Innholdsfortegnelse for October Vol. 57, No. 10 i High Country News

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

Responsible Escapism

I’ve been cloud-watching for a couple of hours now. Cloud layers overtaking one another — cumulous-dotted blue sky to the east; ominous gray to the south. Muriel Lake lies before me, and Muriel Peak behind it. Then the Goethe Lakes, Goethe Peak and what’s left of the Goethe Glacier. This is the Glacial Divide, beyond which lies Evolution Valley, where I hiked as a 20-something on the John Muir Trail — a blissful 26 days beyond the range of communication, during which we carried everything we needed on our backs, along with a few things we didn’t really need but wanted anyway. No one had cellphones back then. It is good to escape — whether into the high country, the deep woods or the desert — for a month or…

2 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

A good sign

PART OF THE GREATER Yellowstone Ecosystem’s draw is its magnificent megafauna, especially its bears. Excited tourists who see grizzly or black bears sometimes pull over to snap photos or even leave their cars, endangering both themselves and the bears. The National Park Service and other agencies have long used signs to warn people away from roadside bears, but little research has been done on whether the messages work and why. Recently, researchers gathered feedback on four prototype signs, using the data to identify three core qualities of effective roadside messages. “I think, fundamentally, people want to do the right thing,” said Miranda Foster, one of the study’s authors and a graduate student at the University of Montana. “The question was: How can we make (the signs) more powerful and actually reach…

2 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

The High Roads

The arroyo looks dry but there’s water inside the bright-lippedcholla and yellow cactus, the belly of a fleeing rabbit, and the snake’s bright stripes of pale on black crossing the junctionof the Camino Real and the Armijo route where I once cradled a child’s twisted ankle and carried him back along the brushto the parked school bus. That summer the police came to the school and village looking for whomever might have cut the silver legfrom the statue of Oñate in Alcalde. I scooped ice from the bottom of a cooler and held it to the child’s skin where it melted too fastto soothe. A map identifies the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro as one of four of the new world’s Caminos Reales. Road of kings.King of the road. You…

2 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

DRIED OUT IN PHOENIX

ON THE FAR EDGE OF SUBURBAN PHOENIX, a giant concrete arch spans the Central Arizona Project, dubbed a “Bridge to Nowhere” by developers and neighborhood activists alike. Nobody can use it; even pedestrians are barred by a chainlink fence sporting a huge “Road Closed” sign. To the bridge’s north, the desert sits as raw as ever. The bridge was built in recent years to connect an existing subdivision to the planned North Star Ranch and its proposed 9,600 homes. North Star was to be the latest of many new master-planned communities in Buckeye, one of the fastestgrowing cities in one of the nation’s fastest-growing metro areas. But now, this development is on hold over concerns that there’s not enough groundwater to supply the community. And it’s not the only project:…

25 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

Building new worlds

Exploring the intersection of race and family in the interior rural West. THERE ARE JUST two working escalators in the whole state of Wyoming. Both are in Casper, my hometown, and both are at banks. (There used to be one at the airport, but it is long defunct.) So while you are depositing a check, getting cash or taking a free lollipop from the counter, you can ride between floors with ease. As a child, I loved going for a ride. “Look how fast we are going!” I would say to my sister, and we would ride up and down several times, our pockets full of lollipops. Casper is an oil and gas town, and my mom used to joke that the escalators were like boom-and-bust: Sometimes things were up,…

5 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

Heard Around the West

COLORADO Don’t worry, the zombie plague isn’t upon us — well, not yet, anyway. For now, it’s just a few afflicted/affected bunnies doing their part to put the “rad” in Colorado. When Susan Mansfield, a resident of Fort Collins, Colorado, first spotted some peculiar-looking rabbits hopping around her neighborhood, she described them as having “black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around” their mouths. One rabbit visited her several times, she told KUSA: “I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn’t, he came back a second year, and it grew.” Which worries us; “I thought he’d die, but he came back” being among what you might call Famous Last Words, the kind of ominous tagline common to monster movies and infamous cyborgs. Other media sources described…

