We begin the new year facing serious problems, so in this issue we look for possible solutions. Our feature considers proposals to breach four dams on the lower Snake River, which would benefit endangered fish and Indigenous tribes, but harm local farmers and the river’s industrial users. A proposed wildfire-risk map ends in ashes in Oregon, while Indigenous women respond to innovative workshops on prescribed and cultural burning. In Colorado, scientists employ assisted migration, moving Rio Grande cutthroat trout to cooler waters. Locals fight to save black walnut trees while fending off gentrification in Northeast Los Angeles. Washington’s shellfish farmers contend with climate change, immigration crackdowns and housing. Pima County, Arizona’s medical examiner sets new standards for identifying deceased migrants in the Borderlands. What will a third consecutive year of La Niña mean for Western weather? Saudi Arabia’s ties to Arizona predate current controversies over groundwater pumping, and growing up gay in conservative Colorado Springs was even harder than you think.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/55-01-Jweb-anuary-2023-cover.jpg?resize=400%2C483&ssl=1)
Why are Saudi farmers pumping Arizona groundwater?
A conversation with Natalie Koch, author of ‘Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arabia and Arizona.’
HCN is staying put
We may have sold our building, but we’re not moving after all.
What comes after the fire?
Friction from the past intensifies in environmentally stressed regions.
Toad lickers, bear wrestlers and beard fanciers
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
‘I’m not separate from the land, I’m a part of it’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Can dam removal save the Snake River?
See the river as the climate changes, development continues and consequences grow with inaction.
La Niña expected to serve up a hat trick
The weather pattern hits the West for a third consecutive winter.
Letters to the editor, January 2023
Comments from readers.
Fire risk map ignites controversy
Southern Oregon residents lash back at wildfire preparedness rules.
What if Indigenous women ran controlled burns?
The Karuk Tribe’s first-of-its-kind training seeks to extinguish hypermasculinity in firefighting culture.
Plainsong
A poem by J.P. Grasser.
Can assisted migration save the Rio Grande’s cutthroat?
Scientists wage an upstream battle to save trout in a warming West.
Growing up queer in Colorado Springs
In the wake of the Club Q mass shooting, reflections on an adolescence in the ‘Evangelical Vatican.’
How protecting trees can fight gentrification
LA activists are wielding black walnut protections to stop development.
Why the country’s largest shellfish farm is struggling to hire and retain workers
And how it’s dealing with climate change and housing costs to make back-breaking work a little easier.
How a medical examiner’s office transformed to address migrant death
Amid a shortage of forensic pathologists, Arizona’s Pima County has identified thousands of those who lost their lives in the Borderlands.