Go behind the scenes with scientists investigating declining populations.
Articles
A door squeaks open for rural energy independence
A Colorado co-op just won some freedom from its giant power supplier. Now what?
Grand Canyon floods are rebuilding sandbars
But there are limits to what can be done to tweak dam management to benefit ecosystems.
How the West will feel groundwater shortages
New research shows stressed water supplies, as demand increases.
Wrangell recovers from its timber hangover
Can a small Alaska town overcome the booms and busts of resource development?
Soaking Wet in Colorado
Every day since early May, an incredibly cheerful robin has been singing from the top of a tree behind my house. Chee-oo-woot, chee-oo-woot, chee-oo-weet, chee-oo woot. He’s the Gene Kelly of birds. Because for six weeks straight it’s been snowing, hailing, spinning tornados, flooding, or pouring here in Denver. And this bird keeps singing in […]
Lake Mead watch: six inches from the level that triggers cutbacks
If water curtailments go into effect, which states are most vulnerable, and why?
A uranium mine is anything but a good neighbor
Driving the road between uranium mines on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim recently, I got a taste of what it’s like to live along a truck route for hauling uranium. Unfortunately, it’s a reality that may soon face anyone living between northern Arizona and southern Utah if a uranium mine reopens close to the South […]
Hillary would charge new fees for fossil fuel extraction
Candidate for Democratic nomination tells Republican presidential hopefuls to heed scientists on global warming.
Milltown renaissance: Who would have believed it?
Below Montana’s famous big sky, the environmental wounds of history fester. Along the banks of the Clark Fork River, for example, from Warm Springs to Milltown, Montana, one of the largest Superfund sites in the United States stretches across 120 miles of communities and streambeds. Large swaths of the Clark Fork River have slowly been […]
Ranch Diaries: An East Coast visitor adds some perspective
Sometimes hosting an outsider is the perfect reboot.
Canada can’t expand oil sands and also meet global climate goals
103 scientists call for a moratorium on new development.
Go behind the scenes of wildlife science
Sneak preview of a new HCN video series that explores field research shaping the West today.
Mapping 7 million gallons of crude oil spills
A thousand pipeline ruptures or spills reported nationwide in the past five years.
Battle of the Lands: Denali wins
Readers voted in our bracket-style tournament to crown the West’s best public lands on which to recreate.
Outfitters seek exemption from new federal minimum wage
Bill would allow recreation businesses to operate on federal land without paying staff $10.10 an hour.
HCN forum: Local control in a federal West
Hear a panel of experts discuss whether communities should have more authority over federal lands in their backyards.
Senate committee votes to block Obama’s clean water rule
Republicans say new rule would give the federal government too much authority over waterways and wetlands.
Prairie dog case challenges ESA
District judge rules ESA has no say over species that don’t have multi-state presence or economic impact.
Mad Max rides into the West
Last Thursday, I emerged from a movie theatre weak-kneed and sweaty-pitted, nerves fried and brain buzzing, simultaneously terrified and exhilarated by the sight of my own car in the parking lot. I had just seen Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller’s deranged ode to vehicles, explosions, and maybe, just maybe, the importance of environmental advocacy. Most […]
