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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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Monuments

Posted inArticles

2024’s biggest conservation wins for the West

by Kylie Mohr December 25, 2024December 23, 2024

There were glimmers of good news across the region, from restored habitats to growing wildlife populations.

Posted inArticles

Beautiful Bears Ears is at risk, again

by Jonathan Thompson November 22, 2024November 22, 2024

What are the consequences for the land if the incoming president shrinks the national monument?

Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted

What Project 2025 has to say about Native communities

by Anna V. Smith October 29, 2024December 20, 2024

The initiative focuses heavily on resource extraction of tribal lands but lacks detail on other key issues.

Posted inArticles

Will changes at San Gabriel Mountains National Monument serve LA’s communities of color?

by Cora Cervantes and Raksha Vasudevan May 6, 2024August 8, 2024

As the monument reaches a decade of federal recognition, the Biden administration hopes to address funding and stewardship challenges alongside the expansion.

Comb Ridge in the Shash Jáa unit of Bears Ears National Monument, Utah.
Posted inArticles

As national monuments multiply, Bears Ears forges forward

by Anna V. Smith April 30, 2024August 8, 2024

Tribal co-management takes shape on the ground.

The Bruneau-Jarbidge-Owyhee Rivers Wilderness in the Owyhee Canyonlands.
Posted inArticles

What’s next for the Owyhee Canyonlands?

by Kylie Mohr April 29, 2024August 8, 2024

Supporters call it ’the largest conservation opportunity in the West.’

Posted inArticles

Nevada tribes push for a monument to commemorate historic massacres

by Daniel Rothberg April 17, 2024August 8, 2024

The proposed designation of Bahsahwahbee National Monument would protect a religious site known for its juniper groves.

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.

Large pipes frame the entrance of Tony M. Uranium Mine. Consolidated Uranium claims it is beginning the process of reopening the long-idle mine.
Posted inArticles

Is uranium poised for a renaissance?

by Jonathan Thompson January 25, 2024February 1, 2024

As prices climb, mining proposals proliferate. But it might just be hype.

Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The Biden Administration Banned new oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park for the next 20 years.
Posted inArticles

Is Biden waging a war on energy? Or on the climate?

by Jonathan Thompson December 29, 2023February 5, 2024

A year-end review of the administration’s policy on fossil fuels and public lands.

A view of Marble Canyon and the Vermillion Cliffs from above the Kaibab Plateau shows the northeastern parcel of the newly designated Avi Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon.
Posted inArticles

2023 in Native environmental news

by Anna V. Smith and Shana Lombard December 27, 2023January 31, 2024

The beat’s biggest news that you might have missed.

Posted inArticles

The National Park Service’s efforts to protect Quitobaquito Springs almost destroyed it

by Maria Parazo Rose and Daniel Penner October 16, 2023January 24, 2024

‘Indigenous presence is vital to the stewardship of the land.’

Looking into the many-sided canyons of the Kanab Creek Wilderness, near the newly designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.
Posted inArticles

The state of tribal co-management of public lands

by Anna V. Smith September 22, 2023May 8, 2024

As National Public Lands Day approaches, Indigenous leaders discuss working with agencies to manage dispossessed lands.

Posted inArticles

Public lands had a roller coaster month

by Jonathan Thompson August 31, 2023January 24, 2024

Rounding up the Biden administration’s ups and downs on land policy.

Posted inArticles

See inside the Grand Canyon region’s new monument

by Len Necefer August 11, 2023March 18, 2024

A weeklong journey through the under-documented region, which now has new protections.

A view of Marble Canyon and the Vermillion Cliffs from above the Kaibab Plateau shows the northeastern parcel of the newly designated monument.
Posted inArticles

Tribal nations celebrate new monument near the Grand Canyon

by Brooke Larsen and Alastair Lee Bitsóí August 11, 2023January 24, 2024

How decades of Indigenous advocacy led to the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.

Posted inArticles

Utah’s latest attack on the Antiquities Act

by Jonathan Thompson May 25, 2023January 24, 2024

The bid to diminish national monuments threatens landscape preservation.

Posted inArticles

What new national monuments are likely under Biden?

by Anna V. Smith September 23, 2022January 24, 2024

New designations could help meet conservation goals set by the administration.

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 inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness

Bears Ears is back — but don’t celebrate just yet

by Nick Martin October 8, 2021January 24, 2024

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk unpacks the deeper implications — and limitations — of Biden’s monuments proclamation.

Posts pagination

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