From Alaska to Wyoming, evidence shows the climate is off-kilter in the West.
Climate change
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Climate change intensifies tsunami threat in Alaska
As glaciers retreat and permafrost thaws, massive landslides threaten coastal communities.
Posted inArticles
New Mexico’s oil fields have a sinkhole problem
The hunt for industrial brine has opened massive and unexpected sinkholes, which is taking delicate work, and more than $54 million, to fill.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Infographic: A patchwork of lands fragments wildlife migration
New legislation helps connect private and public parcels for wildlife flow.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Northwest co-op builds for a local food future beyond big ag
‘I’ve always felt like this was something to do in case the world doesn’t end.’
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Trump gutted NEPA regulations, but a Biden presidency could restore them
An environmental lawyer discusses the future of the country’s bedrock environmental law.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
How conservation groups confront distrust from communities of color
In order to attract a broader constituency, organizations must first address a history of missteps and exclusion.
Posted inArticles
Colorado’s wildfires require a drastic and collective fix
Climate change should be seen as a number one priority.
Posted inArticles
Wolverines denied endangered species protections
USFWS: ‘If wolverines need snow, we think that there’s going to be enough snow out there for them.’
Posted inArticles
Endangered pygmy rabbit population halved by fast-moving fire
‘Not all is lost.’
Posted inArticles
Southwest experiences mass bird die-off
‘To see this many individuals and species dying is a national tragedy.’
Posted inArticles
Dispatch from an irreversibly changed New Mexico
Laura Paskus’s new book examines wildfire, drilling on the Navajo Nation and climate grief.
Posted inArticles
West coast wildfires signal a planetary fire age
Beyond climate change, history has helped create the pyrocene.
Posted inArticles
Burn out: Frequent fires are changing Western landscapes
Previously burned areas are less likely to re-burn, but intense fires could erase forests.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
In a small Montana town, there’s a thing with feathers. Hope? Not so much.
Maxim Loskutoff’s debut novel explores the fraught history of the Bitterroot Valley.
Posted inArticles
Alaska’s salmon are getting smaller
New research finds some species diminished by as much as 10% and that the climate crisis may be a driving factor.
Posted inArticles
The world’s largest battery could be the answer to California blackouts
A new project in San Diego will substantially increase the state’s storage capacity.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
Extreme heat is here, and it’s deadly
Gearing up for the fight against a new climate enemy.
Posted inArticles
Extreme wildfires make their own dangerous weather
And climate change is making it even worse.
Posted inArticles
Who’s minding Montana’s abandoned oil and gas wells?
Left-behind extraction wells pollute after drilling and pumping stops. One foundation gets proactive.