SPECIAL ISSUE AND GUIDE High Country ForN people whoews care about the West THE LONG VIEW Terry Tempest Williams and the refuge of change | Aaron A. Abeyta’s ‘black sheep’ Plus: profiles, interviews, reviews, new books November 14, 2016 | $5 | Vol. 48 No. 19 | www.hcn.org 19 48 No. | $5 Vol. 2016 14, November CONTENTS High Country News Editor’s note EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/PUBLISHER Paul Larmer MANAGING EDITOR The West’s messy intersections Brian Calvert SENIOR EDITOR A few weeks ago, I heard author Jodi Peterson Terry Tempest Williams deliver ART DIRECTOR the keynote address at the annu- Cindy Wehling al SHIFT conference in Jackson, DEPUTY EDITOR, DIGITAL Kate Schimel Wyoming. The conference, which ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tay Wiles High Country News sponsors, ASSISTANT EDITOR deals with the interesting, and Paige Blankenbuehler at times messy, intersection of D.C. CORRESPONDENT the West’s conservation and recreation communities. Elizabeth Shogren It’s messy because the people who recreate on WRITERS ON THE RANGE EDITOR Betsy Marston our public lands don’t always agree on how they ASSOCIATE DESIGNER should be managed. Most SHIFT attendees agreed, Brooke Warren for instance, that the half-billion acre federal estate COPY EDITOR should not be transferred to states and corporations. The Long View Diane Sylvain But allowing mountain bikes in wilderness? That’s CONTRIBUTING EDITORS something worth scrapping over, as a packed crowd BOOKS & AUTHORS Cally Carswell, Sarah Gilman, Ruxandra Guidi, demonstrated at a raucous happy hour session. SPECIAL ISSUE AND GUIDE Glenn Nelson, Hundreds also crowded into the town’s Center Michelle Nijhuis, Jonathan Thompson for the Arts to hear Williams, whose intimate and CORRESPONDENTS acclaimed memoir, Refuge, was published a quar- Krista Langlois, Sarah ter century ago. Since then, she has stood like a FEATURES Tory, Joshua Zaffos literary traffic monitor at the many uncomfortable EDITORIAL FELLOW intersections where the wild meets the human. And 12 Lyndsey Gilpin periodically she jumps into the flow herself: In Feb- The Lost Daughter of the Oceans INTERN Anna V. Smith By Terry Tempest Williams DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR ruary, she and her husband, Brooke, successfully bid Laurie Milford on federal oil and gas leases near Arches National 16 Wilderness in Four Parts, or, Why We Cannot MAJOR GIFTS OFFICER Park, only to have the Bureau of Land Management By Aaron A. Abeyta Alyssa Pinkerton rescind them when the couple openly declared that Mention My Great-Grandfather’s Name DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT they would not develop them. Christine List In Jackson, Williams was both activist and au- SUBSCRIPTIONS MARKETER INSIDE JoAnn Kalenak thor. Just minutes into her talk, she invited the 35 WEB DEVELOPER Eric Strebel young conservationists in the conference’s Emerging DaTABASE/IT ADMINISTRATOR Leaders program to come up on stage and asked 4 Science fiction’s climate visionary A conversation Alan Wells several to tell their own stories. The audience, per- with Kim Stanley Robinson DIRECTOR OF ENGAGEMENT haps expecting a more traditional wilderness ser- 4 Essential books for understanding the West Gretchen King mon, squirmed a bit. But the storytellers validated FINANCE MANAGER Recommended reading by HCN readers and the Williams’ conviction that the conservation com- Beckie Avera Rocky Mountain Land Library ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE munity must listen to the next generation, since the Jan Hoffman planet’s future lies in their hands. It was a memo- 6 A conversation with CIRCULATION MANAGER Shapeshifter rable evening with an edge. Stephen Graham Jones Tammy York Readers will notice a similar edge in this special CIRCULATION SYSTEMS ADMIN. “Books and Authors” issue, which includes Williams’ Kathy Martinez 7 Come for the scenery; stay for the activism reflections about how her own feelings about the CIRCULATION Kathleen Alcalá shares insights from a climate oasis Kati Johnson, Pam Peters, Great Salt Lake have evolved since she wrote Refuge. Doris Teel Though she laments the human-caused changes that 8 A vision takes shape ADVERTISIng DIRECTOR Rocky Mountain Land Library have left the lake at its lowest recorded levels, she for rural and urban branches, book clubs and workshops David J. Anderson also embraces the ecosystem as beautiful, fluid and AD SaLES REPRESENTATIVE beyond control. And now, she says, it’s in the hands Bob Wedemeyer 9 New books for fall reading GRANTWRITER Janet Reasoner of a new generation. Righteous indignation has mel- [email protected] lowed into something more uncertain and humble. 