How is it that, in a region where we allocate and litigate many rivers down to their last drops, others are entirely forgotten? In this episode of West of 100, we explore waterways in Los Angeles and Tucson that have fallen into obscurity, despite the fact that they’re largely responsible for those cities existing where […]
Multimedia
Rantcast: The leprechaun trap
In April’s Rantcast, also available in written form at our community blog, the Range, Mike mistakenly thinks a garden gnome is a good Mother’s Day gift, and then creates an elaborate leprechaun trap with his two daughters. If you like this podcast, you might also enjoy West of 100, our mid-month podcast covering nature and […]
The sound of silence
There are few places left in the world where you can experience the sounds of nature uninterrupted by planes, cars, off-road vehicles. Scientists are now working to quantify the impact of all that noise on the natural world, and to monitor how soundscapes — the collection of sounds in a landscape made by critters, wind, […]
A former Green Mountain fire lookout tells his story
“Lightbulb” Winders recounts his experiences as the last lookout on Green Mountain, in the Glacier Peak Wilderness near Darrington, Washington.
A Texas town welcomes dairies; a New Mexico activist fights them
Stephanie Paige Ogburn interviews an activist in New Mexico who worked with the state to regulate pollution from groundwater, then speaks with an economic development director in Muleshoe, Texas — just across the border — who has actively recruited dairies to her town.
Mary Clearman Blew reads from her book, This is Not the Ivy League
The author reads part of the prologue to This is Not the Ivy League.
A day among junk connoisseurs
San Juan County, N.M., is dry and scrubby, dotted with pump jacks, two coal-fired power plants and an oil refinery. Energy may be the area’s mainstay, but underlying this economy, is another informal one based on the selling and trading of old car parts. The county is a haven for junk cars – and for […]
Global Players in the West’s Extraction Economy
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A right to be protected: Gary Marbut’s case for gun rights
This video was produced in association with the University of Montana School of Journalism.
The growth of newspapers across the U.S.: 1690-2011
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Abrahm Lustgarten on fracking
Since 2008, Abrahm Lustgarten has reported for ProPublica on the environmental threats posed by gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in communities nationwide. He won the George Polk Award for his coverage in 2010, one of the most prestigious prizes in environmental journalism. In this episode of High Country Views, Cally Carswell talks with Lustgarten about […]
An interview with Carter Niemeyer, author of “Wolfer: A Memoir”
Carter Niemeyer is a wildlife biologist who started his career doing predator control and ended it working on wolf recovery in the northern Rockies. His new book, Wolfer: A Memoir, chronicles his years capturing, tracking, relocating and killing wolves for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Idaho Department of Game. The gray wolf’s […]
The Garrison Dam: a history
Author Paul VanDevelder, who penned the book Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes, and the Trial that Forged a Nation, a history of the three tribes flooded by the Garrison Dam, speaks on the U.S. government’s plan to dam the Missouri River and flood native lands. VanDevelder is also the author of Savages and Scoundrels: […]
Explorer’s notebook: Craig Childs on the Lower San Juan
Craig Childs reads from his journal and narrates his paddle down the Lower San Juan River, with photos and video he took on the trip. Additional photography courtesy of andrew davidoff, Alaskan Dude, and kla4067. Licensed under Creative Commons. Canyon treefrog recording copyright Jeff Rice and the Western Soundscape Archive.
