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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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Oregon

Posted inArticles

Endurance and the spirit of wrestling in the West

by Michael Copperman August 20, 2024August 20, 2024

Remembering local wrestling hero Kenny Cox.

Posted inArticles

Is your community ready for a wildfire?

by Erin X. Wong August 5, 2024August 12, 2024

Local governments throughout the West are investing in wildfire defense. Here’s how to know if yours is one of them.

Dusk in Phoenix during July 2023, when the city saw 20 straight days of extreme heat.
Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods

The inequity of heat

by Jonathan Thompson August 1, 2024August 1, 2024

Extreme heat doesn’t discriminate; the ability to escape it does.

Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods

Fur-class travel, wonderful whippets, delinquent donkeys and a white buffalo

by Tiffany Midge August 1, 2024July 31, 2024

Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.

Posted inArticles

Will the Northwest Forest Plan finally respect tribal rights?

by Natalia Mesa July 19, 2024August 8, 2024

Tribal representatives are pushing the U.S. Forest Service to respect treaty rights and bring cultural fire back to the region’s forests.

Posted inArticles

When the end of the road brings a new beginning 

by Jenny Shank July 17, 2024August 8, 2024

Two accomplished new novels by Joe Wilkins and Willy Vlautin feature weathered protagonists called back from the brink.

Swallows perch on utility wires over the Umpqua River near Elkton, Oregon, in 2020 as numerous wildfires burn across the state.
Posted inArticles

What happens to birds when it’s smoky outside?

by Kylie Mohr July 3, 2024August 8, 2024

A community science initiative along the West Coast is using volunteer observations to study the effect of wildfire smoke on birds.

What was left of homes in Gates, Oregon, after the Santiam Fire swept through the city in 2020. PacifiCorp was found fully responsible for the fire, which was started by active power lines.
Posted inJuly 2024

When a utility sparks a wildfire, who pays?

by Kylie Mohr July 1, 2024June 28, 2024

How Western utility companies are trying to shield themselves from wildfire costs and liabilities.

Posted inJuly 2024

Photorealistic fencing, far-traveling felines and some very weird-looking fish

by Tiffany Midge July 1, 2024June 28, 2024

Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.

Posted inArticles

Supreme Court gives cities and towns power to criminalize homelessness

by Natalia Mesa June 28, 2024August 8, 2024

The Oregon case has been closely watched by Western cities and states.

Posted inArticles

What’s next for Willamette Falls?

by Nika Bartoo-Smith June 18, 2024August 8, 2024

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde move the second largest waterfall toward public access.

Posted inArticles

A wildflower is teaching the non-Native public about food sovereignty

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster May 24, 2024August 8, 2024

Oregon’s third Camas Festival highlights the joys and responsibilities of tending the iconic northwestern plant.

Posted inArticles

Killing one owl to save another

by Michelle Nijhuis May 10, 2024August 8, 2024

Is it ever the right thing to do? Two ethicists weigh in.

A view over Iron Gate Dam outside of Hornbrook, California, in February. The reservoir’s water level has continued to fall since drawdown began in January.
Posted inMay 2024: A River Returns

Undamming the Klamath

by Nika Bartoo-Smith May 2, 2024May 2, 2024

Tribal nations are restoring the river while reclaiming and revitalizing their cultural heritage.

Larry Alameda (Yurok), left, and Javon Mitchell (Karuk) collect water samples as part of the tribes’ work to monitor water quality after the removal of the Klamath dams.
Posted inMay 2024: A River Returns

Scientists are tracking ecological changes as the Klamath River dams come down

by Juliet Grable May 1, 2024April 30, 2024

A giant sediment pulse — millions of cubic yards of silt, clay and dead algae — trapped for decades behind the dams is now flowing downstream.

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

Meet the tree-sitters who occupied a ponderosa pine

by Paul Robert Wolf Wilson and Erin X. Wong April 26, 2024August 8, 2024

The Oregon activists call attention to ongoing clearcuts in old-growth forests.

Posted inArticles

When dams come down, what happens to the ocean?

by Natalia Mesa April 19, 2024August 8, 2024

A long-term study of the Elwha River Delta reveals lasting change — and a healthier ecosystem.

Daniel Anderson holds a drone on his family’s ranch in Montana’s Paradise Valley.
Posted inApril 2024: Epic Journeys

Managing predators from the sky

by Kylie Mohr April 1, 2024May 8, 2024

How to harness drones for conservation.

Cache la Poudre River, Colorado, from the series Stillwater. Gelatin silver print, 2000.
Posted inApril 2024: Epic Journeys

Reflections on Barry Lopez

by Terry Tempest Williams April 1, 2024April 11, 2024

Terry Tempest Williams contemplates her friendship with the late author and what he left behind.

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