3 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

LETTERS

A SPECIAL “SPECIAL ISSUE” What an amazing and informationfilled issue (“Who Controls Our Food?” September 2025). “The Kill Floor,” with its deep dive into the experience of immigrants and refugees who worked at JBS/Swift beef packinghouse, Narsiso Martinez’s incredible, poignant art in “Dignified” and Paisley Rekdal’s investigation into Chinese immigrants’ work on the Transcontinental Railroad in “Eating Bitterness” — all of these articles were of exceptional quality and gave me the opportunity to learn more about my world in all of its beauty and cruelty. Thank you for continuing to shine a light on issues that impact the West specifically, and all of humanity in general. Garrett Mumma Fort Collins, Colorado NO PECANS IN DESERTS I am in disbelief after reading “The Pecan Problem” in the September 2025 issue. I…

4 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

Fen fixers

THE RESINOUS SCENT of Engelmann spruce wafted over a shallow, mossy pool surrounded by lush sedges near the 11,800-foot summit of Ophir Pass, in southwestern Colorado’s rugged San Juan Mountains. This type of wetland, known as a fen, forms when perennial water saturates the ground, limiting plant decomposition and allowing organic matter to accumulate as peat. Just downhill, however, on that hot, sunny July day, another part of the fen was visible: a degraded area, bare soil exposed on a steep slope. Peatlands — fens and bogs — are key climate regulators. (Bogs are maintained by precipitation, but fens, which, in North America, occur in the Northeast, Midwest and Mountain West, depend on groundwater.) Their peat retains plant carbon that would otherwise decompose and be released as carbon dioxide. Despite…

6 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

Thank you, readers!

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please scan the QR code to the right, visit hcn.org/give2hcn, call 800-905-1155 or mail a check to: P.O. Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428. Anonymous (14) In honor of Jeff Zakel In memory of Mary J. Richardson Richard Burrell Kautz Family Foundation ARIZONA John Brock | Tempe Mike & Cynthia Davis | Flagstaff Anthony Davis | Tucson Lollie Benz Plank | Tucson Matilda Rickard | Goodyear Joyce Tokar | Scottsdale Lynn Waltke | Tucson CALIFORNIA Heather Boothe | Mill Valley Stephen Buckhout & Stella Yan | San Jose George Dlouhy | Aptos Roy Glauthier | Costa Mesa Samaria Jaffe | San Rafael Thomas McCray | Moss Landing Joanne Nissen | Soledad Elizabeth Richardson | Walnut Creek Barbara Rothkrug | Mill Valley Sunny…

3 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

PORTRAIT of a VANISHING TREE

ONE JUNE AF TERNO ON IN 2022, Dominic Maze was sitting on his tailgate at an elementary school parking lot in Forest Grove, Oregon, waiting to pick up his kids from camp. “I had a resolution that year to not look at my cellphone to kill time,” he told me recently. Instead, he scanned the lot’s planter strips. A biologist with the city of Portland, Maze is always looking at plants. That day, he noticed the trees. Their crowns were oddly leafless, and bursts of new shoots sprang from the base of each trunk. Someone must have chosen the wrong tree for this site, he thought. But when he took a closer look he realized: They were all ash. With a sinking feeling, he fished a hatchet from his pickup and…

30 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

To err is human, to forage bovine

HALF THE HERD is missing. We count noses, but they don’t add up. Our remaining cows linger by the neighbors’ fence; the neighbors’ cows stare through it, separated only by different brands and ear tags and four strands of barbed wire. So we steer our horses through the gate onto the neighbors’ land. Two riders search the hills at the base of the Elkhorns, the Montana range above my family’s ranch. Another rider and I go low, and as we round a bend, our offending cows come into view. Some lounge, others twitch their tails as the neighbors’ three red bulls drool and huff. As we move our cattle into a bunch, calves find their mothers and knock noses into milkbags. The cows stretch out necks to yank up still…

6 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

IAM THE WEST

ANGELO IBLETO “Jerky King,” meat processor and master smoker Petaluma, California I was lucky when I came to this country: I already knew what good food tastes like. The flavors — they should explode in your mouth. Flavor from any food does not come out by accident. If you want the flavors to come out, you have to put them in first. I came to this country in ’62, to help my brother. I never aspired to be successful by getting involved in business; the only thing I knew was that whatever I did, I had to be the best, and that would be enough. Then I stepped into this community, and it doesn’t matter where I go, they know who I am. So I’m happy. I really enjoy it.…

