This Big Ideas Special Issue is dedicated to migration and the myriad ways it continues to reshape the American West — through the movement of people, plants, animals, and ideas, and their constant flux. These days, the biggest driver of change is the challenge of a chaotic climate and the movement of people, and from communities ignored by the American West’s founding myth of Manifest Destiny.
Warm weather and a warm welcome
We welcome a new associate photo editor and celebrate life changes.
The myth of American progress
The West may not represent progress, but it does represent constant flux.
In southwestern Utah, unceasing growth means increased tension
Access to public lands has caused St. George to become one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country.
Flying fish; grizzly bear hunts; cougar telepathy
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Estranged in America
What happens to a community when its sense of belonging begins to unravel?
Immigrants aren’t the real threat to public lands
Population growth isn’t the problem. Look to the American lifestyle and economy instead.
Behind the iconic, dystopian images of the New Deal
A short-lived photography project captured rural poverty during the Great Depression.
Laughter to cope with daily tragedies at the border
Luis Alberto Urrea’s new novel reflects on the family relationships that challenge and transcend the U.S.-Mexico border.
The long, strange trip of Deer 255
The 242-mile migration underscores the need to protect wide tracts of land that sustain migrating wildlife.
Farmworkers face illness and death in the fields
‘The reality is that the machinery of growers is taken better care of than the lives of farmworkers.’
Conservationists give assisted migration a second look
The West’s climate is changing too quickly for some species to keep up. Should people intervene?
Truckers take on human trafficking
‘Our idea was to turn a passive audience into a disruptive force.’