A growing body of research is examining the impact of wildfire smoke on the ability to conceive.
Climate change
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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.
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Why mycorrhizal fungi networks need more protection
Scientists say the West’s hidden biodiversity warrants more attention.
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
The West’s snow drought meant record dryness — but also record flooding
From the Cascades to the San Juans, the nearly snowless winter wasn’t the same everywhere.
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Tribal leaders reflect on a year of uncertainty — and possibility
Federal turnover and policy shifts have forced Indigenous communities to adapt.
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Why intentional fires can still be safe during this dry spring
Land managers are finding pockets of cool, wet conditions, allowing them to safely reduce future fire risk.
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Public lands need less extraction and more rewilding
In the age of extinction, we need a new model for these landscapes and the communities that rely on them.
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The West’s heatwave ‘virtually impossible without climate change’
Climate researchers found the region’s extreme weather is caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.
Posted inMarch 2026: The Uncertainty of Farming in the Colorado River Basin
What can we learn from salt lakes?
A Q&A with Caroline Tracey about her new book, which documents the plight of one of our most unusual ecosystems.
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How federal cuts are reshaping Alaska’s communities, research and species management
A former U.S. Geological Survey research scientist reflects on the Trump administration’s sweeping changes in the agency.
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Why Western states are pushing for plug-in solar
State laws and product standards could make or break the nascent portable solar market.