Locals’ efforts prompted buffers for auto shops and air filter rules for new buildings.
Growth & Sustainability
Posted inArticles
See the West’s overlooked pollinators — like never before
As native bees sink in the shadow of honeybees, one artist creates a vivid showcase.
Posted inJanuary 21, 2019: What Killed Washington's Carbon Tax?
Update: The decline of Western snowpack is real
Data confirms climate model predictions of less snow that melts earlier in the season.
Posted inJanuary 21, 2019: What Killed Washington's Carbon Tax?
Feds to open most of Arctic refuge coastal plain to drilling
Despite ecological harm, energy development moves forward in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Posted inJanuary 21, 2019: What Killed Washington's Carbon Tax?
Cutting carbon requires both innovation and regulation
Where coal-state Sen. John Barrasso got it wrong in a recent New York Times op-ed.
Posted inArticles
What the 2018 farm bill means for the West
Lawmakers see hemp legalization and conservation funding as the big wins.
Posted inArticles
Update: Court blocks old-growth logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest
Meanwhile, the Trump administration pushes to allow roads and more cutting.
Posted inJanuary 21, 2019: What Killed Washington's Carbon Tax?
Water savings may cause suffering for burrowing owls
Can the tiny raptors adapt to irrigation changes in California’s warming farm fields?
Posted inArticles
How to prepare for a wildfire
Some basic steps to stay safe if you live near Western wildlands.
Posted inNovember 12, 2018: Old Wests, and new
The contradictions of iconic lands
The photos inside two new volumes show the grandeur and vulnerability of landscapes like the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears National Monument.
Posted inArticles
A high-stakes water reckoning looms in the West
Be it a wet or a dry year, the water rich in Colorado’s North Fork Valley take their share.
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
See what a tech production surge means for Tesla workers
With few housing options in Storey County, Nevada, new employees are finding alternative living situations.
Posted inArticles
The country’s cheapest water is in the West’s driest cities
By charging more for nonessential gallons, cities could keep water affordable for everyone.
Posted inArticles
Students explore nature in densely built Los Angeles
Educators hope this elementary school will foster a commitment to science and conservation.
Posted inArticles
The U.S. has become a nation of suburbs
In the West and elsewhere, suburban areas are growing as cities decline.
Posted inSeptember 17, 2018: The Pioneer of Ruin
Latest: Forest Service report calls for changes in wildfire management
Increases in timber sales, prescribed burns and thinning projects are needed to save life and property.
Posted inArticles
‘Organic’ litter is not copacetic
Even orange peels be damned — don’t toss your food on the trail.
Posted inArticles
Idaho’s economy depends on ‘foreign-born’ workers
Immigration raids threaten the $10 billion dairy industry in the Gem State.
Posted inSeptember 17, 2018: The Pioneer of Ruin
We should all be more like ‘the bluebird man’
Meet Al Larsen, a citizen scientist with decades of meticulous records of the West’s bluebirds.