The Colorado city’s unwieldy expansion offers a cautionary tale for similar Western locales.
Colorado
Posted inArticles
Exchange or exploitation? Ski towns turn to foreign students
The J-1 program is the main source of migrant labor for the ski industry.
Posted inApril 16, 2018: Cashing in on Standing Rock
A flurry of research illuminates snow’s foes
New studies detail how hotter temperatures, humid air and wind-blown dust can pummel the Western snowpack.
Posted inMarch 19, 2018: Desert, Divided
Video: The end of snow
A film explores how people will adapt to a future with less snow.
Posted inArticles
Undocumented: A life, a home and a family in the rural West
What it’s like for one undocumented woman and her family in Trump’s America.
Posted inMarch 5, 2018: Drilling Chaco
Latest: Outdoor recreation recognized as economic contributor
The Commerce Department affirms the growing clout of outdoor retailers.
Posted inArticles
Don’t give up on riding the rails
A writer muses on a recent loss of confidence in the West’s rail system.
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A new structure for the Interior Department takes shape
A massive shake-up would shed senior staffers and state boundaries. Could it work?
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A Western town says ‘no’ to guns in schools
School shootings raise a question that once seemed settled in Mancos, Colorado.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
Trespassing aliens; Garbage privacy; Brand your calves
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inApril 16, 2018: Cashing in on Standing Rock
A Dreamer dreams of running for office
Over a year into the Trump presidency, reflections from a young immigrant.
Posted inArticles
How to learn to love a new landscape
A writer trades in the ‘crack-me-open ache of space’ in Colorado for the lushness of western Oregon.
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To save our oceans, let’s start with our rivers
Dams and pollution affect rivers across the West, to the detriment of our oceans.
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A Southwest water dispute reaches the Supreme Court
Why a fight over groundwater has left farmers in New Mexico feeling stranded.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Traversing the mighty Colorado River
A writer sets out on a geographic journey to understand the imperiled water source.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Water-fat mountains; Pence visits Aspen; Oregonians gas up
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
‘Orphaned’ oil and gas wells are on the rise
Wells left behind by industry threaten to overwhelm Western states.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Chronic wasting disease hits Montana deer, elk
State scrambles to respond to discovery of deadly neurological disease
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Hemp is one town’s way out of a uranium mining past
A former mining region embraces a trade with a ‘hippie’ reputation.
Posted inArticles
The tiny power plant that shapes the Colorado River — merely by existing
The Shoshone power plant is the cornerstone for water rights in the upper river.