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High Country News

High Country News

A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.

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HCN has covered the lands, wildlife and communities of the Western U.S. for more than 50 years. Get to know the West better by signing up to receive HCN’s on-the-ground reporting and investigations in your inbox.

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Kate Schimel

Kate Schimel is High Country News’ news and investigations editor. She lives in Bozeman, Montana.

Posted inArticles

Small towns look for a road forward, paved with fiber-optic

by Kate Schimel April 4, 2018January 24, 2024

A group of New Mexico newsrooms examines the future of broadband access in rural communities.

Posted inArticles

West Obsessed: A resistance to oil and gas near Chaco Canyon

by Kate Schimel March 9, 2018January 24, 2024

Tribal nations act to prevent more industrial exploration on their ancestral lands.

Posted inArticles

West Obsessed: Rural discontent feeds the desire for a 51st state

by Kate Schimel February 2, 2018January 24, 2024

A discussion on the State of Jefferson, a California movement renewed under Trump.

Posted inArticles

Examining the disparity of urban and rural growth

by Kate Schimel January 21, 2018January 24, 2024

A new project taps into how rural Montana is grappling with its uncertain future.

Posted inArticles

Timeline: A brief history of the Sagebrush Rebellion

by Marshall Swearingen, Kate Schimel and Tay Wiles January 17, 2018January 24, 2024

An interactive, year-by-year look at the current insurgency.

Posted inArticles

West Obsessed: The Bundy trial looms in Las Vegas

by Kate Schimel October 20, 2017January 24, 2024

Editor Tay Wiles unpacks how the legal dispute embodies this political moment.

Posted inArticles

Seeking economic health for small towns

by Kate Schimel October 16, 2017January 24, 2024

A project looks at how communities are faring in rural New Mexico.

Posted inArticles

West Obsessed: Where climate adaptation is happening

by Kate Schimel October 6, 2017January 24, 2024

The president may think climate change is a hoax, but communities across the West are facing reality.

Posted inSeptember 4, 2017: The Elwha, Unleashed

After its dams came down, a river is reborn

by Kate Schimel September 4, 2017April 18, 2024

A look at the Elwha unleashed.

Posted inArticles

Details emerge on proposed monument cutbacks

by Kate Schimel and Rebecca Worby August 25, 2017January 24, 2024

Interior Secretary Zinke says he will recommend reductions to some monuments, but not eliminations.

Posted inArticles

West Obsessed: On finding our way in the Anthropocene

by Kate Schimel August 18, 2017January 24, 2024

How to confront hard truths about climate change and ecocide.

Posted inArticles

5 things to read about the Yellowstone grizzly delisting

by Kate Schimel June 22, 2017January 24, 2024

Trump’s Interior Department has announced the bear will no longer receive endangered species protection.

Posted inArticles

West Obsessed: The March for Science, out West

by Kate Schimel April 25, 2017January 24, 2024

After Earth Day, a look at researchers’ economic influence and political sway.

Posted inMarch 6, 2017: Uncomfortable Corners

The Yaak Valley’s ‘Dirty Shame’

by Kate Schimel March 6, 2017January 24, 2024

In the infamous Montana saloon, a lesson about home in harsh places.

Posted inArticles

Week in review: February 24

by Kate Schimel February 24, 2017January 23, 2024

The staff of High Country News shares what they’re reading on state land sales, private prisons and CPAC.

Posted inArticles

West Obsessed: How pain pills spread in one Colorado town

by Kate Schimel February 23, 2017January 24, 2024

The staff of High Country News discuss the cycle of addiction in the rural West.

Posted inFebruary 6, 2017: River of Healing

Latest: Future mining blocked around the Kalmiopsis

by Kate Schimel January 30, 2017January 24, 2024

The moratorium will extend for 20 years.

Posted inNovember 28, 2016: A Weird and Perfect Wilderness

How to love a weird and perfect wilderness

by Kate Schimel November 28, 2016January 24, 2024

A desolate Oregon landscape offers lessons on the modern wild.

Posted inArticles

How one tiny high school hacked Advanced Placement classes

by Kate Schimel and Leah Todd October 10, 2016January 24, 2024

Paonia High brings college-level coursework to rural students by partnering with its neighbors.

Posted inArticles

How the Keep it in the Ground movement came to be

by Kate Schimel July 19, 2016January 24, 2024

A look back at a decade of coverage of anti-fossil fuel protests.

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