West Obsessed - High Country News

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The borderlands are a long-misunderstood region of the country, wrapped up in rhetoric and myth. In this episode of West Obsessed, Tucson-based Associate Editor Maya Kapoor joins Editor-in-Chief Brian Calvert and Deputy Editor-Digital Kate Schimel to discuss the realities of the border, the communities along it and their intertwined ecologies and economies.

In this episode of West Obsessed, contributing editor Jonathan Thompson joins High Country News editors Brian Calvert and Kate Schimel to explore the struggle of Navajo Nation residents, and others, to prevent more oil and gas exploration in historically important lands. Chaco Canyon holds cultural significance to several tribal nations and is also at the center of one of the richest oil and gas fields in the country.

Writer Julian Brave Noisecat join High Country News editors on the latest episode of West Obsessed to talk about the original victims of gentrification. Inside this story is an emotional tale of one Indigenous family's experience with structural inequities that affect the availability of housing in both rural and urban areas.

In the latest episode of West Obsessed, High Country News editors discuss a zealous political movement — a push for a 51st state — born from resentment of California’s liberal ‘resistance’ to Trump.

Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in Jan. 2017, he and his administration have been steadily undoing Obama-era protections, including designations of national monuments and rules designed to fight climate change. In the latest episode of West Obsessed, High Country News’ D.C. Correspondent Elizabeth Shogren, and editors Brian Calvert, Kate Schimel and Paige Blankenbuehler review some of the most important rollbacks that hit the West this year.

The Rocky Mountains have long been a source of inspiration and art. This is apparent in the works of the poet Belle Turnbull, who wrote about the mining camps of Colorado, the beauty of the mountains, and her life in the Rockies. In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News Editor-in-Chief Brian Calvert travels to Gunnison, Colorado, to discuss Turnbull, her work, and the questions it raises about modern wildness and the sublime with two professors from Western Colorado University: David Rothman, the head of Western’s creative writing program, and John Hausdoerffer, who heads the university’s environmental studies program.

Native American communities are an integral part of the nation’s history —and future. However, even today there aren’t enough publications that know how to accurately tell their stories. In this episode of West Obsessed, the writers and editors of High Country News discuss the magazine’s efforts to tell better stories from Indian Country.

In April 2014, Cliven Bundy, along with hundreds of supporters, faced down federal agents over the removal of his cattle from public lands. They’d been illegally grazing for years and a court had ordered their impoundment. Three years later, Bundy, along with two of his sons and a handful of supporters, is slated to go on trial. It’s been a long and windy road to the courtroom; we break it down it this latest episode of West Obsessed.

In this episode of West Obsessed, we confront the realities of climate change as its impacts on the West begin to unfold. With an administration at odds with recognizing climate change, it’s even more important to see what efforts are being made at the grass roots level. We discuss the fragility of shellfish in an increasingly acidified ocean and the impact of extreme weather events on indigenous people, and what they’re doing about it.

This episode of West Obsessed delves into the forces that shape our energy system — from corporate profit motives, to the individuals with solar panels on their roofs. A surprising win by solar customers in Nevada portends a shift.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News examines the lessons learned on Washington’s Elwha River, whose dams came down six years ago, and Utah’s Bear River, where a diversion is still being planned.

High Country News Editor-in-Chief Brian Calvert delves into the choices we must make as we begin to face the consequences of the Anthropocene. Reckoning with the grinding anxiety of climate change and the grief of losing our most precious species, how we cope with these fears will define us.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News Correspondent Krista Langlois talks about her recent feature story on a burgeoning recreation industry in the West's northern-most terrain. Alaska looks to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline as a boon for an unlikely economy in the Frontier State: Thru-hiking through rugged wilderness.

Why did the rural Colorado town of Walsenburg swing from voting blue to red in the 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump? High Country News editors Brian Calvert and Kate Schimel talk to writer Leah Todd about her recent feature story on the politics behind the shift that helped elect Trump to the White House.

In this episode of West Obsessed, the editors and writers of High Country News talk about a strange spate of animal killings across the West, the people who investigate those crimes and the implications those acts have on public-lands management.

In this episode of West Obsessed, the editors and writers of High Country News reflect on the story of Adelanto, California, a prison town that reflects Western truths of reinvention and subjugation. We take you inside a detention facility designed for the innocent. Why does such a place exist at all? And why was it built in the American West?

