HeyJaredHigh Country News
High Country News is a nonprofit news outlet focused on the American West, with an editorial mission centered on the environment, public lands, climate, Indigenous affairs, and the political and cultural forces shaping Western communities.
- Indexed articles, last 90 days
- 94
- Latest publication
- Oct 1, 2026
- Audience
- Top 1M sites
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest articles
How old battles over land, power and identity continue to shape the West’s politics - High Country News (opens the original)
Read excerpt
In 1980, HCN writer Joan Nice reported on a convention of “sagebrush rebels,” a group of legislators, industry representatives and local citizens united by the desire to wrest control of millions of acres of Western public lands from the federal government. The event was “part celebration, part show,” Nice wrote, capturing the rapid elevation of what had been a fringe regional movement to the national stage. Ronald Reagan, a self-proclaimed sagebrush rebel, had been elected president weeks earli
The past is present - High Country News (opens the original)
Read excerpt
In 1996, High Country News ran a piece about Santa Fe’s fading allure as a high-end tourist destination. The publication was still printed on newsprint like your local paper; above the fold, a classic Southwestern coyote howled and slowly disintegrated. Lower down, Santa Fe’s outspoken new mayor, Debbie Jaramillo, blasted previous leaders’ dedication to promoting tourism over people’s needs. “We don’t need any more videos of people getting out of Porsches and women on ski slopes,” she said. This
New leadership for HCN - High Country News (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Last month, we shared the news that our editor-in-chief, Jennifer Sahn, was leaving HCN. This month, we present the dynamic duo who’ll lead HCN’s editorial staff for the next leg of the journey: Kate Schimel, our new editor-in-chief, and Gretchen King, who has taken on new, expanded duties in her role as executive editor. Kate is on her third tour with HCN. She started as an intern back in 2015 and became an assistant editor later that year. For the next four years, she helped HCN build out our
Letters to the Editor, October 2026 - High Country News (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Ruben Martinez painted a heartfelt tribute to his mentor and friend, Gary Paul Nabhan, with prose that carried me into the very heart of the troubled landscape of the Arizona Borderlands (“Desert Sage,” September 2026). He described Nabhan as vividly as he presented the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, with its great interloper, the misguided wall. It is writing of this caliber that keeps me renewing my subscription.Linda PaulBoise, Idaho It was a matter of time before it was exposed (“I
The Forest Service is poised to hand off one of the West’s most visited landscapes - High Country News (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Update: After this story was published, the Forest Service released a map showing Pitkin County would manage roughly 1,300 acres. The Maroon Bells, a beloved destination for hikers and sightseers in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, is changing management due to Forest Service budget cuts and staffing shortages, in a move that some worry might signal the first major domino to fall in the push to privatize public lands. On Sept. 23, Pitkin County, Colorado, commissioners unanimously approved a specia
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
Top 1M sites
Measured Aug 1, 2026
Website popularity band, not a count of readers or article views.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.