1 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

Fertile ground for housing

IN A GOOD MONTH, Chepe and his wife made just enough as farmworkers to cover the $2,400 rent on their two-bedroom apartment in Oxnard, California. But they still had other expenses, including groceries and occasional child care for their four children. So Chepe’s tight-knit community of farmworkers often borrowed money from each other, in an endless cycle of IOUs. But finally, two years ago, the family moved to Las Vegas, where rent was more affordable: A similarly sized apartment cost half of what they paid in Oxnard. Chepe missed the community he’d built during his years in Ventura County, he said, but given the everincreasing rent and fluctuating work hours and pay, “we couldn’t afford to pay that amount.” The impossible math Chepe faced in Ventura County isn’t new. Throughout…

9 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

Eavesdropping on the Arctic

A LINE OF PINK lingers above the horizon, the April sun offering a welcome dose of brightness after the months-long polar night. A dozen miles off Point Barrow, Alaska’s northernmost tip, the sea is still frozen except where inky tendrils of open water spiderweb across the pack ice. On the surface, the scene feels hushed by the cold. But if you were to dip a hydrophone beneath the ice — like biologist Kate Stafford did this past spring — you might be surprised by what you hear. Underwater, a carnival of sound is unfolding, with bowhead whales the featured act. Somewhere, a mother calls to her newborn calf, guiding her young along a route she’s navigated dozens of times before. Several males compete for the season’s final serenade, singing, as…

10 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

A season of grizzlies and get-togethers

There’s nothing like gathering with family and friends and enjoying the fruits of the harvest. HCNers love get-togethers, so here’s a few recent ones. Way back in May — ancient history now — the editorial and design teams assembled at the B Bar Ranch in Montana’s Tom Miner Basin, on Yellowstone National Park’s northern border. The ranch is owned by longtime HCN reader and supporter Maryanne Mott, whose late husband, Herman Warsh, a board member in the 1980s, seeded our internship endowment and other education programs. The B Bar runs an organic beef operation that practices regenerative ranching. During our retreat, we saw moose, sandhill cranes — even grizzly bears (from a comfortable distance). We hung out on the ranch house porch, sharing stories, setting goals and talking about ways…

3 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

EDITOR’S NOTE

Notice to our advertisers: You can place classified ads with our online classified system. Visit hcn.org/classifieds. Sept. 29, 2025, is the deadline to place your classified ad in the November 2025 issue. Email advertising@hcn.org for help or information. EMPLOYMENT & EDUCATION Enchanted Circle physician needed — Family Practice Associates of Taos was founded in 1983. Taos, New Mexico, is nestled in the high desert mountains in the Land of Enchantment. Our practice is looking for qualified physicians who are interested in joining us. 575-758-3005. familypt@taosnet.com. REAL ESTATE FOR RENT & SALE Strange Ranch — A 117-acre riverfront retreat with residences, a commercial warehouse, trails and a licensed cannabis farm, blending nature and investment potential. More information: Chris Lim. 415-577-3770. chris.lim@christiesreal estatenorcal.com. strange-ranch.com. Unique property in the Zuni Mountains of New Mexico…

2 min

High Country News|October Vol. 57, No. 10

Inventing habitats

An exploration of life and landscape during the climate crisis. IN TUCSON, ARIZONA, where I live, a remarkable ecological movement has been slowly and quietly building for decades now. Instead of focusing solely on restoring degraded habitat, it encourages Westerners to reimagine and reconnect with their local landscapes — beginning by accepting them on their own imperfect terms. It was catalyzed by the 1960s environmental movement and the resulting ’70s and ’80s conservation and ecological restoration efforts. Today, however, instead of using the word “restoration” to discuss an urban stretch of a riparian corridor, we talk about “reconciliation.” “Reconciliation ecology,” a term coined in 2003, aims to increase biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. Think of it as conservation for the Anthropocene. Angelantonio Breault, a fourthgeneration Tucsonan, grew up near the top…

5 min