Novelist Frank Bergon meanders through a changing West and traces old stories refreshed.
Agriculture
Posted inOctober 28, 2019: Where Hunting Still Has Meaning
Environmental study of Shasta Dam height halted
Stakeholders disagree over whether raising the dam would offer benefits or detriments.
Posted inArticles
Can better broadband and big data save rural America?
Independent farms need better internet to survive, let alone to compete with the large agriculture industry.
Posted inArticles
Diseases are spreading with climate change. Panic doesn’t have to.
As illnesses like Valley fever emerge in new areas, health officials keep residents informed instead of in fear.
Posted inArticles
Trump’s Fish and Wildlife pick is entangled with industry
Aurelia Skipwith has ties to water interests fighting endangered species protection and worked for ag giant Monsanto.
Posted inArticles
Birds of prey wielded as guardians of orchards and landfills
Falconers and bird abatement can be used to protect crops, prevent the spread of disease, and keep refineries and housing developments clean.
Posted inSeptember 16, 2019: "We can either wait on Mother Nature – or we can give it a shot ourselves."
A water ‘win-win’ in Colorado? Not so fast.
A plan to export water from the San Luis Valley to the Denver Metro area is met with defiance.
Posted inSeptember 16, 2019: "We can either wait on Mother Nature – or we can give it a shot ourselves."
Colorado farmers fight to save their water and their community’s future
‘We can either wait on Mother Nature — or we can give it a shot ourselves.’
Posted inSeptember 16, 2019: "We can either wait on Mother Nature – or we can give it a shot ourselves."
Trump’s trade war is draining profits for Montana wheat farmers
Today’s agricultural producers battle both environmental threats and geopolitical conflict.
Posted inArticles
I used to raise cattle for slaughter. Now I refuse to eat meat.
Once a holistic rancher, Laura Jean Schneider reflects on her decision to abandon the industry.
Posted inAugust 5, 2019: From Prison to Fireline
A family held their relatives captive; a community set them free
A labor trafficking case shows Westerners can sometimes still count on each other to protect those in need.
Posted inArticles
How beef colonized the West and America’s dinner plate
The author of a new book explains how beef consolidation in the late 19th Century shapes our ecology, economy and politics.
Posted inJuly 21, 2019: A Radical Return
Rural anxieties derailed Oregon’s climate plans
Arguments over state environmental policy impacts ignore broader challenges to rural communities.
Posted inArticles
Bees, trees and a sense of unease
Will mutual dependence mean shared destruction for California’s almonds and bees?
Posted inJune 24, 2019: Losing Lake Coeur d'Alene
The West’s worst fires aren’t burning in forests
Range fires get bigger every year, threatening sagebrush habitat and rural towns.
Posted inArticles
Farmers turn to prisons to fill labor needs
With immigration numbers low, the agriculture industry looks to another form of disenfranchised workers.
Posted inJune 10, 2019: 'None of this happened the way you think it did'
Potato living; safe landings; swarms at the bend
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inJune 10, 2019: 'None of this happened the way you think it did'
Ranchers sue major meatpackers
Plaintiffs allege ‘The Big Four’ conspired to reduce cattle prices.
Posted inJune 24, 2019: Losing Lake Coeur d'Alene
One rancher’s plan to establish water buffalo in Colorado
The challenges and possibilities of water buffalo ranching in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Posted inMay 27, 2019: Public Pushback
Can small-scale farmers grow a healthier California?
Where industrial monocrops dominate, small farms form an agricultural resistance in the Central Valley.