News
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The Southwest's population and housing booms bite the dust
As the West's population and real estate boom stumble to a halt, the once fast-growing Southwest is filled with foreclosed homes and undeveloped lots.
by Jonathan Thompson, Nov 30, 2011 -
Western game wardens go after poachers
Overstretched game wardens like Colorado's Tom Knowles rely on tips from hotline informants to catch elusive poachers.
by Larry Keller, Nov 27, 2011 -
California's high-speed rail is slow to gain speed
The U.S. continues to trail the rest of the world in high-speed rail development, as California's long-planned bullet train is delayed yet again.
by Stephanie Paige Ogburn, Nov 27, 2011 -
Feds attempt to speed complicated process of building power lines
The Obama administration's electrical transmission permitting agencies are cooperating to speed grid updates and fast track clean energy projects, as demand for power grows.
by Sarah Gilman, Nov 15, 2011 -
Clean air regulations protect park views by targeting coal plants
The Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to reduce haze from air pollution near national parks and wilderness; some coal-fired power plants are cleaning up their act and others will shut down.
by Cally Carswell, Nov 13, 2011 -
Energy succeeds where housing developers can't
As the West's housing boom fades, natural resource extraction surges, and a defunct housing development on the east side of Colorado Springs, Colo., may soon face drilling by Ultra Petroleum.
by Sarah Gilman, Nov 13, 2011 -
BLM experiments with camouflage to hide renewable power structures
The Bureau of Land Management is working with landscape architects and camouflage experts to better disguise renewable energy infrastructure on public lands.
by Kimberly Hirai, Nov 03, 2011 -
Development near national parks impacts park ecology
Home building around national parks has a ripple effect on wildlife and habitat inside those parks.
by KIMBERLY HIRAI, Oct 30, 2011 -
Western voters love ballot initiatives -- and sometimes make a mess
A Western tradition of citizen legislation may cause more problems than it solves.
by Ray Ring, Oct 30, 2011 -
Cruising the ocean, counting seabirds
What an unconventional journey on a cruise ship can reveal about seabirds' enigmatic lives.
by Eric Wagner, Oct 27, 2011 -
Washington's Hanford Reservation and nuclear plant may lie on faults
Brian Sherrod, a government paleoseismologist, believes cities and infrastructure in eastern Washington may be far more earthquake-prone than previously realized.
by Bill Lascher, Oct 26, 2011 -
Obama message control blocks journalists covering the environment
The Obama administration makes it harder for its environmental message to be heard when it sets up roadblocks to information and blocks media access.
by Judith Lewis Mernit, Oct 23, 2011 -
In national parks, where are all the fossils?
The National Park Service is surveying its holdings to find out which parks have fossils in order to manage them better.
by Marian Lyman Kirst, Oct 16, 2011 -
Lessons for the Colorado River from drought-stricken Australia
Brad Udall on Australian water reform and why it matters to the West.
by Cally Carswell, Oct 09, 2011 -
Farmland conservation program may be plowed under
The Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to idle highly erodible cropland, is facing budget cuts and other challenges.
by Stephanie Paige Ogburn, Sep 20, 2011 -
Junk rule pits rural ideals against suburban standards
In New Mexico's San Juan County, a new ordinance contrasts upper class aesthetics against a rural lifestyle.
by Sierra Crane-Murdoch, Sep 13, 2011 -
Tribes use land conservancies to reclaim ancestral grounds
The Kumeyaay Indians of Southern California are among the tribes using new strategies to reclaim rights to their lands.
by Pattie Logan, Sep 09, 2011 -
California tribe competes with the state to restore its homeland
The Mountain Maidu Indians and the state Department of Fish and Game are both seeking control of California's Humbug Valley.
by Jane Braxton Little, Sep 07, 2011 -
EPA aims to clean up polluted air in Western gas fields
The federal government sets its sights on clearing the air above gas operations
by Cally Carswell, Sep 04, 2011 -
PG&E conservation lands
by The Stewardship Council, Sep 04, 2011
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