Reintroduction of the marine mammals may restore coastal ecosystems but also threatens shellfish industries and tribal self-governance.
Wildlife
Posted inArticles
Wildfire kills Klamath fish: ‘Everything that’s in there is dead.’
Landslides of ash have poisoned tens of thousands of fish in the already-imperiled river.
Posted inArticles
Alaska’s Willow Project promises huge amounts of oil — and huge environmental impacts
Residents in nearby Nuiqsut worry that oil and gas development is ‘too fast and too much.’
Posted inArticles
Was Yellowstone’s deadliest wolf hunt in 100 years an inside job?
Veteran park service employees were involved in last year’s hunt, but one says he’s a victim of a federal ‘witch hunt.’
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
Flooding could breathe life into Yellowstone ecosystem
Although destructive for people, high-water events are a natural part of river systems.
Posted inArticles
Deep-sea mining creates a ‘cylinder of sound’ risking impacts on marine life
A new report shows that noise from just one mine could travel more than 300 miles across the ocean.
Posted inJuly 1, 2022: Living with Rivers
Who does the state of Wyoming consider a poacher?
Three years ago, the Supreme Court upheld the Crow Tribe’s off-reservation hunting rights. But treaty hunters in Wyoming still risk prosecution, even as non-Natives poach wildlife on tribal land with impunity.
Posted inJune 1, 2022: A Legacy of Weapons and War
Wildlife in the West: The good, the bad, the in-between
Conservation and wildlife corridors can help, but is it enough?
Posted inJune 1, 2022: A Legacy of Weapons and War
The Yurok Tribe is bringing condors home to Northern California skies
Hunters, dairy farmers, utility operators, loggers, government agents and conservationists have all supported the tribe in helping North America’s largest land-based birds.
Posted inArticles
Snail scars provide insight into crab population changes
Small chips in snail shells provide a 100,000-year record on California’s crustaceans.
Posted inArticles
See the Western conservation projects getting Infrastructure Act money this year
Approximately $68 million will be delivered to more than 100 projects across the country — many of which are based in the West.
Posted inArticles
When the quietest of all Hawaiian honeycreepers went silent
Despite conservation efforts to save the po’ouli, the species was declared extinct in 2019.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
A terrible lighthouse, swift treasure hunters, and a paranormal ghost town
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
The lion king of Los Angeles
After Miguel Ordeñana discovered mountain lion P-22 in urban LA, he became a key advocate for habitat connectivity, which is essential for the species’ survival in Southern California.
Posted inArticles
On grieving trees
For years, a young writer saw the tell-tale signs of beetle kill. And then the infestation came for the pines at her own home.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
Cows, coal and climate change: A Q&A with the new BLM director
Tracy Stone-Manning discusses how the federal agency sees conservation, the climate crisis and the Indigenous history of public lands.
Posted inArticles
Dixie Valley toad gets rare emergency protection
5 years after its discovery, the amphibian is now protected from a geothermal development.
Posted inApril 1, 2022: The Archives Issue
Hungry, habituated bears; viral pirates; truffle snuffers
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.