Challenging times call for innovation, and the West is as full of ideas as it is of problems. Chronic wasting disease is killing deer and elk throughout the Rocky Mountains, and with no cure in sight, some researchers think predators might help combat its spread. In Butte, Montana, ecologists work with engineers to keep migratory birds from landing on — and dying in — the Berkeley Pit. It makes economic and environmental sense to give up fossil fuels, but the natural gas industry is fighting electrification. Now that Roe v. Wade’s gone, startups are helping rural women get reproductive care. Women hunters shoot down stereotypes while feeding themselves and their families, and dogsled races keep traditions alive in Alaska. An Indigenous protest 20 years ago helped inspire Nevada’s newest national monument, Ave Kwa Ame. Real-life Jackson, Wyoming, is not quite the refuge it seems in ‘The Last of Us.’ Grigri or gris-gris? Outdoor recreation companies borrow words but not worldviews from Black and Indigenous communities.
‘Everyone needs to be out here experiencing this!’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
What a piece of climbing equipment can teach us about creating community outdoors
From GRIGRI to gris-gris.
Lezley Saar’s ‘Diorama Drama’ and me
Sculpture that captures the colors of grief.
Why electrify?
The push to evict natural gas appliances from buildings, explained.
Letters to the editor, April 2023
Comments from readers.
A thriving community keeps mushing traditions alive in southwest Alaska
Sled-dog race organizations and volunteers support mushers on the Kuskokwim River.
A deadly disease stalks deer and elk. Do predators help or hurt?
In the Rockies, chronic wasting disease can devastate herds; scientists are looking for solutions.
Golden Jubilee
A poem by Derek Sheffield.
Navigating the new health-care deserts
Post-Roe, startups help those seeking abortions shrink travel distances and carbon emissions.
Tell us what you think
Share your thoughts through our latest reader survey.
Finding tools for the future
Westerners continue to innovate despite adversity.
Wienermobiles, elephant seals and mountains of maggoty acorns
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
A deer camp for all
Hunting mentor DeAnna Bublitz breaks down stereotypes.
How do you keep migrating birds off a giant toxic lake?
Engineers struggled to keep snow geese away from Montana’s deadly Superfund site, but ecologists have a new plan.
Jackson as a safe haven in ‘The Last of Us’ is science fiction
Only the extremely wealthy might survive the Apocalypse in today’s western Wyoming town.
Tribal nations’ lasting victory in the Mojave Desert
Before Avi Kwa Ame became a national monument, there was the fight for Ward Valley.
The natural gas pushback
Local communities want to electrify, but gas interests have other ideas.