The impacts will reverberate through recreation, river ecology and local tribes.
Arizona
Posted inArticles
Tohono O’odham fight border wall on sacred, sovereign lands
The nation is using the courts and lobbying congressional Democrats to stop construction near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Southern Arizona.
Posted inSeptember 2026: On the Trail with Gary Paul Nabhan
Large solar project on Navajo Nation leaves residents skeptical
As renewable energy expands, questions about how renewable the projects are regulated on Diné land emerge.
Posted inSeptember 2026: On the Trail with Gary Paul Nabhan
On the road with a desert sage
A writer travels the Borderlands with ethnobotanist and author Gary Paul Nabhan.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
What it’s like inside Eloy’s detention center as a trans woman
Karla Saenz, a Venezuelan asylum seeker, alleges neglect and transphobia, but also found fortitude and solidarity.
Posted inIssues
‛Nada ni nadie robará mi identidad’
Una solicitante de asilo venezolana transgénero relata sus 44 días en uno de los centros de detención más mortíferos del país.
Posted inArticles
Federal plan makes steep Colorado River water cuts to Arizona, California and Nevada
The Bureau of Reclamation’s final environmental review leaves the door open for states to reach an agreement on how to share the water — and for legal battles.
Posted inArticles
A new section of the billion-dollar border wall in Arizona is bent out of shape
At least four panels of the wall in the San Rafael Valley were mysteriously damaged months before a controversy-plagued contractor even finished construction.
Posted inJuly 2026: Lost in the Weeds
Canelo Hills ladies’-tresses grow only in the Southwest’s vanishing ciénegas. Can they be rooted there again?
Scientists restore an endangered orchid to Arizona’s desert wetland.
Posted inArticles
Treat water like family, not profit
Federal and state approaches to managing the Colorado River – as well as land and wildlife – reflect a lack of experience.
Posted inArticles
Controversial gas pipeline across Navajo Nation to begin
The pipeline would eventually cross 234 miles of tribal land. The hearing initiating the project caught community members off guard.
Posted inArticles
As Roadless Rule rollback looms, grassroots hearings take root
In absence of federal meetings, nonprofits step up to hold public comment on Forest Service plan to lift protections from roadless areas.
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
‘Just noticing birds improves your health’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
What a bombing in Nevada reveals about the nation’s appetite for violence
The rise of domestic terrorism in the West.
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
A DNA archive critical to identifying missing migrants has itself gone missing
The database is no longer accessible after the organization that started it shut down.
Posted inMarch 2026: The Uncertainty of Farming in the Colorado River Basin
A shrinking Colorado River is forcing farms to change
From low-flow nozzles to baling hay at night, see how farmers are adapting to less water.
Posted inArticles
The Colorado River rift abides
States’ stalemate persists as Lake Powell races toward de facto deadpool.
Posted inFebruary 2026: The Recording Artists
LandBack advances across the West
More ancestral lands are being returned to tribes, while other important sites remain at risk.
Posted inJanuary 2026: Deep Time in the West
The Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater have a surprising link
Mysterious driftwood high in Grand Canyon caves hints at the legacy of Arizona’s huge impact crater.
Posted inFebruary 2026: The Recording Artists
Mexican wolves are rebounding, but are they ready for delisting?
A new bill from Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar looks to remove endangered species protections.