Magazine

July 1, 2022

Life in the West can be pretty confusing. Poaching is always a serious crime, unless you’re a non-Native hunter on the Wind River Reservation. Salmon tastes great, but it’s not all that healthy when farmed fish escape in a fragile ecosystem. Do you know what color your hydrogen is? It’s hard to fish on the Arkansas River when wealthy landowners and the state of Colorado keep yelling, “Get the hell off my lawn!” Raising healthy families isn’t easy in West Eugene, Oregon, when you live next door to a toxic industry. Tribes have a chance to reclaim Willamette Falls — *if* they can somehow work together. LiDAR, a laser mapping technique, teaches researchers about deadly landslides and inspires Daniel Coe to create extraordinary art. The U.S. will never heal its relationship with the land until it heals its relationship with the land’s Indigenous people. Elsewhere in this issue, we listen to new podcasts, read Elvia Wilk’s Death by Landscape, and wander around Wyoming in search of meadowlarks.

Feature

Who does the state of Wyoming consider a poacher?

Three years ago, the Supreme Court upheld the Crow Tribe’s off-reservation hunting rights. But treaty hunters in Wyoming still risk prosecution, even as non-Natives poach wildlife on tribal land with impunity.

Savannah Maher July 1, 2022 From the print edition

How a salmon farm disaster changed Northwest aquaculture forever

Thousands of salmon escaped into the Puget Sound. Then the controversy began.

Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins July 1, 2022 From the print edition

Reportage

A chronic polluter closes its doors. What’s next?

The owner of a wood treatment plant is trying to walk away from its mess in West Eugene, Oregon. Neighbors say, not so fast.

Kylie Mohr June 23, 2022 From the print edition

The Colorado stream case that could revolutionize river access

‘There are waters I’ve wanted to fish for 50 years, and I’ve been denied the use of a state-owned resource.’

Ben Goldfarb June 27, 2022 From the print edition

Why can’t the public access the West’s biggest waterfall?

Willamette Falls used to be a public place of laughter and sharing. It could be again, if painful politics don’t eclipse revitalization efforts.

B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster June 24, 2022 From the print edition

Landslide risk is on the rise thanks to climate change, and states are looking to identify hazards

Washington — home to deadliest landslide in U.S. history — is working to prevent future loss of life by scanning the state for new threats.

Michael Crowe July 1, 2022 From the print edition

Editor's Note

Lesson from a great blue heron

Adaptation is key to a coastal future.

Jennifer Sahn July 1, 2022 From the print edition

Facts & Figures

The hydrogen blues (and greens and grays)

Is this wonder fuel truly green — or just another fossil fuel in disguise?

Jonathan Thompson July 1, 2022 From the print edition

Photo Essay

The beauty buried in the data

Art created using laser data reveals the history and geological wonder of Washington’s landscape and rivers.

Daniel Coe July 1, 2022 From the print edition

Essays

Getting over not fitting in

Why I have a jackalope tattoo, and another of a covered wagon.

Nina McConigley Essay July 1, 2022 From the print edition

Poetry

The Next Sky

A poem by Sherwin Bitsui.

Sherwin Bitsui June 30, 2022 From the print edition

Perspective

Environmental justice is only the beginning

If the U.S. ever hopes to be in right relationship with the lands and waters it has seized, it must first restore its relationship with Indigenous peoples.

Dina Gilio-Whitaker Perspective July 1, 2022 From the print edition