A voice for High Country News

© 2010 Joshua Stark

If you live in the Western United States, then you must subscribe to High Country News.  If you romanticize the West for its grand expanses and wildness, then you, too, should be a subscriber to HCN.

If you've never heard of High Country News, check out their website.  They are a great paper,  with thorough expose's on any number of issues impacting the Western U.S., & with some excellent commentary, to boot.

This morning, for example, I read an opinion piece by Ben Long, a Wyoming hunter decrying the widespread acceptance of poaching wolves in his community.  After expressing his disgust with local gun rafflers alluding to poaching while marketing their raffles, he makes absolutely clear that poaching is a sick attitude that does nothing to promote hunting or the rule of law.  Mr. Long makes an especially good point about the rule of law and its value in protecting our hunting heritage and wildlife. A couple years ago, I, too, wrote a bit about the "sss" to which he refers.  I'll add to Mr. Long's piece and say that hunters, as the public face of gun owners and the power this infers, have an even greater responsibility to promote and follow the rule of law. 

If you clicked to read the HCN opinion piece, and you are not a subscriber to HCN, you cannot read the entire article.  Usually, I'm a bit miffed when that happens to me, but HCN isn't a gigantic paper with loads of pop-up ads to make up for our cheap asses.  In fact, the first thing you should notice is that the website is a .org, because they are a nonprofit organization.  They pay for their work through subscriptions (gasp!) and donations, and they do good work.

I'm not affiliated with HCN, (though I'd love it!), I just think they do good and valuable work.  If you are interested in the West, then do yourself a favor and subscribe.