After months of negotiations, seven basin states wait for Congressional approval.
Colorado River
Posted inMarch 4, 2019: El Nuevo Movimiento
One family makes sense of losing its Colorado River water
Pinal County farmers suffer more drastic cuts than cities in Arizona’s tenuous drought plan.
Posted inMarch 4, 2019: El Nuevo Movimiento
Environmental victories don’t guarantee economic justice
Without a just transition, the Navajo Generating Station closure will have harmful consequences.
Posted inArticles
One tribal nation could decide the fate of Arizona’s drought plan
The Gila River Indian Community could pull out of the plan in light of a new bill threatening to undermine their water rights.
Posted inArticles
How best to share the disappearing Colorado River
Seven Western states must rewrite the rules of the river and cut water use — before they bleed the critical artery dry.
Posted inArticles
Update: Razorback sucker populations are increasing
The endangered fish seem to be recovering in the San Juan River.
Posted inNovember 12, 2018: Old Wests, and new
Reconciling wildness and the American dream
A writer finds a home in the wild landscapes of the West.
Posted inOctober 29, 2018: When your neighborhood goes BOOM
The precarious plan for the Lake Powell Pipeline
Officials in Utah’s fastest-growing county are obscuring details of what a high-stakes project will cost taxpayers.
Posted inArticles
Arizona delays the Colorado River drought agreement
Interests of a few hundred farmers are contributing to postponements in basin-wide plan.
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Why Jon Kyl was chosen to replace John McCain
Amid a reshuffling of Arizona’s political deck, the state’s governor makes a water-driven decision.
Posted inAugust 31, 2018: The Big Threat to Bighorns
Latest: Tribes gain more leverage over Western water
A recent ruling could settle the unresolved groundwater rights of nearly 240 tribes.
Posted inArticles
Paddling the Colorado’s headwaters reveals a wrung-out river
Shrinking snowpacks and low waterways will affect everyone from tourists to farmers.
Posted inJuly 23, 2018: Pay for Prey
The Colorado, lifeblood and sculptor of an arid West
In a new book, a longtime river-runner invites readers to sit down by the Colorado’s riverside and listen to its stories.
Posted inAugust 6, 2018: What Are We Doing Here?
In the Southwest, ‘drought’ doesn’t tell the whole story
Why ‘aridification’ is a better term for our new, more parched reality.
Posted inJune 25, 2018: Little Weed, Big Problem
A new era of uranium mining near the Grand Canyon?
With scant data on risk, Republicans push to open a ‘perfect’ mining opportunity.
Posted inJune 11, 2018: Reclaiming the Klamath
Tribal nations hold some of the best water rights in the West
But to use them, tribes often must negotiate settlements that need federal approval.
Posted inArticles
Ask a Scientist: How to make talking about science personal
Jonathan ‘Peck’ Overpeck studies climate change — and tweets about it, too.
Posted inArticles
The playground of Lake Powell isn’t worth drowned canyons
Before a writer knew the true cost of Glen Canyon Dam, ‘ignorance was bliss.’
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Arizona agency angers Colorado River users upstream
The spat offers a preview of what water politics could look like in a drier future.
Posted inArticles
All (climate) politics is local
During a dry spring, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet visits rural Colorado to talk economics and agriculture.