High Country News

(Manmade) snow is for fighting over

In an increasingly arid West, snow-making becomes a more important component of a ski area’s operating plan. But they need water to make snow, and getting it isn’t always easy.

by J.R. Logan, Mar 04, 2013
The BLM fights for the Southwest’s last free-flowing river

A federal agency asserts its water rights to the San Pedro river in a case that might eventually lead to limits on growth in Arizona.

by Tony Davis, Feb 20, 2013
On the Colorado River, a tug-of-war on a tightrope

A wet winter postpones the declaration of a shortage on the Colorado River as the Upper and Lower Basin states continue to squabble over long-strategy for dealing with the region's droughts

by Matt Jenkins, May 16, 2005
A Colorado newspaperman fights for his valley's water

Bob Rawlings, publisher of the Pueblo Chieftain, has battled for decades to bring water to southeastern Colorado and, once it's there, to keep it no matter what.

by Matt Jenkins, Mar 26, 2012
Colorado water diversions, urban and rural

Colorado's Front Range and Western Slope communities and farms have always wrangled over the water produced high in the Rocky Mountains.

by Sarah Gilman, Mar 18, 2012
HCN looks to the future

In a special summer reading issue, HCN dishes up a science fiction story that imagines life in the Southwest in 2030 or so, when "Big Daddy Drought" is in full stride, and California claims all water

by Greg Hanscom, Jun 26, 2006
Montana court acknowledges water linkage

Montana’s Supreme Court rules that groundwater and surface water are connected, in a ruling that will affect water rights and development across the state

by Stephanie Paige Ogburn, May 29, 2006
When it comes to importing water, nothing seems too extreme

A new proposal to send Mississippi River water out West is both insane and entirely possible, given the outrageous water schemes of the past.

by Craig Rowe, Sep 29, 2011
Where has Montana's water gone?

The Yellowstone River Compact may not protect Montanans who rely on the Tongue River’s water.

by Sierra Crane-Murdoch, May 20, 2011
The elephant that was left out of the room …

Indian tribes were left out of the negotiations that divvied up the Colorado River in 1922, but it’s no longer possible to ignore them – particularly in the case of the Navajo Nation.

by Jonathan Thompson, Mar 17, 2008