outdoor& travel SPECIAL ISSUE High Country ForN people whoews care about the West May 14, 2018 | $5 | Vol. 50 No. 8 | www.hcn.org 50 No. | $5 Vol. 2018 14, May Rethinking risk Bikes in the wild? Save your stoke CONTENTS High Country News Editor’s note EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/PUBLISHER Paul Larmer EDITOR-IN-CHIEF What is recreation worth? Brian Calvert ART DIRECTOR Every month, every season, Cindy Wehling for the last three years, I have DEPUTY EDITOR, DIGITAL trudged up some snowy slope Kate Schimel with skis on my back, then ASSOCIATE EDITORS Maya L. Kapoor skied back down. I’m part of a Tay Wiles small community of die-hards ASSISTANT EDITORS who have embarked on a Emily Benson Paige Blankenbuehler project we call “turns all year”: Anna V. Smith We never let a month pass without skiing. In winter, WRITERS ON THE RANGE this pursuit is logical, even fun. But in summer, EDITOR Betsy Marston it gets ridiculous. One August, I walked up Peak ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR Brooke Warren Nine in Breckenridge, Colorado, as a few hundred COPY EDITOR Spartan racers passed me by, in order to ski 100 Diane Sylvain rough yards of dirt-coated snow. I’ve been laughed CONTRIBUTING EDITORS at by picnicking Mennonites, frolicking children and Tristan Ahtone, Graham Brewer, Cally Carswell, happy hikers with boomboxes. I’ve also gotten the Sarah Gilman, Ruxandra most fun turns of my life on grubby patches of snow Guidi, Michelle Nijhuis, it took me two hours to walk to. Jodi Peterson, Jonathan Thompson We who live in the West are defined and CORRESPONDENTS sustained by the landscapes we inhabit; we are Krista Langlois, Sarah part of a culture rooted in the outdoors. Outdoor Tory, Joshua Zaffos recreation and travel through the American West are EDITORIAL INTERNS Carl Segerstrom a big part of life for many out here, and the issue Jessica Kutz you hold in your hands takes a hard look at outdoor DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR recreation’s influence — and its costs. Laurie Milford The outdoor industry often aligns itself with PHILANTHROPY ADVISOR Alyssa Pinkerton environmentalists, flexing its economic muscle to DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT defend Bears Ears National Monument and demand Christine List action on climate change. But closer examination DIGITAL MARKETER complicates this alliance. There’s mounting evidence Chris King that recreation, like all human activity, takes a toll On the cover EVENTS & BUSINESS PARTNER on every ecosystem we travel through. Our writers Justin Reiter, a former Olympic snowboarder, navigates piles of sharp rocks along the COORDINATOR Laura Dixon Capitol Peak ridgeline. NOAH WETZEL WEB APPLICATION DEVELOPER explore how the push to allow mountain bikes in Eric Strebel wilderness has aligned some recreationists with anti- IT MANAGER public-land proponents, for example, and whether Alan Wells playing in the outdoors actually inclines people to DIRECTOR OF ENGAGEMENT defend the environment. Gretchen King FEATURES Meanwhile, the outdoor industry is still ACCOUNTANT 14 Erica Howard coming to terms with the changes social media Death in the Alpine ACCOUNTS ASSISTANT has wrought, including the opening of a once- Social media is changing our relationship to risk, with deadly consequences Mary Zachman insular world. As Jane C. Hu writes, social media By Sarah Tory CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER has encouraged those traditionally excluded from Christie Cantrell outdoor activities to carve out a space and to CUSTOMER SERVICE Kathy Martinez (Circ. demand changes in the industry. INSIDE Systems Administrator), But as our cover story shows, the digital Rebecca Hemer, Debra 4 Outdoor retailers reconvene The industry faces a future outside of Utah Muzikar, Pam Peters, universe’s abundance of tools and tips hasn’t Doris Teel, Tammy York necessarily made us safer in the backcountry. By Sarah Tory GRANTWRITER Janet Reasoner Correspondent Sarah Tory describes how 6 Bikes in the wild? A new law could change the nature of wilderness travel [email protected] social media makes rad adventures seem easy, By Carl Segerstrom [email protected] obscuring the potentially life-threatening dangers [email protected] By Jane C. Hu [email protected] encountered along the way. A quick Google search 7 Unlikely hikers The face of outdoor rec is changing [email protected] gives potential peakbaggers detailed guides on 8 In a small town, hope, hops and co-ops FOUNDER Get thee to a brewery Tom Bell 14ers.com, but it’s harder to access the training By Summer Goddard BOARD OF DIRECTORS needed to use that information