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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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Multimedia

Posted inArticles

The importance of ‘Being Caribou’

by Sarah Gilman January 29, 2025January 30, 2025

Remembering the activist and author Karsten Heuer.

Posted inArticles

Culture that impacted our sense of the West

by HCN staff December 30, 2024December 26, 2024

Some books, happenings and other cultural endeavors that helped expand our sense of place in 2024.

Salmon swim up a small creek above where a dam once stood.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations

After the Klamath River dams came down, salmon came back

by Juliet Grable November 29, 2024December 2, 2024

What it’s like to witness the first run of fish above the removed dams in over a century.

Posted inArticles

What Nevada’s Culinary Union wants this presidential election

by High Country News and Quiet Pictures October 28, 2024October 28, 2024

La Culinaria, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers in the battleground state, faces a high stakes election year.

Posted inArticles

A lens on the Latino vote in Yakima, Washington

by High Country News and Quiet Pictures October 25, 2024November 12, 2024

Organizers work to get out the vote within the diverse Latino population in the Yakima Valley.

Posted inArticles

Audio: What do we really learn from trail cams?

by Ruxandra Guidi September 27, 2024September 30, 2024

Documenting wildlife can bring us back to nature.

Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations

‘Rez Ball’ is no easy feat, but Indigenous communities win in the end

by Jason Asenap September 25, 2024November 22, 2024

The latest Indigenous Netflix film shows the challenges of Native life through the culture of rez ball.

Posted inArticles

Reservation Dogs is finally up for the recognition it deserves

by Jason Asenap September 11, 2024October 25, 2024

Producer and writer, Migizi Pensoneau, ‘brings the realness’ to Emmy voters.

Posted inArticles

Audio: What’s so funny about climate change?

by Ruxandra Guidi July 26, 2024August 8, 2024

Resorting to absurdity can make people care.

Posted inArticles

Audio: Undoing the dams

by Ruxandra Guidi June 19, 2024August 8, 2024

Bringing flow back to Western waterways.

Wupatki Pueblo in Northern Arizona.
Posted inArticles

Audio: Listen to the Earth breathing

by Ruxandra Guidi March 18, 2024March 15, 2024

Blowholes are more common than you think.

Benny (Keir Tallman) in “Frybread Face and Me.”
Posted inArticles

‘Frybread Face and Me’ shows the complexity of Indigeneity

by Jason Asenap December 19, 2023February 6, 2024

Billy Luther’s new coming-of-age film shows characters grappling with city life juxtaposed against the reservation.

Bass Reeves, the first Black man to serve as a U.S. deputy marshall west of the Mississippi River.
Posted inArticles

The era of the Black Western has arrived. Is it here to stay?

by Alaina E. Roberts November 10, 2023January 31, 2024

The miniseries, ‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves,’ doesn’t fully live up to its potential to showcase a multifaceted Black identity.

Freeskier Lily Bradley in the new ski film, “People Like Us.”
Posted inArticles

Pro skier Lily Bradley disrupts mountain culture in new queer ski film

by Ollie Hancock November 2, 2023January 31, 2024

In ‘People Like Us,’ LGBTQ+ skiers take center stage.

“One of the biggest things for me was that I wanted to be able to highlight the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman because it’s one of the very important stories related to buffalo,” said Two Bulls.
Posted inArticles

The new film ‘Tatanka’ and the many narratives of the buffalo

by Taylar Dawn Stagner October 30, 2023January 24, 2024

Oglala Lakota Richard Two Bulls discusses his new project, which documents the restoration of the buffalo and the revival of a language.

Posted inArticles

Dispatch from the scaffolds: Native fishing culture on the Columbia River

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster May 8, 2023March 6, 2024

An Indigenous fisherman describes how to hook a salmon, the meaning of life and his faithful dog Sturg.

Young college dropout, Xochitl (Ariela Barer), who lost her mother in a heatwave. The film stands firm in its sympathetic framing of the actions of the group, but it is also a revenge movie.
Posted inArticles

A climate heist and revenge movie

by Taylar Dawn Stagner April 28, 2023January 24, 2024

‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ stands firm in its sympathetic framing of its protagonists, and then asks you to evaluate yourself.

Behind the scenes of filming “How to Blow Up a Pipeline.”
Posted inArticles

Fossil-fuel sabotage comes to Hollywood

by Kate Schimel April 24, 2023January 24, 2024

The director of ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ discusses the value of popular media for environmental ends and whether destroying pipelines is an act of self-defense.

“The American Buffalo” cinematographer Buddy Squires at Conata Ranches in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Posted inArticles

Ken Burns on ‘The American Buffalo’ and Indigenous histories

by Nick Martin April 21, 2023January 24, 2024

The prolific filmmaker discusses his latest project and his attempt to make space for Indigenous voices.

Posted inFebruary 1, 2023: The Reveal

A Los Angeles exhibit reverse-engineers Joan Didion’s writing

by Evelyn McDonnell January 20, 2023January 24, 2024

‘What She Means’ attempts to re-create the Western writer’s world.

Posts pagination

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