A century-old Oregon water law lets one wealthy region turn the desert green while water-starved ag fallows commercial crops.
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Sen. Mike Lee targets the Roadless Rule
The Utah senator launched another unpopular assault on public lands.
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White Salmon has been fighting for free mail for decades
The small Washington town exemplifies a broader problem across the West, where some pay for a service others get for free.
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Heat waves increase the West’s wildfire risk
A new study found that 42% all the area burned by Western fires had occurred during or right after a heat wave.
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If you can’t find a Utah peach this year, climate change may be to blame
Record-breaking spring heat followed by freezes led to 95% crop losses.
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Interior delayed endangered wolf release in New Mexico
Karen Budd-Falen, Interior’s associate deputy secretary, former private attorney and grazing advocate, intervened in the release after meeting with former clients.
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The curious comeback of Putah Creek’s salmon
All the efforts to rewild a Northern California stream leads to salmon rewilding themselves.
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Do chainsaws belong in designated wilderness?
The Forest Service has approved the tools for use in some protected areas to clear neglected trails.
Posted inJuly 2026: Lost in the Weeds
Billions in border wall contracts are going to a Montana firm run by a Trump donor
Barnard Construction’s leadership donated over $1 million to the president’s campaign. They’re among the administration’s top wall contractors.
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Can resistance stop a massive data center next to the Great Salt Lake?
Utah has become the latest front in a high-stakes fight to build the infrastructure powering the A.I. boom.
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Elk herd habitat near Dinosaur National Monument to open for drilling
On June 16, the feds will open Colorado’s biggest public land sale in modern history, threatening wildlife and recreation.
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O’Keeffe Country was never O’Keeffe’s to begin with
Indigenous Tewa artists reassert their relationship with the land in a new exhibition at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
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Making grazing great again?
The Trump administration looks to preserve ranching heritage, but it’s not clear it will work.
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How wildfire smoke affects fertility
A growing body of research is examining the impact of wildfire smoke on the ability to conceive.
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Treat water like family, not profit
Federal and state approaches to managing the Colorado River – as well as land and wildlife – reflect a lack of experience.
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The Continental Divide Trail is being militarized for the border wall
A new border wall has turned one end of the long-distance trail into a construction zone.
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Migrating wildlife need lots of space between houses, research shows
Sometimes a mile or more. Clustered rather than scattered rural homes could help.
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How Interior helped pushed bison off Montana’s federal lands
In an uncommon move, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum intervened in a case that involved the former legal clients of Karen Budd-Falen, one of his top deputies.
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The billionaires’ club at the center of America’s public lands fight
A controversial land swap orchestrated by the mega rich could be ‘a harbinger of what’s to come’ for public lands under Trump.
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Ted Turner owned vast swaths of Western land. What happens to them now?
The media mogul had a lifelong commitment to endangered species, ecotourism and supporting rural agriculture.