safely. John Belkin, Colo. 9 Beth Conover, Colo. My own “turns all year” project would not be Redefining recreation The economics of the industry Jay Dean, Calif. possible without social media, at least not for me: By Kate Schimel and Brooke Warren Bob Fulkerson, Nev. I scope out routes using Instagram, looking for Anastasia Greene, Wash. 10 Entrada complicada Every year, culture and history collide in Santa Fe Wayne Hare, Colo. the telltale patch of snow in the background of By Jason Asenap Laura Helmuth, Md. someone’s selfie. But come summer, I’ll think twice John Heyneman, Wyo. about following the trail from app to adventure, and Osvel Hinojosa, Mexico also consider the costs of my year-round fun. Samaria Jaffe, Calif. Nicole Lampe, Ore. —Kate Schimel, deputy editor, digital Marla Painter, N.M. Bryan Pollard, Ark. Raynelle Rino, Calif. Estee Rivera Murdock, Colo. 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. OP STMASTER: Send address changes to High Country News, recycled paper. Luis Torres, N.M. Country 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. 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 May 14, 2018 From OUR wEbSITE: HCN.ORG Jason Asenap is a Comanche and Muscogee Creek writer and director (and an occasional actor) based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Summer Goddard is ASENAP the owner and editor of the Valley Journal newspaper in northwest Montana. The Valley Journal is a free weekly newspaper serving Lake County and the Flathead Reservation. It can be Bryan Rice, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has found online at stepped down from his position as the Bureau of www.valleyjournal.net. Indian Affairs director. BUREau OF INDIAN Affairs GODDARD Jane C. Hu is an Indian Affairs director resigns independent journalist After six months at the Interior Department, Bryan Rice who writes about has resigned as director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, science, identity and the according to an internal department email obtained by outdoors. She lives in High Country News. Seattle. No reason for the resignation was given, and the @jane_c_hu agency has yet to comment on the personnel change. It comes during a troubled time for the BIA and Interior, Ethan Linck has written where a high number of Native American employees have HU about science and nature been reassigned, and a workplace survey recently revealed for Los Angeles Review of pervasive issues of harassment. The BIA, where the highest rates of harassment were reported, has yet to publicly Books, Undark and Slate. release a formal action plan addressing the problem. He is a Ph.D. candidate ANNA V. SMITH at the University of Read more online: hcne.ws/bia-resignation Washington, where he studies evolution and genetics in birds. @ethanblinck “We want our leaders to work together On the cover Reiter traverses the infamous Knife Edge on Capitol Peak LINCK Justin Reiter, a former Olympic snowboarder, navigates piles of sharp rocks along the in the Maroon Bells Wilderness, Colorado. NOAH WETZEL Sean Prentiss is the to protect salmon, not block actions Capitol Peak ridgeline. NOAH WETZEL author of Finding Abbey: a Search for Edward necessary for salmon long-term survival.” Abbey and His Hidden —Brett VandenHeuvel, the executive director of Columbia Desert Grave, which Riverkeeper, on why he opposes a bill that would override won the 2015 National FEATURES DEPARTmENTS a federal district court decision mandating Columbia and Outdoor Book Award. Snake river dam operators spill more water to aid imperiled 14 Death in the Alpine 3 FROM OUR WEBSITE: HCN.ORG salmon. Social media is changing our relationship to risk, with deadly consequences Carl Segerstrom is 12 THE HCN COMMUNITY Proponents of the bill assert that dam spills would not By Sarah Tory PRENTISS an HCN editorial intern necessarily help salmon and would cost ratepayers $40 Research Fund, Dear Friends from a mining and million in lost hydroelectric revenue. The Republican- timber town in the Sierra 20 OUTDOOR & TRAVEL MARKETPLACE sponsored bill, passed largely on a party-line vote in April, Nevada foothills. In his still has to clear the Senate before it becomes law. INSIDE 34 ESSAY free time, he likes to CaRL SEGERSTROM Read more online: hcne.ws/dam-bill 4 Outdoor retailers reconvene The industry faces a future outside of Utah Your stoke won’t save us By Ethan Linck explore the high country By Sarah Tory with his wife and dog. 38 MARKETPLACE @Carlschirps 6 Bikes in the wild? A new law could change the nature of wilderness travel 41 BOOKS By Carl Segerstrom Correspondent Wildness edited by Gavin Van Horn and SEGERSTROm 7 By Jane C.