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Montana’s politicians have lost their ties to land

By John Clayton

Tim Sheehy, the Republican seeking to unseat Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester, is a business executive born and raised out…

Montana, plains Lee Peters image, via Unsplash

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Ditch “inefficiencies” give us wetlands

By Richard Knight

Imagine Westerners waking up one morning only to discover that many of their most cherished wetlands have dried up, gone….

Since 1917, five generations have lived along the Animas Consolidated Ditch outside of Durango, CO, Patty Zink pictured, courtesy Dave Marston

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What really affects hunting in the West

By Lesli Allison

A disgruntled hunter wrote a Writers on the Range opinion recently about Westerners getting fed up with the many out-of-staters…

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Goats can be a forest’s best friend

By Dave Marston

Goats are particularly good at one thing: Eating. Unlike a horse or cow that leaves noxious weeds behind, goats eat…

Jonathan Bartley and Adrian Lacasse

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Restoring the land can feel a lot like fun

By Richard Knight

Driving back to Colorado State University with a van full of students after a day of working to heal some…

Autumn at a cattle ranch in Colorado near Ridgway – County Road 12, Craig Zerbe Photo

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The West is an exploiter’s paradise

By Richard Knight

High on a mesa where everyone can see it, a trophy house is going up in the northern Colorado valley…

Outside Capitol Reef, photo courtesy of Michael Shoemaker

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Hard choices for the Colorado River

By Quinn Harper Mark Squillace

The seven Colorado River states – Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming – face a daunting mid-August…

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Plenty of food, but not for all farmworkers 

By Astra Lincoln

On a summer morning in southern Idaho, the day breaks early, before 6 a.m. The air is stale, never fully…

Farm workers harvesting yellow bell peppers near Gilroy, California.

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Want to farm? Get a cash register

By Dave Marston

In 1991, when Lee Bradley started farming near Paonia in the North Fork Valley of Colorado, he was hired to…

Image credit: P.j. Briscoe

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This rancher has radical ideas about water

By Dave Marston

If Jim Howell, a fourth-generation rancher in Western Colorado, has a guru, he’s Allan Savory, the champion of intensive cattle…

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Looking back to when water was plentiful

By Dave Marston

During his 50 years in rural western Colorado, Jamie Jacobson has seen a lot of flooding. While caretaking a farm…

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Urban-rural divide is alive and well

By Allen Best

“The annual Western Stock Show puts cowboy hats in high-end restaurants and strip joints alike.”

Photograph by Allen Best, outside of Akron, CO

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