Oregon allocated $10 million for the 2024 wildfire season. It cost more than $350 million.
Economy
Posted inArticles
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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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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New nuclear safety rules reduce protections for workers, the public
‘They’re pulling away from what’s kept us safe all these years.’
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Skimo is hot, in hot times
The newest Olympic winter sport arrives just as snow droughts are becoming more likely.
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These meatpacking workers may be deported. They voted to strike anyway.
The largely immigrant workforce at JBS’s flagship U.S. plant, in Greeley, Colorado, is refusing to back down after accusing the company of poor working conditions.
Posted inFebruary 2026: The Recording Artists
As the planet heats, insurance premiums rise
Charting the extreme weather-driven insurance crisis.
Posted inArticles
Would you pay 1% more for wildlife?
A bill in the Oregon Legislature would tax tourists for conservation.
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Congress passes environmental funding without Trump’s deep cuts
But the bipartisan effort still trimmed climate research and fails to solve agencies’ chronic underfunding.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
How the gaming economy helps tribes navigate shifting policies
Tribal sovereignty and prosperity are tied to gaming’s sovereign source of income.
Posted inArticles
Why Colorado River negotiations are so difficult
Basin states have had 2 years to figure out how to share the shrinking river. Will they get there before the feds step in?
Posted inIssues
Western economies falter under the Trump administration
Tariffs, layoffs and federal funding clawbacks stress budgets.
Posted inOctober 2025: Limits to Growth
Ventura County is turning former farmland into affordable housing for farmworkers
This California county has some of the nation’s strictest protections for agricultural land, but developers are using a new exemption to house people who work the land.
Posted inArticles
The rural West’s increasing health care costs haunt the shutdown
Health insurance costs are skyrocketing, and federal tax credits that make it more affordable are expiring.
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Tribal governments fend off the worst of the impacts of the shutdown
In the weeks leading up to the shutdown, tribal nations hefted their political and economic capital to protect services for their citizens.
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What the government shutdown means for public lands
Many parks will stay open, and oil and gas permitting will continue — even as tens of thousands of staff are furloughed at NPS, BLM and USFS.
Posted inArticles
Denver’s storied tradition of sex work, then and now
In her new book, Michelle Gurule reveals her experience as a sugar baby and just how little has changed about the industry in the last century.
Posted inArticles
How to make electricity in the West cheaper and more reliable
Regionalized power markets give utilities more buying options, driving down prices and boosting stability.
Posted inArticles
Resistance to data centers rises on the border
In Doña Ana County, New Mexico, residents have long struggled to access clean water. Now, developers plan to spend $165 billion on a massive data center complex.
Posted inSeptember 2025: Who Controls Our Food?
The Rio Grande’s pecan problem
How Big Ag is threatening New Mexico’s water supply.