Blowholes are more common than you think.
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What rural homelessness looks like
The lessons learned after spending months embedded with unhoused communities in Oregon.
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Could building on public land address the housing crisis?
The West has a plethora of land and a shortage of houses. Some are wondering if a solution lies within.
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Disaster disparities in the West
The risk of climate catastrophe is complex, but people of color often face ‘unnatural hazards.’
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A new law seeks to tame mineral extraction at the Great Salt Lake
The new limits may represent a shift in Utah’s cozy relationship with industry.
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The good, the bad and the ugly of the state legislative season
While Congress does nothing, Western state lawmakers pass a flurry of consequential and/or crazy — bills.
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Is it cowboy poetry if it’s not written by a cowboy?
An event protesting the cowboy poetry festival faces questions of growth and authenticity.
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How states make money off tribal lands
Ten states own 1.6 million acres of land within 83 tribal nations’ reservations. How did they get there?
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Oil industry profits don’t pay for cleanup
A failure of regulation has allowed industry to avoid the true cost of cleaning up its unplugged wells.
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The great Clean Girl vanishing act
The search for an ‘invisible’ perfume is rooted in frontier aesthetics.
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How a small town with limited resources is planning for climate change
Oregon’s Grants Pass is known for its climate, and its sustainability plan aims to keep it that way.
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A cartography of loss in the Borderlands
Mexicali’s Colorado River Family Album documents what is no more.
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How the Colville Tribes are restoring traditional lands and wildlife
The tribes are re-establishing native species wiped out by systematic colonization.
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See how bad your community’s air will be in 30 years
New data forecasts the nation’s future air quality, all the way down to individual addresses.
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During climate chaos, a witness and champion of the West
A Q&A with author and educator Laura Pritchett.
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What happened to the Great American Outdoors Act?
A historic public lands act passed in 2020. Here’s what it’s done so far.
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What this winter’s snowfall says about the future of skiing
A snow-obsessed meteorologist dishes on this year’s precipitation — and what it means for winters to come.
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A proposed bottle-deposit bill in Washington would help the environment — and low-income communities
The legislation would add a premium for bottles returned by organizations supporting people who rely on deposit refunds.
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Wild ice: A training ground for rural skaters
On the Western Slope of Colorado, frozen reservoirs and rivers offer interesting terrain for skating.
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Stolen Indigenous land is the foundation of the land-grant university system. Climate change is its legacy.
Extractive industries are filling public university coffers on stolen land.