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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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Taylar Dawn Stagner

Taylar Dawn Stagner is an Arapaho and Shoshone writer and artist living in rural Wyoming. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, she has written for National Public Radio, Grist and High Country News.

Danica Nava with her new book, "The Truth According to Ember."
Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods

Indigenous people deserve gushy romance novels

by Taylar Dawn Stagner July 31, 2024July 31, 2024

‘The Truth According to Ember’ is a summer rom-com about Native people learning to be their authentic selves.

Posted inArticles

Tribes turn to the U.N. for help intervening in gigantic Arizona wind project

by Taylar Dawn Stagner April 23, 2024August 8, 2024

The SunZia transmission line will cut through Indigenous lands in the Southwest.

“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 inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water

Let’s talk about Indian romance novels

by Taylar Dawn Stagner July 1, 2023January 24, 2024

If you’ve ever gawked in disbelief at a hunky white man in redface, this one’s for you.

Blackfeet tribal members Wyett Wippert and Christen Falcon stretch a bison hide on a handmade wooden frame, the first step in tanning it, at their home in East Glacier, Montana.
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water

Treaty rights, bison and the country’s most controversial hunt

by Nick Mott and Taylar Dawn Stagner July 1, 2023January 24, 2024

Last winter’s harvest in the Yellowstone region illustrates the complexity of bison restoration.

Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen

Is Harriet Hageman an ally of Indian Country?

by Anna V. Smith and Taylar Dawn Stagner June 1, 2023January 24, 2024

The rookie congresswoman says she wants to advance tribal autonomy.

Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence

Who gets a say in tribal treaty hunting?

by Taylar Dawn Stagner May 1, 2023January 24, 2024

In Wyoming, everybody wants influence over off-rez hunting — and nobody’s happy.

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.

The idyllic Jackson, Wyoming, of “The Last of Us”.
Posted inApril 1, 2023: The Path Forward

Jackson as a safe haven in ‘The Last of Us’ is science fiction

by Taylar Dawn Stagner March 27, 2023January 24, 2024

Only the extremely wealthy might survive the Apocalypse in today’s western Wyoming town.

Rain in the Red Desert. “There’s a lot of things out there that Indigenous people knew about,” Soldier Wolf said about the desert.
Posted inArticles

Bringing co-stewardship to Wyoming’s Red Desert

by Taylar Dawn Stagner March 13, 2023January 24, 2024

A Q&A with the Indigenous Land Alliance of Wyoming’s Yufna Soldier Wolf.

Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front

Sage advice

by Taylar Dawn Stagner October 1, 2020January 24, 2024

The ecological and ethical problems of ‘smudging.’

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