A million cubic yards of toxic sludge will be dredged from Seattle’s only river.
The Latest: EPA released final cleanup order for Duwamish River
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
The dust detectives
Scientists are closer than ever to understanding how microscopic airborne particles shape the Earth, and the West.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Six decades of river exploration
Review of “Downstream Toward Home” by Oliver A. Houck.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Shards of hope in the Mojave
Review of “29” by Mary Sojourner.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Photographs of New Mexicans spanning 20 years
Review of “Taos Portraits: Photos by Paul O’Connor.”
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Of time and wounds
Willows are pioneers of raw, moist habitats (“Have returning wolves really saved Yellowstone?” HCN, 12/8/14). Except for the few, but often common, species capable of vegetative reproduction, dense grasses are anathema to willow spread, and young plants grow fastest. The story of moisture-loving riparian species, such as willows and sedges, catching sediments is writ large […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Non-native goats in Utah’s La Sal Mountains
How bad are these ungulates for the ecosystem?
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Hunting for scorpions
Seeking one of Earth’s most ancient land invertebrates.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Holiday publishing break
Welcome new employees, and farewell Martin Litton
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Grinchosaurus in Utah, an exchange of letters with Wendell Berry and more.
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Game of drones
Nevada looks to the boom in unmanned aerial vehicles for an economic boost.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Fish out of (wild) water
I read with great interest this week’s feature about the Indian perspective on salmon restoration in the Columbia Basin, a subject I have studied for many years (“The Great Salmon Compromise,” HCN, 12/8/14). The author covered one aspect of a complex subject rather well, but he left out several pertinent facts. Hatchery-bred fish do not […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Dust to dust
That early spring afternoon looked like the opening shot for a bad doomsday flick. The sky west of Paonia, Colorado, brooded yellow at first, fading to sepia around its edges. Then, as the wind rose, it gusted to a hard orange-red. The mountain skyline to the southeast — just that morning, a white and blue […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Descent into an ice-age bonebed in Wyoming
The giant pit may hold clues about the demise of the West’s ancient megafauna.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Aerial photos of drilling at Pawnee grassland
Oil and gas development has been ongoing for decades in northeastern Colorado.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
A question of fluency on the Navajo Nation
A cultural debate leaves the presidency in limbo.
Posted inArticles
The oil boom hasn’t busted, but it’s straining at the seams
Oil patch communities and states are starting to feel the impacts of sliding prices.
Posted inArticles
Remembering an environmental science pioneer
Theo Colborn uncovered effects of chemicals, like those used in fracking, on the human body.
Posted inArticles
When Christmas was all about hard times and a little frolicking
As near as I can tell from historical accounts, in order to celebrate a traditional Christmas in the West a couple of hundred years ago, you needed to get so riotous and tipsy that you could forget that you were starving. Rather than decorate any evergreen trees, you’d happily burn them as firewood. In 1800, […]
Posted inArticles
A progress report on the Colorado River pulse
Researchers are sifting through the impacts of last spring’s release.