The West is always in motion, a place of constant change and contradiction. Condos rise as dams fall: Latino immigrants journey thousands of miles to build houses for millionaires in Montana, while Northwest tribes take the lead on restoration as dams come down and the Klamath River is reborn. Throughout the West, some groups try to nourish community while others rejoice in its destruction. In a Salt Lake suburb, for example, an unusual co-op grows queer community along with herbs and vegetables, while extremists exploit the fears stirred up when thieves and vandals attack Western electric substations. Meanwhile, tribes build wildlife crossings and help reconnect the landscape. Elsewhere, Indigenous artist Nizhonniya Austin talks about playing a fictional Indigenous artist in Showtime’s black comedy The Curse; a woman, her daughter and her niece hunt seals in Alaska; and the legal scholar Charles Wilkinson’s final book untangles the long struggle over Native fishing rights that culminated in the epic Boldt Decision.
Undamming the Klamath
Tribal nations are restoring the river while reclaiming and revitalizing their cultural heritage.
Bozeman’s boom depends on immigrants but struggles to support them
One of the nation’s fastest-growing cities relies on a vulnerable population of workers to fuel its economic explosion.
How attacks on energy substations play into the hands of extremists
When the West’s electrical grid is targeted, motives tend to matter less than ensuing propaganda.
Los motivos ocultos de la prosperidad de Bozeman
El auge económico de una de las ciudades estadounidenses con mayor crecimiento depende del trabajo de un grupo vulnerable de personas.
Tribes lead on wildlife passages
How a new pot of federal funding could help reconnect Native lands.
Scientists are tracking ecological changes as the Klamath River dams come down
A giant sediment pulse — millions of cubic yards of silt, clay and dead algae — trapped for decades behind the dams is now flowing downstream.
The West remains cattle country
Livestock has indelibly altered the region’s land, water and air.
An all-lady seal-hunting crew
Seeking sustenance from the sea.
Art without the mask of Native identity
Multidisciplinary artist Nizhonniya Austin talks about authenticity, trust fund pottery hipsters, and her role as Cara in ‘The Curse.’
The Boldt Decision and where the rule of law held
Charles Wilkinson’s posthumous book examines the complexities of the landmark tribal sovereignty case.
One for the road
A poem by Patron K. Henekou.
Une dernière pour la route
A poem by Patron K. Henekou.
‘I attended a mission school for a year and a half’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Bird-naming brouhahas, buggy burritos and a goat-milking meetup
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
The era of dam removal is here
Bringing down the Klamath dams allows for cultural revitalization among the Klamath tribes.
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Share your thoughts about why you read the magazine and how we could serve you better.
Letters to the editor, May 2024
Comments from readers.
A Salt Lake Valley collective brings gardening and queer communities together
At the Mobile Moon Co-op, LGBTQ+ folks find a safe space to nurture land and one another.