A writer experienced everything in spring: supernatural plants, chronic illness and a multi-generational curse called climate change.
Plants
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
The plight of the pinecone cowboy
The future of Western forests depends on professional pinecone collectors. They’re slowly being starved out of existence.
Posted inArticles
The ramifications of record-shattering heat on the West’s ecosystems
‘It was the worst possible way to end the winter that was already worse than normal.’
Posted inArticles
How New Mexico is ‘building a forest’ by solving a seedling shortage
A Q&A with the New Mexico Reforestation Center director about what it takes to replant a burn scar post-wildfire.
Posted inArticles
Why mycorrhizal fungi networks need more protection
Scientists say the West’s hidden biodiversity warrants more attention.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
Going bananas in Portland, any portabella in a storm, and squirrels gone wild in California
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inOctober 2025: Limits to Growth
What do fens do? Make peat, store water and help combat climate change
Meet the researchers restoring these unique wetlands high in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains.
Posted inArticles
Counting flowers to read the saguaro’s future
Saguaros are struggling to cope with extreme weather, monitoring studies reveal.
Posted inArticles
In stressful times, what do the plants and animals have to say?
The time-honored tradition of humans looking to the natural world can help us survive difficult times.
Posted inArticles
Why isn’t agrivoltaics taking off in Arizona?
Logistical hurdles and a lack of solar incentives keep panels and plants apart.
Posted inArticles
What Sonoran Desert fungi are teaching scientists
The understudied mycorrhizal fungi are vital to ecosystems and may prove critical to the survival of fragile deserts stressed by climate change.
Posted inArticles
Audio: Under the shade of a nurse tree
Sacrificing for the benefit of other species.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
The true cost of the huckleberry industry
The Ḱamíłpa Band of the Yakama Nation has wanted an end to commercial picking of a critical cultural resource for years. Finally, the Forest Service is expected to make a decision.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
What an ancient saguaro can teach us
A ‘grandpa’ desert keystone species has seen more than you have.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Lo que un antiguo saguaro puede enseñarnos
Un ‘abuelo’ del desierto que ha visto mucho más que tú
Posted inArticles
Audio: How nature can thrive despite human impact
What disturbance-loving plants teach.
Posted inArticles
Endangered wildflower threatened by Nevada lithium mine
Tiehm’s buckwheat is found nowhere else in the world, and the planned mine would sit square in its habitat.
Posted inArticles
A wildflower is teaching the non-Native public about food sovereignty
Oregon’s third Camas Festival highlights the joys and responsibilities of tending the iconic northwestern plant.
Posted inIssues
A Salt Lake Valley collective brings gardening and queer communities together
At the Mobile Moon Co-op, LGBTQ+ folks find a safe space to nurture land and one another.