In this episode of West Obsessed, the staff of High Country News looks at Science Marches and how it hits home in the West.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News editors and writers discuss the work of wildfire researchers. New studies are uncovering how intense wildfires create their own weather and move across the land — knowledge that could save lives.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News Editor-in-chief Brian Calvert and Publisher Paul Larmer bring HCN correspondent Ben Goldfarb into the studio to talk about his recent feature story an illegal timber poaching gang in Washington. How did an anonymous tip, DNA evidence and a century-old conservation law help the Forest Service take down a gang of maple poachers? Listen to find out.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News Editor-in-chief Brian Calvert examines the uncomfortable Western corners featured in our annual Travel Issue. Anna V. Smith, editorial fellow, returns to the old-growth forest of her youth and questions her prior assumptions about her home. Maya L. Kapoor, associate editor, talks about an encounter with a wild hawk in a not so wild place.

For nearly a year, High Country News investigated how the tentacles of a national opioid and heroin epidemic have reached the rural West. Assistant Editor Paige Blankenbuehler reported in tiny Craig, Colorado, where she uncovered a private practice that spurred a complicated drug crisis that continues to outpace the available resources for addicts, the health care community and law enforcement.

In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News Managing Editor Brian Calvert talks with Florence Williams on her new book, "The Nature Fix." Together they discuss the power of nature on mental health, and tell an incredible story about a group of female veterans seeking healing on a River of No Return.

Obama’s environmental and conservation record reflects an inclination toward the center in the West: He designated over two dozen national monuments, more than any other president. He oversaw surges in oil and gas production, but embraced clean energy and tackled greenhouse gas emissions. In this episode of West Obsessed, the writers and editors of High Country News discuss Obama's legacy and what the incoming administration might try to undo.

In a special episode, we talk to reporter Tay Wiles, who is in North Dakota reporting on Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

High Country News writers and editors discuss what implications the Donald Trump Administration may have on public lands, energy policy and Western communities.

For something as important as food, many communities in the West struggle. That's because agricultural systems aren't really geared for the communities that harvest the food. In this episode of West Obsessed, the writers and editors of High Country News discuss some of the most interesting challenges--and solutions--to rural food supply.

Donald Trump’s unlikely run for the presidency has upset the political apple cart. Trump’s ridicule of Republican Party leaders, his calls for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and for a ban on Muslim immigration, and the vitriol and violence evident at his rallies raise major questions about our nation and our democracy. But how are they playing out in the West? In this episode of "West Obsessed," the writers and editors of High Country News discuss Trump's run for president and the impact its having in the region.

Across the West, rural communities struggle with access to good health care. Hospital closures, distant emergency rooms and a lack of rural health providers mean long wait times and a deficit of high-quality treatment. In this episode of West Obsessed, the writers and editors of High Country News discuss how some towns are finding innovative solutions to fill in the gaps.

The National Parks have been called America's best idea. But 100 years into that idea, the edges are starting to fray. The National Parks face myriad challenges if they are going to make it to their next centennial, ranging from climate change, funding woes and even a lack of diversity in park visitation. In this episode of West Obsessed, the writers and editors of High Country News discuss those challenges and possible solutions.

In the West, wildlife managers have wavered between killing Mexican wolves and trying to save them. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have released wolves to the wild, then yanked them back out, a push-and-pull that is now forcing a reckoning with mismanagement and inbreeding among wolf populations. In this episode of “West Obsessed,” writers and editors of High Country News discuss a recent feature story on the wolves and ask: Is there hope for their recovery?

High Country News writers and editors discuss a Western legacy of sexual harassment and our recent feature story about the women in the male-dominated world of wildland firefighting that face harassment, abuse and sexism. The story is part of an ongoing investigation into the long history of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in public-land agencies.

Some of the most powerful figures in Western states are county sheriffs. They are elected officials, armed, with deputies and the ability to wrangle posses, and they can be hard to unseat. In this episode of “West Obsessed," Managing Editor Brian Calvert, Senior Editor Jonathan Thompson and Online Editor Tay Wiles discuss what makes county sheriffs so fascinating when it comes to public land issues, like those that led to the occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Long before the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge became a fantastic media event, High Country News was following a smaller controversy, in nearby Burns, Oregon, over ranching. In this episode of “West Obsessed,” we discuss the public land issues that preceded the occupation at Malheur. We go behind the scenes with our photographer and associate designer, Brooke Warren, who spent the first evening of the occupation with the men who seized the refuge, and we discuss the deeper issues behind the occupation with our online editor, Tay Wiles, who has been following the latest iteration of the Sagebrush Rebellion.

President Donald Trump and his fossil-fuel focused administration want to steer the country toward more energy development and have promised to revive the coal industry. In this episode of West Obsessed, High Country News editors check in on the early days of the new administration. Are they on track in keeping their promises to Coal Country? What implications might that have on the West and its natural resources?