What westerners cared about in 2024
Writers on the Range, an independent opinion service based in western Colorado, sent out close to 50 weekly opinion columns…
MoreMontana’s politicians have lost their ties to land
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
MoreIn small towns, bookstores are thriving
“I love to spend my day in a bookstore,” said Amy Sweet. She lives in Red Lodge, Montana, and was…
beartooth books, Red Lodge, Montana, John Clayton
MoreHow did so much stuff pile up?
A few years ago, I turned a carport into a bedroom. But first I had to empty out the books,…
Adam Winger, Unsplash, Logan Utah
MoreCollaboration gets you farther than insults
Is there any habit harder to break than harboring a grudge against an old adversary? Yet burying hatchets is exactly…
Taylor Brandon via Unsplash
MoreSki bum culture hits reality
Nearly two decades ago, I moved to the mountains to be a ski bum, chasing snow. I was a stereotype—an…
Robson Hatsukami Morgan, via Unsplash
MoreFarewell to two radicals with a common goal – changing the West
The West lost two larger-than-life conservationists this year, and while I considered both friends, they couldn’t have been more different….
Sid Goodloe and wife Cheryl
MoreReport from Burning Man 2023
After a quiet year of preparation and premature eulogies, Burning Man roared into the news this August. There were unplanned…
BM Build Day 3/credit Dennis Hinkamp
MoreTips for a new Westerner
Hurray, you’ve moved to the rural West from a crowded subdivision or city where the traffic has become an out-of-patience…
Reno Nevada Mutton bustin’ photo by Cornelius Photography
MoreOld bones can be a small town’s movie stars
The prehistoric past can perk up the present. When woolly mammoth bones were found in my hometown in Wisconsin years…
Allosaurus jimmadseni, courtesy NPS
MoreSome people just like to get things done
Although I’ve lived in a small Western town for 30 years now, I have never known much about one of…
MoreThe West is an exploiter’s paradise
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
More
