Conservation Beyond Boundaries
Forest Service overhaul sows confusion, concern
In the Trump administration’s reorganization of the struggling agency, painful echoes of BLM’s past moves.
The Conservation Beyond Boundaries project spotlights efforts to protect, restore, and coexist with plant and animal species outside conventional parks and reserves.
Utah’s new study aims to kill ‘as many cougars as possible’
Critics say the state’s attempt to boost ungulate populations lacks scientific grounding and transparency.
How Montana tribes are using sovereignty to restore their waterways
‘We live at the backbone of the world, where the water begins.’
Where giant kangaroo rats — and other critters — thrive
Thanks to concerted conservation, California’s Carrizo Plain is once again home to rare wildlife.
Would you pay 1% more for wildlife?
A bill in the Oregon Legislature would tax tourists for conservation.
With support from the BAND Foundation and the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, High Country News is telling the broader story of conservation in the Western U.S. — a story that unites communities, crosses property lines and connects humans with their fellow species.
How pronghorn outran the ice age
Can they outrun an uncertain climate future?
Mexican wolves are rebounding, but are they ready for delisting?
A new bill from Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar looks to remove endangered species protections.
Colorado wolves are on the move
Almost two years after reintroduction began, at least one wolf has ventured outside the state.
Get to know the western spotted skunk
‘The stench kind of permeates everything’: What it takes to study a stinky, secretive skunk
How ranchers accused of breaking the rules dodge oversight
Elected officials interfere with agency efforts to protect the land.
Congress made it easier to ignore grazing’s harm to public lands
Federal law requires agencies to review the environmental impacts of grazing, but government employees allege the system is riddled with loopholes.
The wealthy profit from public lands, and taxpayers pick up the tab
Roughly two-thirds of grazing on Bureau of Land Management land is controlled by just 10% of permit holders.
How we reported Free Range, our grazing investigation
Data and analyses used in the stories.
After Trump cuts, seeds sit in the warehouse
Western groups lose federal grants for urgent restoration and conservation projects.
Washington moves to conserve its state forests
The proposal would protect 77,000 acres of ‘structurally complex’ forests.
Osburn’s bridge to nowhere becomes a lifeline for Silver Valley’s elk
Idaho’s newest wildlife crossing didn’t need to be built. It already existed near Coeur d’Alene.
Access to public land? There’s an app for that
Tech is facilitating land access in new, and sometimes fraught, ways.
The invisible ‘giant nets’ that catch the smallest songbirds
Collaboration and tiny technology are revolutionizing the study of migration.
Public lands and wildlife turn to stopgap solutions
In the face of federal cuts, volunteers, businesses and others help keep programs afloat.
Searching for the next generation of American kestrels
Around California’s Mount Diablo, chicks are hard to find.
Get to know the American kestrel
This small falcon faces an existential crisis. Can nest boxes help?
An Interior Department veteran looks to the future
Jacob Malcom, founder of Next Interior, shares his fears for the agency and his hopes for a post-Trump reconstruction.
Protests greet Western governors in Santa Fe
After a bipartisan outcry, Senate proposal to sell public lands is blocked for now.
Senate Republicans want to sell 3 million acres of public land
The majority of public land is too fire prone and far away from communities to even make sense for housing, research…
Sea otters to get another chance in Oregon and Northern California
The Siletz Tribe received a $1.56 million grant to reintroduce Xvlh-t’vsh.
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