Letter to the editor

As a nursing home administrator in Washington state, licensed since 1979 and concerned about the condition of and the political fronts that public health has weathered and is now facing, I read Jane C. Hu’s article with interest (“The Public Health Officer Emergency,” October 2021). The political infusion of right-wing folks who are abandoning science […]

I understand and applaud HCN’s effort to give Indigenous peoples a strong platform to express their views. You have had many fantastic interviews with Indigenous scientists that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading. However, the rant by Nick Martin regarding the White Sands footprint discovery was totally off-base. Oral history, while possibly suggestive of actual past […]

Thank you to Paige Blankenbuehler for her recent article concerning wolf dispersal and Wyoming’s Green River corridor (“A Hostile Country,” October 2021). One passage I found particularly disturbing for its hypocrisy was the characterization of wolves as “vicious” and killing for fun. Although I am no expert in wolf behavior, the idea that they kill […]

Big cheers for Michael Parks, HCN and the passionate Westerners who are working hard to remove the barriers to wildlife (“Behind the wire with a fence ecologist,” October 2021). I am really excited to see a hopeful tale of desperately needed action to give wildlife back their land. If this is the beginning of a greater […]

HCN readers are missing out if they have not yet seen editorial intern B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster’s delightful video summaries of new articles each Friday (“Halito from High Country News”). But “summary” is a poor descriptor because what Oaster is really crafting are invitations that engage though clarity, wonder and wit. The Oct. 1 episode was […]

“Making a Home of It” in the October High Country News was sad and frightening on several levels. Our public lands are not a solution for “homeless” people or those who don’t follow the rules. These are problems the U.S. Congress and the states must fix by requiring the wealthy to pay for decent affordable housing […]

For my 85 years of avid reading, I don’t believe that I’ve ever read anything that I have enjoyed so much as “A Hostile Country.” The female wolf’s trek was fascinating — not really a happy ending, but so entertaining. Thank you so much. Joan HamburgerTucson, Arizona This article appeared in the print edition of […]

Your impressively thorough article, “The Public Health Officer Emergency” (October 2021), was distressing. The defiant attitudes and mean-spirited tactics of the vociferous opponents of professional medical guidance concerning the COVID-19 epidemic are chilling. They apparently do not care about protection of their fellow citizens, their own personal vulnerability or the tragic impacts on overwhelmed medical […]

I enjoyed reading Jason Asenap’s essay regarding the present state of Native filmmaking and production (“The time of the Indigenous critic has arrived,” October 2021). He landed on some critical points, especially concerning the Indigenous filmmakers and artists working in a predominantly and historically white-run business. Those lines are now being blurred. Just as Asenap has written, learning to live […]

Very well done! Many thanks (“A Hostile Country,” September 2021). Before your description, I was not fully aware of the obstacles wolves encounter heading south from Wyoming. It explains why there have been so few in Colorado. In contrast, they have done well west of the Yellowstone/ Wyoming/Idaho area where they were reintroduced back in […]

Great story on accessory dwelling units, or ADUs (“Casitas against displacement,” August 2021). You covered different approaches and dug into the up- and downsides. Not saying that’s unusual for HCN, but just wanted to pass on my compliments. Jim Hight Buena Vista, Colorado This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the […]

I was pleased to see “Derailed,” the piece on the Yamhelas Trail project (July 2021). Leah Sottile did a very nice job on the whole sad, sordid mess. It is mind-boggling how such a positive project, popular (except for a select few), could get derailed (pun intended) by said select few. What is all the […]

Anna V. Smith’s report on the Klamath River fish kill in the July edition (“Ongoing fish kill on the Klamath River is an ‘absolute worst-case scenario,’” July 2021) mentions the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, which failed to pass Congress. The report failed to note that, if it had become law, it would have locked in […]

Before reading Maggie Doherty’s review (“The making of our greater selves,” September 2021), I had just been listening to a podcast called Telling Our Twisted Histories. The show, hosted by Kaniehtiio Horn (Mohawk), seeks to “decolonize our minds” by setting the record straight about Indigenous history, culture and thought. I haven’t read Douglas Chadwick’s Four […]

Thank you for vindicating my suspicions that deer read the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (“Rewilding is a two-way street,” July 29, 2021). Will re-up my subscription. Wendy WolfsonIrvine, Colorado This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Rewilding is a two-way street.

Killing the land, pumping the aquifers dry, disturbing the entire ecosystem … for what?  Maybe 25 years before it is abandoned because there is nothing left!?  This was the most depressing and disturbing article (“Sucked Dry,” August 2021); it was all I could do to finish it. We will end up destroying ourselves, guaranteeing we will […]

Thank you for the August article about the mega-dairy coming to Arizona and its impact on our water supply. This installation is representative of the larger problem of corporate agricultural interests exporting our resources. The political powers are reluctant to do anything about it because the industry promises jobs and revenues. It can’t go on […]

“Sucked Dry” provides an important and powerful look at the mega-dairy industry. The repeated disregard by Riverview LLP for people, water and climate is telling. The company is destroying water supplies across the states it operates in, leaving thousands of people with dry wells. The carbon and methane emissions from these mega-dairies is, arguably, immoral, […]

HCN’s writers frequently pound on “mega corporations,” perhaps because its audience, over time, has self-selected to people who like that sort of thing. The concerns about water use are legitimate, but corporate farms do not emit, overall, more pollution than the aggregate of family farms. They may produce more waste in fewer locations, but smaller farms, […]

Sadly, removal of Washington’s Gorge Dam will not slow, let alone reverse, the declining native salmon populations that once thrived in the magnificent 160-plus-mile Skagit-Cascade-Sauk-Suiattle Wild and Scenic River System (“Reassessing the dams,” August 2021). It’s true that “the licensing process has triggered different conversations on the Skagit’s future.” Unfortunately, the author focused on a tiny, […]