Gary Wockner, Author at High Country News https://www.hcn.org A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West. Wed, 31 Jan 2024 16:47:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2-32x32.png Gary Wockner, Author at High Country News https://www.hcn.org 32 32 229054741 Remove dams to fight the climate crisis https://www.hcn.org/articles/dams-remove-dams-to-fight-the-climate-crisis/ Tue, 19 Dec 2023 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/articles/dams-remove-dams-to-fight-the-climate-crisis/ The Glen Canyon Dam sits on the Colorado River, backed by Lake Powell. In 2022, the dam neared deadpool conditions due to climate change-induced drought and increasing water demand.

Ten reasons bringing down these barriers are key for mitigation and adaptation.

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]]> 321319 To save our oceans, let’s start with our rivers https://www.hcn.org/articles/opinion-to-save-our-oceans-lets-start-with-our-rivers/ Tue, 06 Feb 2018 15:30:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2018/02/06/to-save-our-oceans-lets-start-with-our-rivers/

Dams and pollution affect rivers across the West, to the detriment of our oceans.

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]]> 96797 California isn’t accounting for this major emitter https://www.hcn.org/articles/california-isnt-accounting-for-this-major-methane-emitter/ Tue, 11 Apr 2017 08:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2017/04/11/california-isnt-accounting-for-this-major-emitter/

Even though large reservoirs emit methane, the state doesn’t off-set their impact.

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]]> 94571 While the Animas River spill is eye-catching, Western rivers face an even bigger threat https://www.hcn.org/issues/47-15/while-the-animas-river-spill-is-eye-catching-western-rivers-face-an-even-bigger-threat/ Mon, 31 Aug 2015 08:05:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2015/08/31/while-the-animas-river-spill-is-eye-catching-western-rivers-face-an-even-bigger-threat/

If there’s any good news to be gained from the toxic spill of mine wastes into the Animas River upstream of Durango, Colorado, it’s that public attention has suddenly shifted to the health of rivers in the West. The 3-million-gallon accident riveted the media, even rating a story in England’s Guardian newspaper. Here at home, […]

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]]> 117824 Obama’s clean water rule won’t protect the West’s water https://www.hcn.org/articles/obamas-clean-water-rule-wont-protect-the-wests-water/ Wed, 08 Jul 2015 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2015/07/08/obamas-clean-water-rule-wont-protect-the-wests-water/

Summer is here! This is the time when the great outdoors beckons, and we can’t wait to get out to the rivers of the American West to raft, fish, swim and just cool off. But unfortunately, the water we all enjoy has just become imperiled by the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency. Though the EPA’s […]

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]]> 96567 Is Las Vegas betting the Colorado River will go dry? https://www.hcn.org/articles/is-las-vegas-betting-the-colorado-river-will-go-dry/ Tue, 09 Dec 2014 10:05:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2014/12/09/is-las-vegas-betting-the-colorado-river-will-go-dry/

Las Vegas is a city that plays the odds, and if you want to know which odds to play, you need to follow the smart money. Unfortunately, that money seems to be moving toward building yet more dams that will drain yet more water out of an already oversubscribed Colorado River. Unlike most cities in […]

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]]> 96012 The Colorado River’s reunion with its usually bone-dry Delta https://www.hcn.org/wotr/a-kiss-that-brought-hope-to-river-lovers/ Tue, 20 May 2014 17:50:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2014/05/20/the-colorado-rivers-reunion-with-its-usually-bone-dry-delta/

They kissed. Like two long-lost lovers who had been cruelly kept apart for 20 years, the Colorado River and the Sea of Cortez finally embraced. The historic reunion occurred this May as the United States and Mexico worked together to restore the Colorado River Delta. The “pulse flow” of water raced down from Lake Mead, […]

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]]> 124972 Our coyote war in the West reminds me of the war in Iraq https://www.hcn.org/wotr/our-coyote-war-in-the-west-reminds-me-of-the-war-in-iraq/ Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2006/07/10/our-coyote-war-in-the-west-reminds-me-of-the-war-in-iraq/ “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail,” said psychologist Abraham Maslow. As a wildlife ecologist here in the American West, I can’t help but draw analogies between the Bush administration’s foreign policy in Iraq and one of its proposed wildlife policies in the American […]

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]]> 124636 Fencing off Mexico is an ecological blunder https://www.hcn.org/wotr/fencing-off-mexico-is-an-ecological-blunder/ Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2006/06/05/fencing-off-mexico-is-an-ecological-blunder/ Medical doctors have their Hippocratic oath in which they pledge to heal the sick to the best of their ability and do no harm. We ecologists have our own guiding principle: Call it the Leopold oath. The late Aldo Leopold, who worked for the U.S. Forest Service and is considered to be one of the […]

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]]> 124619 Planting seeds for preservation https://www.hcn.org/issues/issue-314/planting-seeds-for-preservation/ Mon, 23 Jan 2006 20:00:00 +0000 https://www.hcn.org/2006/01/23/planting-seeds-for-preservation/

In Cities in the Wilderness, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt asks: “Is it realistic to suggest expanding land protection programs in a season when the Bush administration and Congress are intent not upon expanding, but upon shrinking the reach of our environmental laws?” Babbitt’s answer is a resounding “Yes.” He continues, “History instructs […]

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