Editor’s Note
As population growth, energy demand, climate change, and other forces place growing pressure on the landscapes of the American West, how do we achieve prosperous, sustainable environments for people and nature? What projects, policies, markets, and other tools will promote economic, social, and ecological well-being? How can we reshape our relationships with the wild landscapes where we live, work, and play, for the long-term health of all?
In monthly email installments over the next year, Western Confluence will release a suite of stories showcasing diverse answers to these questions. We already have some planned, and we want to hear your ideas too. Send us new thinking, paradigm shifts, or even time-tested solutions to the challenge of equitably advancing human well-being alongside ecological health. Let us know what policy mechanisms your institute is working on, what conservation experiment your neighbor has embarked on, or what innovative programs your community is offering. Address tips, ideas, and story pitches to editor@westernconfluence.org.
In the meantime, stay tuned for in-depth reporting to come via our website and email newsletter. Sign up, or subscribe a friend, at westernconfluence.org/subscribe.
Editor’s Note
By Emilene Ostlind
“For many Americans, the open road best captures the essential character of the West—unfinished, open-ended, a marriage of the human psyche with the earth, sky, and highway.” —William Wyckoff, Geographer
Editor’s Note
Tens of thousands of invasive species—from cheatgrass, blights, and tamarisk to hogs, fire ants, and boa constrictors—damage natural ecosystems, agricultural systems, human-built infrastructure, and even public health throughout the United States, costing billions of dollars each year.
Editor’s Note
Here in the West, we ask a lot of our public lands. As the photo collage on the cover illustrates, we pile demands onto the federal and state lands that surround our communities.
Editor’s Note
Western Confluence has grappled with some controversial topics, but as the editorial crew planned this issue, a focus on endangered species felt especially fraught.
Editor’s Note
Coal powers America. Or at least it has for the last sixty years. For most of the last century, anywhere from 45 to 55 percent of US electricity came from coal.
Editor’s Note
I grew up in the 1990s watching the hay fields between Sheridan and Big Horn, Wyoming, sprout houses. By the time I graduated from Big Horn School, golf carts zipping over manicured greens had replaced the tractors pulling balers through waist high grass.
Editor’s Note (winter 2016)
Wandering down the spine of a ridge last summer in southern Wyoming’s Sierra Madre, I stumbled across a 100-year-old mining camp: pits surrounded by heaps of broken rock
Note from the Associate Editor (summer 2015)
In Wyoming, wildlife does more than just satisfy the fleeting affections of summertime tourists holding smartphones out car windows.
From the Editor (winter 2015)
Water and humans: two powerful forces shaping our landscapes. Take a flight from Denver or Billings into some small western farming town to see the extent.
From the Editor (summer 2014)
The forests that cloak mountainsides are one of the defining ecosystems of the western US. Recent big bark beetle outbreaks and wildfires raise questions about how forests are changing and how we should respond.
From the Editor (winter 2014)
By Indy Burke
“I’m weary and tired. I’ve done my day’s riding. Nighttime is rolling my way. The sky’s on fire and the light’s slowly fading. Peaceful and still ends the day. And out on the trail the night birds are calling, singing their wild melody. Down in the canyon the cottonwood whispers a song of Wyoming for me.”
– Chris LeDoux
