When a worker died on the job, the company paid a $6,700 penalty, inciting new discussion on the issue.
Wyoming
Posted inArticles
Is Denver the Houston of the Rockies — again?
Even greenie hotspots get their economic mojo from fossil fuels.
Posted inArticles
Hurdles mount for Northwest coal exports
How high are the stakes for Western coal producers?
Posted inArticles
Want a trophy buck? Ditch the camo and get a guide
Study looks at successful types of big game hunters
Posted inGoat
‘Lucking out’ for Wyoming’s winter smog
Air quality gets a boost from the state’s infamous sagebrush and wind.
Posted inArticles
New BLM plan weighs sage grouse and oil in Wyoming
Governor Mead hopes the plan will keep the bird off the endangered species list.
Posted inGoat
Booms have a lasting impact on towns’ architectural fabric
On a trans-Wyoming reporting trip several years ago, I pulled off the interstate to check out the little town of Rawlins in the southern part of the state. I made my way past the industrial sprawl towards whatever kind of “downtown” I could find. When I finally arrived at the historic core, I was struck […]
Posted inMay 12, 2014: Parks for All?
Hunting for conservation dollars
State wildlife agencies struggle to broaden funding as their duties expand.
Posted inApril 28, 2014: Two-Wheel Revolution
Mulies on the move
Scientists discover a surprising migration in western Wyoming.
Posted inApril 14, 2014: A landscape of surprises
A brave and unusual conservationist turns 90
Ninety years ago, on April 12, 1924, Tom Bell was born in a house owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, in Winton, Wyo., a coal-mining camp. It was an inauspicious but appropriate beginning for the guy who would start both High Country News and Wyoming’s largest conservation group. Tom’s father, Lafe Bell, worked in the […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2014: The Hanford Whistleblowers
Rural Americans have inferior Internet access
Does it matter that broadband quality varies so widely?
Posted inDecember 23, 2013: Beauty or Beast
Coalbed methane bust leaves thousands of orphaned gas wells in Wyoming
And the state is starting to come to terms with an orphaned gas well problem.
Posted inGoat
Discovery: Good ol’ tallgrass was formed by good ol’ bacteria
It’s always tempting to reflect on how wonderful the West used to be. You know what I mean: Conservationists and Natives lament that the first invasions by white settlers wrecked everything, and ranchers and loggers long for a return to the era before 750-page environmental-impact statements. Who among us hasn’t conjured up wistful images of […]
Posted inNovember 25, 2013: Ecosystems 101
The Latest: Teton pronghorn migration helped by overpasses
BackstoryFor roughly 6,000 years, Wyoming pronghorn have migrated seasonally between the mountains of Grand Teton National Park and the warmer plains of the Upper Green River Basin. The roughly 100-mile journey is among the longest land migrations of North American mammals. But biologists worry that roadways and new energy and housing development threaten to fragment […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 2013: Intimate Geographies
What do you know?
Author Percival Everett defies categories and generalizations.
Posted inJune 10, 2013: Paradise at a Price
Conservation goals in Jackson Hole collide with a need for worker housing
Jackson, Wyoming As I roam around this resort town in April to meet conservationists who battle affordable housing projects, I’m struck by a tongue-in-cheek take on the argument in the Jackson Hole Daily. Smack on the front page is a photo of a pair of geese facing off against two ospreys over possession of a […]
Posted inJune 10, 2013: Paradise at a Price
Wyoming digs its 10 billionth ton of coal
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wyoming digs its 10 billionth ton of coal.
Posted inMay 13, 2013: Right-wing Migration
BLM teams with researchers to protect midget faded rattlesnake
Summer snake hunting in western Colorado is a race against the sun. The reptiles emerge early from their dens to soak up dawn’s dull warmth. But once the hillsides hum with heat, they’ll split for the shadows. “We better get going,” says biologist Josh Parker of Georgia’s Clayton State University when I meet his small […]
Posted inMay 13, 2013: Right-wing Migration
Other voices: the debate on wolf hunting from both sides
“Overall, they’re making it too easy to kill wolves. (It’s) persecution of wolves on a huge level. … I think we’re on the road to re-listing wolves in the Rocky Mountains.” — Marc Cooke, president of Wolves of the Rockies “The hunting has put such intense pressure on the packs, they’re dispersing, they’re disrupted; the […]
Posted inApril 29, 2013: A New Forest Paradigm
Trappers catch a lot more than wolves
As the feds handed management of gray wolves to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming over the last few years, reactions were mixed. Conservationists worried that wolf numbers would plummet, while hunters and trappers were thrilled they’d get to legally pursue the predators. All three states have hunting seasons now. Idaho started allowing wolf trapping last year; […]