This June, we meet a remarkable woman: Letitia Carson, who was born into slavery and yet became the only Black woman known to secure a homesteading claim, despite Oregon Territory’s strict Black-exclusion laws. Now, Black Oregonians want to preserve the homestead site — without forgetting the Indigenous people who were forcibly removed from that land. A gifted photographer looks at rural life in Colorado’s North Fork Valley. Can geothermal energy help power the West? The Canada lynx is on the move as the snow it depends on recedes. Locals are becoming community scientists to protect the Salton Sea. HCN examines Wyoming Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman’s relationship with Indian Country, and we learn about making syrup from the Northwest’s bigleaf maple trees. Ohtani basketball is a Japanese American tradition in California, while queer culture flowers amid that state’s superbloom. We interview John Vallaint about Canada’s wildfires and his new book, Fire Weather. Jane Wong’s new memoir reveals how compulsive gambling tragically derailed an Asian American family — her own.
Ferry felines, ornithopters and Tokitae going home at last!
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Gambling’s hidden price
Meet Me Tonight In Atlantic City details the cost of gambling addiction for one Asian American family.
Is Harriet Hageman an ally of Indian Country?
The rookie congresswoman says she wants to advance tribal autonomy.
Geothermal: Hot or not?
This old, abundant, relatively clean energy source has barely been tapped.
‘It’s about supporting the queer community, uplifting people and bringing magic here’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Letters to the editor, June 2023
Comments from readers.
Sugaring the Pacific Northwest
How climate and cost cramp bigleaf maple syrup production.
A refuge in the North Fork
Harvesting memories on Colorado’s Western Slope.
The Mirage of Marriage
A poem by Karen Holmberg.
In search of answers at the Salton Sea
To protect air and water quality, shoreline residents become community scientists.
Read with us
As summer arrives, so too does another summer reading challenge.
The West is an accumulation of stories
Complex and different to all, the region changes with time and tellings.
How do you count the elusive lynx?
Wildlife cameras may be key to understanding the threatened species’ response to climate change.
The many legacies of Letitia Carson
An effort to memorialize the homestead of one of Oregon’s first Black farmers illuminates the land’s complicated history.
When fire goes feral
A conversation with John Vaillant, author of ‘Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World.’
How the tiny brine shrimp can help protect the Great Salt Lake
A conversation with the sixth-grade activists behind Utah’s new state crustacean.
The flamboyance of wildflowers
My Pansy Craze Expedition commemorated an important era of queer culture before it was trampled like a super bloom.
The fight to keep Ohtani basketball alive
Increasing housing costs and the pandemic threaten an important tradition in the Japanese American community.