26 Book reviews [email protected] Aaron Abeyta’s essay, “Wilderness in Four [email protected] Parts,” also explores a changing narrative, this one To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey and Heroes of the Frontier [email protected] by Dave Eggers. Reviewed by Jenny Shank [email protected] about his family‘s deep roots in Colorado’s San Luis FOUNDER Tom Bell Valley. As he gathers “fragments and words and Under the Stars by Dan White and On Trails by Robert Moor. BOARD OF DIRECTORS stories” about his mysterious “black sheep” great- Reviewed by Jeremy Miller John Belkin, Colo. grandfather, he asks: “Can you spend an entire life Chad Brown, Ore. forgetting the man that is your blessing and curse?” Leaded: the Poisoning of Idaho’s Silver Valley by Michael C. Mix. Beth Conover, Colo. By remembering his family, Abeyta is ultimately Reviewed by Kathleen Dean Moore Jay Dean, Calif. Bob Fulkerson, Nev. seeking his own place in the world, just as Williams Wayne Hare, Colo. does when she re-enters the baptismal waters of 32 This is not a normal library job Essay by R. Kelley Laura Helmuth, Md. the Great Salt Lake. We invite you to wade into this John Heyneman, Wyo. special issue, to find your own place, and to explore 35 We are West Essay by Bell Prize winner Madeline Friend Osvel Hinojosa, Mexico the messy, fluid and mysterious West. Samaria Jaffe, Calif. Nicole Lampe, Ore. —Paul Larmer, executive director/publisher Marla Painter, N.M. Bryan Pollard, Ark. Raynelle Rino, Calif. Estee Rivera Murdock, D.C. Dan Stonington, Wash. High Country News is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) independent media Ave., Paonia, CO 81428. Periodicals, postage paid at Paonia, CO, and other Printed on Rick Tallman, Colo. High organization that covers the issues that define the American West. post offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to High Country News, recycled paper. Luis Torres, N.M. Its mission is to inform and inspire people to act on behalf of the Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428. All rights to publication of articles in this Andy Wiessner, Colo. Country region’s diverse natural and human communities. (ISSN/0191/5657) issue are reserved. See hcn.org for submission guidelines. Subscriptions to Florence Williams, D.C. News is published bi-weekly, 22 times a year, by High Country News, 119 Grand HCN are $37 a year, $47 for institutions: 800-905-1155 | hcn.org 2 High Country News November 14, 2016 From OUR wEbSITE: HCN.ORG Aaron A. Abeyta is the author of five books and recipient of the Ameri- can Book and Colorado Book awards. Abeyta is a professor of English at Adams State University, and he makes his home in Antonito, Colorado, t Gunnison Bay AbEYTA in the Great Salt where he also serves as Lake, with its mayor. salted shoreline michael berry is a and water made freelance writer based in pink by colored Berkeley, California. For algae and bacteria. ALISHA ANDERSON more than 25 years, he An unidentified man at the federal courthouse in has covered science fic- Portland, where Ammon and Ryan Bundy and other tion and fantasy for the q Victor “Cuba” occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were San Francisco Chronicle. found not guilty in October. BETH NAKAMURA/THE OREGONIAN Hernandez’s summer trailer in bERRY Follow @mlberry. the mountains of Gloria Dickie is a A shocking verdict for malheur the Cruces Basin freelance science and In late October, a 12-person jury found Ammon and Ryan Wilderness, where environmental journal- Bundy and five others not guilty of charges stemming he tends Abeyta ist based in Boulder, from the armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National family sheep. Colorado. Wildlife Refuge earlier this year. The verdict shocked STEVE IMMEL attorneys and observers on all sides of the high-profile melissa Hart is the case, which lasted six weeks. Critics of the occupation author of two adult fear the verdict will embolden like-minded Westerners FEATURES memoirs and the YA to use threats or violence to force federal land agencies DICKIE novel Avenging the Owl. to bend to their will. Cliven, Ryan and Ammon Bundy, 12 The Lost Daughter of the Oceans She’s happiest roaming among others, will answer for charges related to the 2014 By Terry Tempest Williams Oregon’s forests and Bunkerville standoff during a separate trial in Las Vegas, rivers with her husband, Nevada, this February. TaY WILES 16 Wilderness in Four Parts, or, Why We Cannot 9-year-old daughter and MORE: hcne.ws/Bundys-acquitted Mention My Great-Grandfather’s Name By Aaron A. Abeyta their adventurous rescued terrier. melissahart.com Percent of accuracy INSIDE Jeremy miller lives in with which Arizona54 Department of Game and Fish Richmond, California. His observers can distinguish among three species of chub. HART recent work has appeared 4 Science fiction’s climate visionary A conversation in Harper’s, Pacific Stan- Three Southwest chub species were reclassified as with Kim Stanley Robinson dard, Nautilus and Orion. one, spurring debate among scientists about species management. The fish have different protection levels 4 Essential books for understanding the West Kathleen Dean moore under the Endangered Species Act: Only one is listed, while Recommended reading by HCN readers and the writes from a cabin on an two await a decision.