The residents of these states have to live with the infrastructure required to create and transmit energy — whether it’s generated by coal, solar or wind – but we only see the returns during the initial […]
Posted inNovember 28, 2011: Growing a Revolution
Western Watersheds’ collateral damage
You presented Laird Lucas as a dedicated and talented environmental lawyer fighting big corporations and corrupt government (HCN, 10/31/11, “The people v. the agency”). That makes his close association with Western Watersheds Project (WWP) puzzling. For 10 years, I have volunteered to represent environmental ethics on a cooperative management team for a family-owned and -operated […]
Posted inNovember 28, 2011: Growing a Revolution
Beware the leftward tilt
I really like your stories of people coming together to solve gnarly problems, and exposés of environmental abuses. But your uber-liberal ideology is extremely irritating, as in Ray Ring’s article, “Citizen democracy staggers onward” (HCN, 10/31/11). I give Ring credit for quoting a source who even-handedly criticizes big business and big labor unions for corrupting […]