The Magazine

Strangers in a strange land: the HCN annual travel issue.
Cover image: A giant aluminum alien stands outside the Alien Research Center along Nevada’s Extraterrestrial Highway, by Finnish tourist Teemu Tuuloskorpi.

Lessons from the fossil fuel boom and bust in New Mexico, rock snot stream ecology, water delivery in rural Navajo communities and more.

Profile of the former Las Vegas water czar Pat Mulroy, solutions to rampant dust in Owen’s River Valley, community solar comes of age in the West, and more.

A long-standing dispute in Utah’s Escalante watershed comes to a head, wastewater spills in North Dakota oilfields, a statistician looks at the future of the shale oil boom, and more.

Public land access problems frustrate hikers and hunters; why greens are mad at the California governor; how balanced rocks can help us predict earthquake risk; explorations in an urban wilderness.

A High Country News special issue on the future of environmental ideas.

New research from dust experts, non-native goats in the La Sal Mountains, new drone laws, Navajo Nation presidential election and more.

A massive compromise to save Columbia Basin salmon, Gunnison sage grouse gets protection, pet tortoises still threaten wild ones, and a fresh look at wolves’ impacts on Yellowstone.

How light rail could transform Phoenix, the man who invented floating island to revive an ecosystem, and the tough questions that crude-filled trains raise in the Pacific Northwest.

Timberland herbicide spraying sickens a community in Oregon, a look at why the current drilling boom is more sensitive to price fluctuations than its predecessors, California’s sweeping new groundwater regulations, a desert-friendly cow and more.

An HCN investigation into violent threats to public-land employees, analysis of the newest movement to return public land management to state government, highlights of the upcoming midterm elections and more.

A profile of the late Charles Bowden, the Southwest’s strongest voice. Plus, utilities experiment with real-time response in the Pacific Northwest, and an obsessive flash flood chaser improves forecasting in Utah.

Our annual Books & Essays special issue is out, packed with feature essays, author profiles, new books and a fall reading list.

The Forest Service struggles with its biggest restoration project yet, fireflies are rediscovered in Utah, California drought and more.

Climate change threatens food security in parts of Alaska, Colorado’s fracking fight, prickly pears are farmed in California, a coal mine expansion is halted in a surprising climate court case, and more.

The Snake River is used as a sewer system for Big Ag in Idaho, temperature predictions for Western cities in 2100, women in the legislature and potential protection for wolverines in an era of climate change.

Reflections on wilderness at 50, Craig Childs riding with motorheads in Utah, and what a historic moment for the Clean Air Act means for climate.

A close look at Seattle’s embattled Duwamish Waterway and the superfund cleanup that has the chance to bring it back to life, tribes get in the payday lending game, divers explore underwater national park treasures, and more.

National security runs roughshod over the Arizona desert, a radioactive leak in New Mexico makes the future of nuclear waste disposal even more elusive, wolverines, brine shrimp, and more.

A liberal gun owner finds ‘gun nuts’ on both sides of the debate, an excerpt from Julene Bair’s book ‘The Ogallala Road,’ state and federal agencies feud over predator control in Alaska, California’s water crisis, and more.