Environmental work being done by tribes across the country will be made more difficult now that the Trump administration has more narrowly defined ‘harm.’
Politics
Posted inOctober 2026: Origin Stories
How old battles over land, power and identity continue to shape the West’s politics
Origin stories from an unsettled region.
Posted inArticles
The Forest Service is poised to hand off one of the West’s most visited landscapes
Critics say this is a test case for privatizing public lands.
Posted inArticles
Montanans are demanding better Indian education, setting an example for other Western states
Experts say good education is about relationships – and a constitutional amendment doesn’t hurt.
Posted inOctober 2026: Origin Stories
Hail is a multibillion-dollar problem — and could get worse
At a Colorado cold lab, scientists race to better understand hail in a warming world.
Posted inArticles
How the Interior secretary has let down public lands and the nation
Doug Burgum was once seen as a conservationist. Reality shows otherwise.
Posted inArticles
American Samoans punished for voting in Alaska get relief after a yearslong nightmare
Alaska officials accused American Samoans caught in a unique legal limbo of illegally voting but finally dropped those charges this month.
Posted inArticles
Wyoming chooses public lands at the ballot box
Voters finally felt the threat to public lands had reached a critical point, observers say.
Posted inArticles
Tohono O’odham fight border wall on sacred, sovereign lands
The nation is using the courts and lobbying congressional Democrats to stop construction near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Southern Arizona.
Posted inArticles
What the new rules for a shrinking Colorado River mean for tribal nations
‘None of us is in the exact same situation.’
Posted inArticles
Solar and wind continue to push coal off the West’s grid
Trump’s war on clean energy falters.
Posted inArticles
Arctic drilling in Alaska won’t get environmental review in new proposal
The Interior Department will soon publish a ‘categorical exclusion’ that will rubber stamp oil and gas development in Alaska’s remote National Petroleum Reserve.
Posted inArticles
Mining execs bought big in company stock days before Bears Ears’ cuts
House Democrats have opened an investigation for insider trading.
Posted inArticles
It’s a make-or-break year for Hood River’s pear farmersÂ
After a dismal 2025 season, the pears being picked right now could mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
‘Quite frustrating:’ what it’s like to have a treaty with the United States
Heirs to the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott explain their ancestors’ wisdom and how they defend it today.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
Want to do something about climate change? Talk about it
Atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe explains why conversation on the topic is so important and how to take this step toward climate action.
Posted inArticles
Utah is killing the Great Salt Lake
Profligate waste and perverse tax incentives are drying up the West’s largest natural body of water.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
Deb Haaland’s vision for New Mexico comes from tradition
A Q&A with the state’s likely next governor about tribal sovereignty and politics.
Posted inArticles
The conflict over permanent climbing anchors in wilderness
Climbers concerned about safety are pitted against wilderness advocates worried about overcrowding and unfettered bolting.
Posted inArticles
Pueblo leaders, New Mexico lawmakers speak out to protect Chaco Canyon
Officials call push to remove an oil and gas buffer around the culturally critical monument ‘an absolute gut punch.’