High Country News

High Country News is the nation's leading source of reporting on the Western United States. Through in-depth reporting, High Country News covers the West’s social, political and ecological issues.

High Country News

Know The West.

Bloom

LETTERS • High Country News is dedicated to independent journalism, informed debate and discourse in the public interest. We welcome letters through digital media and the post. Send us a letter, find us on social media, or email us at editor@hcn.org

An endangered desert orchid comes home • In Arizona, scientists are charting a path for rare plant restoration.

Bracing for man camps • Alaska Native communities prepare for the consequences of the development surge.

Apparitional

The wall’s wide reach • A Montana company makes billions building the border wall.

Can restoration save the Delta smelt? • In the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, new wetlands await the threatened fish.

Meet the West’s new environmental reporters

Thank you, Sustainers’ Club members! • YOUR STEADY MONTHLY SUPPORT HELPS HCN PRODUCE HONEST AND IN-DEPTH STORIES ABOUT THE WEST.

FIRST THE GLACIER RETREATED, THEN CAME THE LANDSLIDE AND TSUNAMI • In Alaska’s fjords, climate change is boosting the chances of catastrophic waves.

The Weed Industry’s Trafficked Workforce • How Chinese migrant workers in the Southwest fell through the cracks of justice systems — and fought back.

Let’s get together • Samantha Paige Rosen’s anthology illuminates the power of communal living.

Urgent care • What if the mountains are the medicine?

Heard Around the West • Tips about Western oddities are appreciated and often shared in this column. Write heard@hcn.org.

#IAM THE WEST • SCOTTY BARR (NATIVE VILLAGE OF KOTZEBUE) MMIP advocate | Anchorage, Alaska