Researchers look to Southwestern ranchers to learn why we share — and what happens when we don’t.
Feature
The tenuous revival of Mono Lake
Its defenders won a long fight over water with Los Angeles. Now, drought is raising new questions about its future.
Could Los Angeles design its way to water independence?
A pair of architects are reinvisioning the city’s relationship with water, starting with storm runoff.
Water hustle
Did one of Nevada’s top water regulators try to cash in on the drought?
The campaign against coal
Where ‘keep it in the ground’ meets ‘keep the lights on.’
Green energy’s dirty secret
Industrial solar and wind endanger wildlife but are getting more support than ever.
Will the Migratory Bird Treaty Act survive in the modern era?
One of the nation’s oldest wildlife laws is fighting for its life in the courts.
The rise of Lisa Murkowski
Alaska’s pragmatic senator wants to reshape America’s energy policy.
Beyond the energy omnibus: a look at Sen. Murkowski’s hard-to-pass bills
The head of the Senate Energy Committee has crafted a comprehensive energy plan. But she left her most ambitious initiatives to be battled over separately.
The waning power of Alaskan lawmakers
The energy-backed powerhouses once wielded outsized influence in Congress. That’s changing.
A displaced California tribe reclaims sacred land
The Mountain Maidu return to their valley, but the work of reclamation never ends.
Claustrophilia: Do wide-open lands bring us closer together?
A writer finds that Colorado small-town life and Mongolian mishaps strengthen her human connections.
Tracking energy’s ‘fugitive emissions,’ from above
Scientists are trying to understand what’s released from the nation’s biggest energy producing regions.
Unlocking the mystery of the Four Corners Methane Hot Spot
Scientists zero in on the culprits behind a giant plume of greenhouse gases.
The Endangered Species Act’s biggest experiment
Will an unprecedented collaborative effort and lots of tax dollars be enough to finally save sage grouse?
Timeline of the sage grouse saga
One step forward, two steps back, starting from 1995.
Tracking grazing’s impacts on bugs
A Montana biologist studies how livestock influence a favorite sage grouse food source.
As wildfires get bigger, is there any way to be ready?
After one record-setting wildfire, a Washington county prepares for more.
Plants that burn fastest in a wildfire
Lichen burns cool and quick, while spruce burns slow and hot.
Is aerial firefighting worth it?
Aerial firefighting is dangerous, expensive and environmentally damaging. So why do we do it?
