For now, the state is counting on voluntary cuts among vegetable and pecan farmers. But that might not be enough.
Climate change
Posted inArticles
On Mount Shasta, a photographic record outlasts living memory
The re-photo project maps what used to be.
Posted inJuly 2026: Lost in the Weeds
Collapsing mountains in Alaska are causing massive tsunamis
Climate change is shrinking glaciers, destabilizing the state’s coastline and shaking its tourism industry.
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.
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Heat waves increase the West’s wildfire risk
A new study found that 42% all the area burned by Western fires had occurred during or right after a heat wave.
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If you can’t find a Utah peach this year, climate change may be to blame
Record-breaking spring heat followed by freezes led to 95% crop losses.
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Glen Canyon Dam dances with deadpool
Megadrought on the Colorado River has put the dam in a precarious position.
Posted inJune 2026: River Revival
Managed retreat in Ruidoso could mean more public lands
Facing fires and floods, homeowners in Lincoln County, New Mexico, are considering buyouts designed to move them out of harm’s way.
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Can resistance stop a massive data center next to the Great Salt Lake?
Utah has become the latest front in a high-stakes fight to build the infrastructure powering the A.I. boom.
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How wildfire smoke affects fertility
A growing body of research is examining the impact of wildfire smoke on the ability to conceive.
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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 inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
Get to know the Pacific newt
From Vancouver Island newts to California’s high country newts, the toxic Taricha genus includes some unique and deadly Western species.
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
Colorado’s Arkansas Valley water confronts contamination, climate change and political drama
‘If you don’t have clean water, you really don’t have anything.’
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
The plight of the pinecone cowboy
The future of Western forests depends on professional pinecone collectors. They’re slowly being starved out of existence.
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Nukes and AI require 1.4 million gallons of water a day at New Mexico lab
In a state that’s already short on the resource, Los Alamos National Laboratory expects to double water use.
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Wildfires are torching state budgets
Oregon allocated $10 million for the 2024 wildfire season. It cost more than $350 million.
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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.
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Emergency plans for the Colorado River buy time, not solutions
The federal government ordered Flaming Gorge water released and cuts to Lake Powell releases, to prevent collapse.
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The ramifications of record-shattering heat on the West’s ecosystems
‘It was the worst possible way to end the winter that was already worse than normal.’
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
Wildfires transform soil, turning a nutrient into poisonous chromium-6
New research shows how severe blazes create a carcinogen and how long it might persist.