We pull off the highway into a gritty-looking industrial park less than 100 yards from the road and snap our rods together. It’s just a few steps down the banks to this Seattle river where we can see the silver bellies of the pink salmon flipping in the current, slinging themselves upstream. We tie lures […]
Rivers & Lakes
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Raw manure, public water and a failed crackdown: the case of Snydar Farm
Washington’s Dept. of Ecology appears hesitant and often barred from regulating agriculture.
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To save Washington’s Yakima Basin fish, just add water
A drought plan in one of the West’s most forward-thinking watersheds reconciles salmon and agriculture.
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Why are the feds sticking with a racist name for a Washington lake?
Update from HCN staff, Oct. 23, 2015: Two days after this piece was published, the National Park Service reversed its decision and recommended that the U.S. Board of Geographic Names change the name of Coon Lake to Howard Lake, Glenn Nelson reports. “We recognize that our previous decision on this issue overlooked relevant information, and […]
Posted inOctober 12, 2015: The Rise of Lisa Murkowski
The Colorado River’s desalination plant is on its last legs
The obscure Paradox Valley Unit keeps the Colorado River’s salinity levels in check for farmers, but causes quakes upstream.
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Groups sue Wyoming over ‘data trespassing’ law
The laws make it a crime to collect data on open land if the collector lacks certain permissions.
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Can herbicides keep Tahoe blue?
A new chemical weed management plan has the lake’s water suppliers nervous.
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Why Silverton still doesn’t want a Superfund site
A polluted Colorado town wants to clean up on its own terms. But it’s been saying that for years.
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Invasive crayfish in Oregon devastate native newts
At Crater Lake, the National Park Service is seeking solutions — but it could be too late.
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
Latest: Salmon, coast recovers after Elwha dams come down
Despite recovery, warm temperatures still threaten salmon spawning.
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Gold King Mine water was headed for the Animas, anyway
The nuts and bolts of acid mine drainage.
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Five Western waterways worse than the orange Animas
Colorado’s Animas River has gotten the most attention — but it’s hardly alone.
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Animas dispatch: Hundreds celebrate the river’s reopening
Durango may be moving on, but wider fears about the toxic spill still reverberate.
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Animas River spill: only the latest in 150 years of pollution
Mapping the other threats to the Animas and San Juan Rivers.
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Wild Science: Migratory birds on the Great Salt Lake
Scientists explore how phalaropes respond to less water and increased salinity.
Posted inAugust 17, 2015: Little Big Bird
Sea lions feast on Columbia salmon
Fishermen, tribes and environmentalists flummoxed as predator numbers swell below Bonneville Dam.
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Why is bad science protecting the Lower Snake River dams?
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the country’s dam-building agency, sounded like it knew what it was talking about in 2002. After spending six years and $30 million, the agency confidently recommended not breaching four fish-killing dams on the Lower Snake River. But now, backed by 15 years of data primarily from the Corps itself, […]
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When our river turned orange
Nine things you need to know about the Animas River mine waste spill.
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California drought renews push for water storage projects
A long-standing proposal to enlarge Shasta Dam gets a boost from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Posted inAugust 3, 2015: Outflanked
Does the fate of the silvery minnow foretell the Rio Grande’s future?
Biologists go to great lengths to keep the fish alive, but it’s nearly extinct in the wild.