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High Country News

High Country News

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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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Heather Hansman

Posted inArticles

The radical act of sharing Native literature

by Heather Hansman December 18, 2024December 18, 2024

NDN Girls Books Club is more than a big pink truck full of free books.

Posted inArticles

How growing Western rec towns might hold onto their futures

by Heather Hansman June 28, 2022January 24, 2024

Researchers look to give small tourism communities the tools for a GNARly approach.

Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door

The winnowing of winter

by Heather Hansman November 1, 2021January 24, 2024

As the climate crisis worsens, what will happen to snow?

Posted inMay 13, 2019: Atomic Tourists

Should we be thinking about last ascents, instead of first ones?

by Heather Hansman May 13, 2019January 24, 2024

Mountaineers confront disappearing glaciers.

Posted inDecember 10, 2018: Critical Mass

There’s no easy fix for our nuclear past

by Heather Hansman December 10, 2018January 24, 2024

At Washington’s Hanford nuclear site, failing infrastructure and make-do plans as the West prepares for a new round of radioactivity.

Posted inNovember 12, 2018: Old Wests, and new

A push for inclusivity in Seattle’s book publishing scene

by Heather Hansman November 12, 2018January 24, 2024

‘The books are only as valuable as the community around them.’

Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective

A map of language charted by Navajo philosophy

by Heather Hansman November 13, 2017January 26, 2024

Esther Belin is trying to shape a uniquely Navajo way of writing.

Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know

How not to forget the West’s past atrocities

by Jonathan Thompson, Glenn Nelson, Joshua Zaffos and Heather Hansman March 7, 2016January 24, 2024

The national park system does more than celebrate beauty. It also commemorates the ugliest parts of our past.

Posted inArticles

Among those who fish the polluted Duwamish, a divide between haves and have-nots

by Heather Hansman November 11, 2015January 24, 2024

We pull off the highway into a gritty-looking industrial park less than 100 yards from the road and snap our rods together. It’s just a few steps down the banks to this Seattle river where we can see the silver bellies of the pink salmon flipping in the current, slinging themselves upstream. We tie lures […]

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