Features Archives - High Country News https://www.hcn.org/topic/features/ A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West. Fri, 31 Jan 2025 22:54:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2-32x32.png Features Archives - High Country News https://www.hcn.org/topic/features/ 32 32 229054741 Reenvisioning the image of immigration https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-2/reenvisioning-the-image-of-immigration/ Sat, 01 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=331309 The Dance to the Top of the Palm Tree, Bright Ntimba, Part I. 2021, oil on linen, 45 x 80 inches.

Artist and refugee Papay Solomon juxtaposes European painting with African ancestry.

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]]> 331309 A veteran transforms a legacy of violence into a campaign for restoration https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-2/a-veteran-transforms-a-legacy-of-violence-into-a-campaign-for-restoration/ Sat, 01 Feb 2025 08:55:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=331326

How a former Marine found a road to repair.

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]]> 331326 Why the West needs prairie dogs https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-1/why-the-west-needs-prairie-dogs/ Wed, 01 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=330425 Prairie dogs emerge from their burrow in a colony on American Prairie in Montana. Prairie dogs, once one of the most abundant animals on the prairie, now occupy 2% of their historic range.

They’re among the region’s most despised species, but some tribes, researchers and landowners are racing to save them.

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]]> 330425 Legal weed entrepreneurs promised a windfall from tribal lands. Then it fell apart. https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-1/legal-weed-entrepreneurs-promised-a-windfall-from-tribal-lands-then-it-fell-apart/ Tue, 17 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=330192 Tribal elders and landscape (Aaron Nesheim); cannabis leaf (Roberto (Bear) Guerra); Travel Plaza fire (Jerry Tom); maps (USGS and Flickr); documents from author’s research.

The Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone are still picking up the pieces from the failed cannabis cultivation venture.

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]]> 330192 Can land repair the nation’s racist past? https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-12/can-land-repair-the-nations-racist-past/ Sun, 01 Dec 2024 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=329862 Jade Stevens rests near Lake Putt on land in California’s Tahoe National Forest that is owned and managed by the 40 Acre Conservation League.

California's approach to Black reparations shifts toward land access, ownership and stewardship.

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]]> 329862 The aftermath of the Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon Fires https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-12/the-aftermath-of-the-hermits-peak-and-calf-canyon-fires/ Sun, 01 Dec 2024 08:55:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=329879 Remnants of the forest after the 2022 Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in northern New Mexico.

Devastation is hard to face, but
turning away is harder.

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]]> 329879 Fish camp in Alaska – without the fish https://www.hcn.org/issues/fish-camp-in-alaska-without-the-fish/ Fri, 01 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=328978 Ryan Madros takes a boat full of children, teens and adults to this year’s culture camp upriver from Ruby, Alaska. Madros and his wife, Rachael Kangas Madros, played key roles in organizing culture camp this year.

Yukon River communities fight to maintain their salmon fishing traditions.

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]]> 328978 Your lawn could host an endangered ecosystem https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-11/your-lawn-could-host-an-endangered-ecosystem/ Fri, 01 Nov 2024 07:55:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=328981 Western Yarrow, or Achillea millefolium, growing on a pocket prairie near Pullman, Washington.

In the effort to restore the Palouse Prairie, no project is too small.

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]]> 328981 On the road with Latino organizers in the swing states of the West https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-10/on-the-road-with-latino-organizers-in-the-swing-states-of-the-west/ Tue, 01 Oct 2024 08:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=328336

In Nevada and Arizona, Latinos make up nearly a third of all voters. What are they thinking this election year?

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]]> 328336 El voto indeciso latino https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-10/el-voto-indeciso-latino/ Tue, 01 Oct 2024 07:57:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/?p=328599 LaLo Montoya, director de participación cívica de Make the Road Nevada, hace campaña con un voluntario en un barrio del lado este de Las Vegas, Nevada, el pasado marzo.

De gira con organizadores en Arizona y Nevada.

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