Western communities are complex, layered places, and that’s especially true of cities like Butte, Montana, whose hardscrabble mining history spawned social and political activism and a uniquely creative working-class culture, epitomized by “Our Lady of the Rockies,” a 90-foot-tall statue built by local men. In Long Beach, California, manicured golf courses and polluted neighborhoods co-exist in the shadow of the petroculture. Camera traps remind us that we share the world with wildlife. Railroad lines once connected most of the West’s far-flung communities — though rural Alaska prefers ice roads when its rivers freeze in wintertime. Black Americans are moving to South Phoenix in record numbers. We need renewable energy, but not at the price of green colonialism. The whitebark pine is struggling to survive. Power outages are a life-and-death matter for people with disabilities. A Wyoming family leans on luck to get by, and the personal and political overlap amid the beauty of Yosemite.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/08/55-03-March-2023-cover.jpg?resize=400%2C483&ssl=1)
The 90-foot sentinel of Butte, Montana
What does a statue dedicated to mothers reveal about women’s rights?
Can camera traps relieve our species’ loneliness?
A community science project reintroduces humans to their fellow mammals.
Trains in the West then, now — and someday?
Mapping the state of the rails across the region.
Finding stillness in the whirl
The West is filled with motion and reflection.
Wherefore O Birds and Small Fish Surround Me
A poem by Robert Wrigley.
‘Gold in the hills, but not for us’
Scenes from California’s backyard petroculture.
Future-proofing HCN
Long-term plans for the organization come together alongside staff changes.
A little pickle, a fireball and an Indigenous astronaut
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
‘I’ve always been a fan of getting people to empathize with a landscape’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Letters to the editor, March 2023
Comments from readers.
Get to know the whitebark pine
This threatened tree feeds and shelters the high country.
Green colonialism is flooding the Pacific Northwest
The Yakama Nation is fighting a pumped hydro storage development near Goldendale, Washington – but it’s just one of many.
A demonstration of Black bodies in nature
‘Our family trip to Yosemite has given me access to places I subconsciously felt weren’t home to me.’
Luck and life in pronghorn country
‘Since I was a little girl, on the first day of every month, the first words out of my mouth are rabbit rabbit.’
For Black families, it isn’t simple creating roots in Phoenix
Many have moved to the nation’s fastest growing city seeking community as well as a better life. Few are finding it.
Here’s what it takes to build Alaska’s highways of ice
Frozen rivers are vital transportation routes for communities outside the state’s traditional road system.
California’s power outages are a life-and-death issue
A perspective on the impacts of storms for people with disabilities.