• Your Dashboard
  • Features
  • Public Lands
  • Indigenous Affairs
  • Water
  • Climate Change
  • Arts & Culture
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Donate Now
  • The Magazine
  • Jobs & Classifieds
    • Jobs & Classifieds
    • Place a Classified Ad
    • Display Ad Info
  • Your Dashboard
  • Features
  • Public Lands
  • Indigenous Affairs
  • Water
  • Climate Change
  • Arts & Culture
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Donate Now
  • The Magazine
  • Jobs & Classifieds
    • Jobs & Classifieds
    • Place a Classified Ad
    • Display Ad Info
Skip to content
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.

Support

Topic

Welcome to High Country News

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.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Read more Western reporting

Sign up to receive High Country News’ email newsletters and get on-the-ground reporting and investigations delivered to your inbox each week.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


  • A Civil Conversation
  • A legacy of harassment
  • Activism
  • Agriculture
  • Alaska
  • Alpine
  • Ammon Bundy
  • Analysis
  • April Fool’s
  • Archaeology
  • Archive
  • Arizona
  • Arts & Culture
  • Audio
  • Back40
  • Barack Obama
  • Bears
  • Bears Ears National Monument
  • Big Ideas Special Issue
  • Birds
  • Blog Post
  • Books
  • Books & Authors
  • Books & Essays
  • Borderlands
  • Bureau of Indian Affairs
  • Bureau of Land Management
  • Bureau of Reclamation
  • COVID19
  • California
  • Canada
  • Cities
  • Climate
  • Climate Change
  • Climate Desk
  • Cliven Bundy
  • Coal
  • Coast
  • Colorado
  • Colorado River
  • Columbia River
  • Communities
  • Confetti Westerns
  • Corruption
  • DC Dispatch
  • Dakota Access Pipeline
  • Dams
  • Danger
  • Dear Friends
  • Defuse the West
  • Department of Interior
  • Desert
  • Deserts
  • Donald Trump
  • Drought
  • Economy
  • Editor’s Note
  • Education
  • Election2014
  • Election2016
  • Election2018
  • Election2020
  • Election2022
  • En español
  • Endangered Species
  • Energy & Industry
  • Essays
  • Extremism
  • Features
  • Fish
  • Flooding
  • Food
  • Forests
  • Gas
  • Gen Z West
  • Gender
  • Glass Half Full
  • Growth & Sustainability
  • Guns
  • Hawaii
  • Heard Around the West
  • History
  • Housing
  • Humor
  • Hunting
  • Hydropower
  • Idaho
  • Immigration
  • Indian Country News
  • Indigenous Affairs
  • Infographic
  • Interview
  • Joe Biden
  • Justice
  • Klamath Basin
  • Labor
  • Land-grab universities
  • Landline
  • Latest
  • Latinos
  • Law
  • Law enforcement
  • Letter from California
  • Letter to the editor
  • Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
  • Marijuana
  • Media
  • Mexico
  • Military
  • Mining
  • Missouri River
  • Montana
  • Monuments
  • Mountain West
  • Multimedia
  • National Park Service
  • Natural Gas
  • Nevada
  • New Mexico
  • New Research
  • News
  • News in brief
  • Non-native Species
  • North Dakota
  • Northwest
  • Not on homepage
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Ocean
  • Oil
  • On the Road to 50
  • Opinion
  • Oregon
  • Outdoor Rec Special Issue
  • People & Places
  • Perspective
  • Philosophy
  • Photo Gallery
  • Photos
  • Plants
  • Poetry
  • Politics
  • Pollution
  • Prairies
  • Profiles
  • Public Lands
  • Public health
  • Race
  • Race & Racism
  • Ranch Diaries
  • Ranching
  • Range podcast
  • Rants from the Hill
  • Reckoning with History
  • Recreation
  • Renewable Energy
  • Rivers & Lakes
  • Sagebrush
  • Sagebrush Rebellion
  • Scientific Research
  • Small towns, big change
  • Social Justice
  • Solar Energy
  • Sounds of the High Country
  • Soundtable
  • South Dakota
  • Southwest
  • State Government
  • State of Change
  • Substance abuse
  • Technology
  • The Future
  • The Montana Gap
  • The seasons of Uŋalaqłiq
  • Timber
  • Tom Bell
  • Township and Range
  • TrailPosse
  • Transportation
  • Travel
  • Travel Issue
  • Tribes
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • U.S. Fish & Wildlife
  • U.S. Forest Service
  • Uncommon Westerner
  • Utah
  • Video
  • Waiting for Water
  • Washington
  • Water
  • Weather
  • Web Exclusive
  • Week in review
  • West Obsessed
  • West Obsessed Podcast
  • Western Explainers
  • Western Work
  • What Works
  • Wild Horses
  • Wild Science
  • Wilderness
  • Wildfire
  • Wildish
  • Wildlife
  • Wind Energy
  • Wolves
  • Worth of Water
  • Writers on the Range
  • Wyoming
  • Youth
  • iamthewest

Support nonprofit news

High Country News relies on donations as well as subscription fees to produce independent reporting on the West. Help continue the legacy of reader-supported journalism by making a tax-deductible contribution today.

Make a contribution

Find out more about how we use your contributions in our annual reports and filings.

Subscribe to High Country News

Get access to on-the-ground reporting from across the West and support continued coverage of our region.

Read more Western reporting

Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from High Country News for the best on-the-ground reporting from across the region.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Most popular stories

  • Bringing black abalone back from the brink
  • The Forest Service is cutting its seasonal workforce and public lands will suffer
  • Days before Trump took office, Interior approved oil and gas leases for land bought during 2019 public auction
  • Land-grab universities
  • The power of prescribed fire

Featured Stories

Urban wildfires shouldn’t surprise us

Urban wildfires shouldn’t surprise us

Los incendios urbanos no deberían sorprendernos

Los incendios urbanos no deberían sorprendernos

Days before Trump took office, Interior approved oil and gas leases for land bought during 2019 public auction

Days before Trump took office, Interior approved oil and gas leases for land bought during 2019 public auction

The West in Perspective

AI on public lands and Biden’s environmental legacy

by Jonathan Thompson

We must protect our sacred lands

by Clark Tenakhongva

Pay wildland firefighters a living wage

by Riley Yuan

About High Country News

  • Our history
  • How to support HCN
  • Submissions

Know the West.

Get 2 free issues ↓

119 Grand Avenue
PO Box 1090
Paonia, CO 81428
(970) 527-4898

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS Feed
  • Contact Us
  • About us
  • Careers
  • Pitch us a story
  • Fellowships
  • Education
  • Get email newsletters
  • Support our work
  • Advertise
  • Syndication
  • Subscriber services
Get 2 free issues ↓
Magazine cover: January 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst

Sign up for a free trial of High Country News. Learn what’s happening across the West today and see if becoming a subscriber is for you.

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

© 2025 High Country News. All rights reserved Powered by Newspack