After a chicken coop, a tipi and no electricity, this four-season camper is our most modern home yet.
Ranch Diaries: Tiny living, 23 miles from town
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Rants from the Hill: Scaling Lone Tree
Learning to see a one-tree forest in the Great Basin Desert.
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A battle for America’s trust
The war between the fossil fuel industry and Big Green may boil down to who can tell the best story.
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A rural utility bucks against its power supplier
In a coal-producing region, this western Colorado co-op fights for renewables.
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Fowl play: California’s drought fingered in bird deaths
Native pigeons and waterfowl fall victim to avian disease.
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Cloud seeding is still a work in progress
Wyoming just spent $14 million and the better part of 10 years on a rigorous scientific experiment to evaluate whether it’s possible to get extra snow from winter storm clouds through cloud seeding. The conclusion? The final results were thin: There was a 3 percent increase in precipitation, but a 28 percent probability that the […]
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Who should manage Grand Teton’s private inholdings?
A dead wolf and jurisdictional confusion in an iconic national park.
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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid announces retirement
The Nevada senator is a formidable leader and champion of progressive issues.
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Wyoming’s coal industry faces uncertain future
New study examines threats to state’s coal-dependent economy.
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Land-based foods won’t float polar bears through ice declines
As climate change sends bears searching for calories, new research suggests there’s no substitute for seals.
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Business parks: Feds sell naming rights to iconic public lands
Agencies seek corporate revenues in the face of fiscal woes.
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Change in the air
I didn’t expect change to come from the air — not the kind of change that transforms the essence of a quiet place. I assumed the biggest risk of life-altering change would most likely come from wildfire. I watch smoke plumes erupt every year from this high ridge in central Colorado, overlooking the southwest flank […]
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Federal public land transfers get a Congressional boost
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and a majority of her colleagues signal support for the pro-transfer movement.
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A fracking fight that we’re still fighting
Last November, San Benito County became the first county in California to stand up to the most powerful industry on Earth. We banned fracking and other intensive oil extraction methods, despite a Big Oil pushback that was lavishly funded and Orwellian in its methods of attack. San Benito is a landlocked rural county, nestled between […]
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Colorado’s snow is dust-free for the first time in a decade
But conditions are still prime for early snowmelt and summer drought.
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Snapshot of a drought in progress
Southwest Colorado’s snowpack is dismal and melting fast.
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Unwanted California tires end up in rivers and beaches
But efforts to use the trash as building materials in Mexico offer new hope.
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Lifties and ski patrol go head to head in Telluride
It’s a Telluride tradition: the annual St. Patrick’s Day lifties versus ski patrol softball game. To understand the magnitude of this yearly matchup, it’s important to understand the social dynamic of these two groups in any ski town. Ski patrol is full of alpha males and females, talented and aggressive skiers—in general only skiers—who have […]
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Tribal water compact moving through Montana legislature
But the bill stirs up longstanding criticism of basic tribal sovereignty.
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Don’t blame bark beetles for fire risk
A new study suggests hot dry weather, not beetles, make forests go up in smoke.