High Country News is the nation's leading source of reporting on the Western United States. Through in-depth reporting, High Country News covers the West’s social, political and ecological issues.

High Country News

The road ahead

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS

LETTERS • High Country News is dedicated to independent journalism, informed debate and discourse in the public interest. We welcome letters through digital media and the post. Send us a letter, find us on social media, or email us at editor@hcn.org.

Vegas goes back to school • The casinos are open but school is at home, and the brunt is on parents.

Land-Grab Cornell

COVID-19 hits Oregon lottery sales — and native plants • When fewer people buy tickets, invasive gorse is the winner.

Fire models can’t keep up with climate change • Scientists search for new ways to predict Western blazes.

Mining a family history • Will new extraction in Arizona end up as the same old boom-and-bust story?

Boxing with ghosts • A Blackfeet father coaches women and girls on the reservation on self-defense, in the ring and outside of it.

The private puzzle piece • Connecting private and public parcels for wildlife.

Indigenous data sovereignty shakes up research • In the COVID-19 era, tribal nations want research that better serves their people.

The West: familiar and phenomenal • See winners from our annual photo contest.

HCN readers: Funding our work for 50 years • THANK YOU. Readers pay for about 75% of what it costs to produce High Country News. You can join our supporters here by donating $50 or more. Mail a check to P.O. Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428; call 800-905-1155; or contribute online at hcn.org/support.

High Country News in the ’80s

Reflecting on the 1980s

FOOD FORWARD • How a co-op of small farmers and ranchers is taking on industrial agriculture.

30 years later, the lessons of Redwood Summer • A summer of protest became a turning point in environmental activism.

The story of Jim Crow in California • A new history of the state traces early civil rights battles spearheaded by Black activists.

Two narratives, two homes • In Aphasia, the language of the internet mirrors one man’s divided life in California and Colombia.

Love is an act of resistance • Heid E. Erdrich’s new award-winning poetry collection, Little Big Bully, seeks resilience through human connection.

Hunting for myself • A stretch of high Montana sagebrush marks a hunter’s late coming-of-age.

Heard Around the West • Tips of Western oddities are appreciated and often shared in this column. Write betsym@hcn.org.

#IAM THE WEST • Juan Eduardo Morales Cazares Owner & Founder, Naughty Fruit Victor, Idaho