‘If you don’t have clean water, you really don’t have anything.’
Climate change
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.
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The Colorado River rift abides
States’ stalemate persists as Lake Powell races toward de facto deadpool.
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It’s time to rethink how we care for our public lands and waters
Two former, high-ranking Interior Department employees, from opposing political parties, call for an overhaul of public-land management.
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Snowmaking could be the future of skiing. But at what cost?
As the climate changes, ski resorts have begun relying more on energy and water-intensive machine-made snow.