Fifty years after the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the Mexican wolf recovery plan walks a fine line between human meddling and trusting mother nature.
Arizona
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water
‘The fight for our lives’: Arizona’s water regime limits the Hopi Tribe’s future
A 45-year legal saga leaves the tribe fighting for their economic ambitions through water access.
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water
How private interests benefit from tribal water settlements
When power players like mining and agriculture are involved, tribal nations, usually the senior-most water-rights holders, often must fight obstruction.
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water
Decades after the Colorado River flooded the Chemehuevi’s land, the tribe still doesn’t have its share
Nearly all of the tribe’s water remains in the river and ends up being used by Southern California cities.
Posted inArticles
Supreme Court keeps the Navajo Nation waiting for water
The court case was the Nation’s bid to accelerate decades of fruitless negotiations and secure water for its reservation.
Posted inArticles
A dizzying look back from Phoenix’s future
A sci-fi scenario from 2008 offers insight into present day news.
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water
How Arizona squeezes tribes for water
A High Country News/ProPublica investigation shows that Arizona goes to unusual lengths in water negotiations to extract restrictive concessions from tribes.
Posted inArticles
Oak Flat development is on pause. What that means for tribal nations
The U.S. Forest Service has told a federal court it is not sure when it will move ahead with the review process.
Posted inArticles
The breakdown on the Colorado River ‘breakthrough’ water deal
The agreement isn’t the sustainable, permanent one that’s necessary.
Posted inArticles
Western resort towns risk being ‘loved to death’
A new report details the downsides of tourism and population booms – and what communities can do about it.
Posted inArticles
A weed is swallowing the Sonoran Desert
The invasive Stinknet plant fuels wildfires, irritates lungs and smothers native flora. ‘It’s everywhere’ and removal efforts in Arizona can’t keep up.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence
Tenacious specimens of the Grand Canyon
In the 1930s, two women risked their lives to record a scientific survey of the region’s plants.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence
The spirit of the Rillito
‘New animism’ seeks a connection to nature’s pulse.
Posted inArticles
San Carlos Apache call for international intervention over copper mine at Oak Flat
At the U.N., leaders describe the destruction of Indigenous sacred sites as a ‘major human rights violation.’
Posted inArticles
Atmospheric rivers ease Western drought
Record-breaking rain and snow bring salvation — and destruction — to a drought-parched West.
Posted inArticles
Artist Cecilia Vicuña’s Sonoran Quipu reassembles the desert
The installation at Tucson’s Museum of Contemporary Art is made from the landscape.
Posted inArticles
Q&A: The Diné worldviews in the SCOTUS water rights case Arizona v. Navajo Nation
What would it look like to interpret the treaties as tribes understood them?
Posted inArticles
Western legislatures take on foreign land ownership
Six bills in six states propose limits on who can own land, homes and natural resources in the region.
Posted inArticles
What the heck is the Sonoran Avalanche Center?
A sardonic social media account gains popularity from taking down sacred ski idols and imagining a future without snow.
Posted inMarch 1, 2023: Moving Parts
‘I’ve always been a fan of getting people to empathize with a landscape’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.