The Trump administration looks to preserve ranching heritage, but it’s not clear it will work.
Wildlife
Posted inArticles
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.
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
Get to know the Pacific newt
From Vancouver Island newts to California’s high country newts, the toxic Taricha genus includes some unique and deadly Western species.
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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.
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
The Southwest’s superbloom was a beautiful nightmare
A writer experienced everything in spring: supernatural plants, chronic illness and a multi-generational curse called climate change.
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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.
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
The resilience of the elusive vaquita
Nature’s enduring mysteries buoy efforts to save the most endangered marine mammal on Earth.
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
Sam the Toucan, capybaras over coffee, Vellela vellela and a mechanical rhino
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
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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.’
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Why mycorrhizal fungi networks need more protection
Scientists say the West’s hidden biodiversity warrants more attention.
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
How I learned to stop worrying and love flies
These underdogs of the animal world have superhero-like powers. Why don’t we appreciate them more?
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A new era of industrial logging looms
Mapping the possible impacts of the Roadless Rule overhaul
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
The Trump administration sent Greater Yellowstone into chaos. What’s next?
The region survived a year of deep cuts and layoffs. Here’s who is picking up the pieces.
Posted inJune 2026: River Revival
Utah’s new study aims to kill ‘as many cougars as possible’
Critics say the state’s attempt to boost ungulate populations lacks scientific grounding and transparency.
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Public lands need less extraction and more rewilding
In the age of extinction, we need a new model for these landscapes and the communities that rely on them.
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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.
Posted inMarch 2026: The Uncertainty of Farming in the Colorado River Basin
Wildlife loves Wyoming’s ‘Golden Triangle.’ So do oil companies
How Trump’s oil-and-gas agenda threatens a critical, and little-known, ecosystem.
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How federal cuts are reshaping Alaska’s communities, research and species management
A former U.S. Geological Survey research scientist reflects on the Trump administration’s sweeping changes in the agency.
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Badger signs: An essay from Terry Tempest Williams’ new book ‘The Glorians’
Thoughts on an elusive animal and the afterlife.