Interior is failing to conserve national parks
Leaving parks open during a shutdown neglects the mandate of future enjoyment.
Phoenix subdivision builds move ahead, despite water concerns
The first crack in the area’s suspension on new housing that relies on groundwater appears.
Sen. Mike Lee’s new bill permits ‘tactical infrastructure’ in wilderness areas
The Border Lands Conservation Act gives the Department of Homeland Security the power to waive myriad federal laws, including the Wilderness Act, under the pretense of border security.
Ventura County is turning former farmland into affordable housing for farmworkers
This California county has some of the nation’s strictest protections for agricultural land, but developers are using a new exemption to house people who work the land.
Watching the Oregon ash vanish
The emerald ash borer is killing the native tree. How do we make the most of the time while it’s still here?
Montana’s Chinese past isn’t past
A forgotten Chinese cemetery reveals how Missoula buries its past — and why the present is so familiar.
A season of grizzlies and get-togethers
We’ve filled our time with gatherings and awards.
The rural West’s increasing health care costs haunt the shutdown
Health insurance costs are skyrocketing, and federal tax credits that make it more affordable are expiring.
On not letting go of the past
How do we embrace the new and still hold on to the things that shaped us?
What inspires Indigenous ballet dancer Jock Soto
The dancer seeks to preserve his legacy while educating others about his time on the biggest ballet stage.
What we stand to lose if national monuments fall
Can one of the nation’s best conservation tools survive?
Tribal governments fend off the worst of the impacts of the shutdown
In the weeks leading up to the shutdown, tribal nations hefted their political and economic capital to protect services for their citizens.
‘I was lucky when I came to this country’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
What’s it like to be a cow?
A cattle rancher reflects on her occupation and the growing movement to understand how other animals see the world.
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- Tribal Title Services functions as a specialized title and settlement group within the First American Title Insurance Company. We are an underwriter and escrow team supporting tribal transactions across the United States, with over ten years of experience working with […]
In This Issue
October 2025: Limits to Growth
“You don’t miss your water till your well runs dry,” an old blues song mourns, and ambitious developers and would-be homebuyers in Phoenix, Arizona, would probably agree, now that planned subdivisions have been curtailed owing to the region’s lack of groundwater. Elsewhere, affordable housing…
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Water
The dried-out subdivisions of Phoenix
What do fens do? Make peat, store water and help combat climate change
The joyful responsibility of cutting fish
Wildlife
The ‘bear’ necessities of good sign design
In a changing Arctic, how much noise is too much?
Osburn’s bridge to nowhere becomes a lifeline for Silver Valley’s elk
Public Lands
Shutdown causes ‘confusion’ across the Forest Service
Visiting public lands during the shutdown? Be polite and prepared
What the government shutdown means for public lands
Indigenous Affairs
How tribal educators are navigating budget challenges
How to build a food sovereignty lab
What the presence of sheep means to the Diné
Communities
What makes a community activist optimistic
‘How many bricks of colonization do we sit under?’
Resistance to data centers rises on the border
Books
Denver’s storied tradition of sex work, then and now
How to become a bird
A hotshot’s search for belonging among the flames
In the News
The shutdown hits the West harder
Western states have a higher percentage of federal employees than the nation as a whole.