The nation’s trails are disappearing
Government-issued maps offer a promise for safely exploring our public lands, but they no longer reflect the reality of what’s actually on the ground.
Congress passes environmental funding without Trump’s deep cuts
But the bipartisan effort still trimmed climate research and fails to solve agencies’ chronic underfunding.
How geology not only shapes the world, it shapes us
A geologist’s daughter reflects on deep time and her father’s influence.
6 takeaways from our public-lands grazing investigation
Subsidies prop up ranching, grazing degrades the land and politics underpin the system.
“Legend-dairy” mountain peaks, visiting bears and remembering a blubbery blowout
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Digging out in the Palisades Fire burn zone
Portraits of the workers shoring up a broken world.
A year after the Eaton Fire, permit delays keep Black families from returning
Once known for its trees and community, Altadena is now a test of who — and what — gets to come back after disaster.
What does ‘time immemorial’ really mean?
An overused phrase goes under the microscope.
Meet the oldest rock in the West
Wyoming’s 3.5 billion-year-old geologic history reminds us that Earth is ever-changing.
These Americans were prosecuted for voting
In a corner of Alaska, American Samoans are facing prosecution for participating in democracy in the only country they’ve ever known.
Americans generally like wolves − except when reminded of politics
Recent studies found that attitudes toward wolves became more polarized when people’s political identities were activated.
An age-old monument faces modern threats
Scientists say Grand Staircase-Escalante isn’t reaching its full research potential.
How plate tectonics revolutionized our understanding of Earth
And how scientist Tanya Atwater was at the center of it all.
An introduction to deep time in the West
Step away from the churn of day-to-day, season-to-season, election-to-election urgencies.
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In This Issue
January 2026: Deep Time in the West
We begin the new year by taking a deep dive into an even deeper subject: the mysteries of geologic time. We leave the turbulent present to visit the past, exploring the West long before it became the West. What stories would you hear if you…
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Water
‘We’re basically slitting our own throat’: Montana rolls back water-quality standards
Skimpy snow makes life worse for skiers — and everyone else
Top Interior Department official has ties to Thacker Pass lithium mine
Wildlife
Cascades frogs vanished from Lassen Volcanic National Park in 2007. Now, they’re back.
Mexican wolves are rebounding, but are they ready for delisting?
Going bananas in Portland, any portabella in a storm, and squirrels gone wild in California
Public Lands
Water across the West at risk as Trump targets national monuments
National parks aren’t just for tourists. They’re an essential home for wildlife.
How ranchers accused of breaking the rules dodge oversight
Indigenous Affairs
We need to talk about the pretendians in our midst
Colorado cannot heal until it confronts Sand Creek honestly
Washington approves over 99% of archaeological permits, records show
Communities
‘It is quite difficult to maintain a Colorado Christmas tree farm’
‘Our mission is to change the world through eco-cultural tourism’
Can AI translate Native languages in times of disaster?
Books
The fallout from Ruby Ridge
‘It’s a story of hope’: Reflections on undamming the Klamath
Denver’s storied tradition of sex work, then and now
In the News
Ben Nighthorse Campbell: A U.S. senator who shoots from the hip
He improvises more than he calculates.