archive

The American landscape

From National Review, taking risks, building the West: Cyrus McCormick, his invention, and his entrepreneurial spirit changed America. What does it take for heroin to grab hold in the small, remote towns of America? Consider the case of Laramie, Wyoming. Kelly Williams Brown on the Queens of the West: Horses, rhinestones, spurs, and heartbreak — the journey to be Miss Rodeo America. Bibbi Abruzzini on the wagon man of America. The Grand Canyon is already overrun with tourist infrastructure; two proposed mega-developments threaten to make the situation worse. Wolflandia: Elliott D. Woods on the fight over the most polarizing animal in the West. Big Cattle, Big Gulp: Christopher Ketcham on how cowboys and cows are soaking the American West dry. California drought tests history of endless growth. Helaine Olen on California, by the nuts. Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey have never been more relevant in the drought-stricken West. Climate change is making the Texas panhandle, birthplace of the state’s iconic Longhorn, too hot and dry to raise beef — what happens to the range when the water runs out? Farmland without farmers: As industrial agriculture replaces men with machines, the American landscape loses its stewards, and the culture they built. How well do you know the American landscape? America’s land is worth $23 trillion. Claire Moser on how the oil industry’s “Dr. Evil” is running a campaign to sell off America’s public lands. Alexandra Heller on a history and management of public rangelands in the United States: A case study from New Mexico.