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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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Ben Goldfarb

Ben Goldfarb is a High Country News correspondent and the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter.

Follow @ben_a_goldfarb

Posted inNovember 2024: The Once and Future Prairie

After half a century, the Apache trout swims off the threatened species list

by Ben Goldfarb September 12, 2024October 18, 2024

Arizona’s state fish is doing well but faces a daunting future.

Denali Park Road remains open east of the landslide as it winds through Igloo Canyon.
Posted inSeptember 2024: When Migrants Go Missing

What Denali’s road closure means for its wildlife

by Ben Goldfarb September 1, 2024September 10, 2024

A landslide sealed off much of the national park’s iconic road — to the delight of bears.

Cars speed past wildlife fencing just west of Eagle Mountain, Utah.
Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods

How do you protect wildlife from sprawl?

by Ben Goldfarb August 1, 2024July 31, 2024

A fast-growing Utah exurb gets serious about migration corridors.

Scott Schuyler, a member of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe and its natural resources and cultural policy representative, stands by the site of the future wildlife crossing in Skagit Valley, Washington.
Posted inMay 2024: A River Returns

Tribes lead on wildlife passages

by Ben Goldfarb May 1, 2024May 8, 2024

How a new pot of federal funding could help reconnect Native lands.

Scene through end of a pipe.
Posted inArticles

Fixing culverts can save migratory fish

by Ben Goldfarb March 27, 2024March 27, 2024

A billion-dollar program is unblocking millions of killer culverts across the nation to help fish get to spawning grounds.

Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst

Can coexistence with wolves be bought?

by Ben Goldfarb February 1, 2024May 8, 2024

When Colorado voted for wolf reintroduction, it also mandated compensation for ranchers. The hard part: figuring out the details.

Posted inArticles

Paws on the ground: How Colorado got its wolves back

by Ben Goldfarb December 19, 2023May 8, 2024

Five wolves were released in remote western Colorado yesterday, marking the beginning of an ambitious reintroduction program.

Posted inOctober 2, 2023: The Dark Side of the Sheepherding Industry

Staving off a bass invasion

by Ben Goldfarb October 2, 2023January 24, 2024

As Lake Powell shrinks, smallmouth bass threaten the Grand Canyon’s native fishes.

Posted inSeptember 1, 2023: Food Justice

Wildlife and the inescapable impact of road noise

by Ben Goldfarb September 1, 2023May 8, 2024

The ‘blab of the pave’ disrupts animals’ lives everywhere, even in national parks.

Rafters on the Arkansas River near Cotopaxi, Colorado, last fall.
Posted inArticles

Colorado Supreme Court drowns public access to riverbeds

by Ben Goldfarb June 16, 2023January 24, 2024

Roger Hill’s landmark lawsuit fizzled out in court. What happens now?

Behren’s silverspot butterfly habitat in Mendocino County.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence

Inside the fight to save a beleaguered butterfly

by Ben Goldfarb May 1, 2023June 6, 2024

In 2020, the population count of the Behren’s silverspot was zero. That didn’t stop Clint Pogue.

Posted inMarch 1, 2023: Moving Parts

Can camera traps relieve our species’ loneliness?

by Ben Goldfarb March 1, 2023January 24, 2024

A community science project reintroduces humans to their fellow mammals.

Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects

Can assisted migration save the Rio Grande’s cutthroat?

by Ben Goldfarb December 23, 2022January 24, 2024

Scientists wage an upstream battle to save trout in a warming West.

Posted inArticles

A new biography resurrects a Western conservation writer

by Ben Goldfarb August 4, 2022January 24, 2024

Bernard DeVoto’s work has fallen into obscurity, but the land remembers his legacy.

Posted inJuly 1, 2022: Living with Rivers

The Colorado stream case that could revolutionize river access

by Ben Goldfarb June 27, 2022January 24, 2024

‘There are waters I’ve wanted to fish for 50 years, and I’ve been denied the use of a state-owned resource.’

Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential

How do you make a movie about a hyperobject?

by Ben Goldfarb December 31, 2021January 24, 2024

The film ‘Don’t Look Up’ turns climate change into an allegorical comet.

Posted inArticles

Monique the space elk and the wild history of tracking wildlife

by Ben Goldfarb April 21, 2020January 24, 2024

The legacy of scientific researchers, and a couple intrepid ungulates, endures half a century later.

Posted inDecember 9, 2019: Crossing to Safety

When wildlife safety turns into fierce political debate

by Ben Goldfarb January 1, 2020April 9, 2024

In Island Park, Idaho, a fight over roadkill became a referendum on government control.

Posted inNovember 25, 2019: Forever Mines

Grizzlies and the limits of coexistence

by Ben Goldfarb November 25, 2019January 24, 2024

A rancher weighs the fate of wildlife and human encroachment in his new book.

Posted inNovember 11, 2019: Storied Landscapes

From Russia with love — and salmon

by Ben Goldfarb November 11, 2019January 24, 2024

A new book explores the borderlands of ‘Salmon Nation,’ from the American West to Russia’s Far East.

Posts pagination

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