Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Wildfire
Posted inArticles
New Mexico’s rising climate-disaster costs are being paid by oil and gas revenue
The state is in a double bind of fossil fuel extraction and the destructive results of burning it.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
In a warming world, wildflowers offer a warning
The discourse between plants and fungi changes with increasing soil temperatures, impacting meadows, nutrients and wildlife.
Posted inArticles
The Spokane burns show that not even suburbia is immune to wildfire
The Old Trails Fire burned through the city’s northwest corner — an area considered outside the highest risk zone.
Posted inArticles
A ban on chainsaws in wilderness is performative, not practical
An experienced trail crew leader argues that, in today’s forests, the rigidity of the regulation buries what it’s designed to protect.
Posted inArticles
I used to ignore prediction markets. Then I learned people were betting on wildfires
My story on prediction market wildfire wagers exposed the gamification of natural disasters.
Posted inArticles
Will betting on wildfires lead to arson?
Fire survivors say using prediction markets to gamble on wildfire is “morally reprehensible.”
Posted inArticles
Sen. Mike Lee targets the Roadless Rule
The Utah senator launched another unpopular assault on public lands.
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inArticles
Do chainsaws belong in designated wilderness?
The Forest Service has approved the tools for use in some protected areas to clear neglected trails.
Posted inJune 2026: River Revival
On Oregon’s McKenzie River, an unprecedented approach to restoration takes shape
A bold process aims to repair the damaged watershed.
Posted inJune 2026: River Revival
Managed retreat in Ruidoso could mean more public lands
Facing fires and floods, homeowners in Lincoln County, New Mexico, are considering buyouts designed to move them out of harm’s way.
Posted inArticles
How wildfire smoke affects fertility
A growing body of research is examining the impact of wildfire smoke on the ability to conceive.
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
Wildfires are torching state budgets
Oregon allocated $10 million for the 2024 wildfire season. It cost more than $350 million.
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 inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
Wildfires transform soil, turning a nutrient into poisonous chromium-6
New research shows how severe blazes create a carcinogen and how long it might persist.
Posted inArticles
A new era of industrial logging looms
Mapping the possible impacts of the Roadless Rule overhaul
Posted inArticles
Why intentional fires can still be safe during this dry spring
Land managers are finding pockets of cool, wet conditions, allowing them to safely reduce future fire risk.
Posted inArticles
The BLM wants to ramp up logging. Oregonians aren’t so sure.
People are grappling with the agency’s notice that signals a significant increase in timber harvesting across 2.5 million acres.