When times get hard, Westerners find ways to help out. The folks who run Bozeman, Montana’s only year-round shelter, for example, do a lot more than provide beds for unhoused neighbors on cold winter nights. In Phoenix, Arizona, and throughout the West, Spanish-language radio keeps listeners informed as well as entertained. California wildlife managers collaborate with ranchers and wolf advocates to help ease the toll predators take on livestock, and Colorado’s rural electric co-ops remain determined to go green despite funding delays. Meanwhile, Jackson, Wyoming’s residents wrestle with overtourism. In just 60 days, DOGE has managed to wreak havoc throughout the West. Tribal communities lack the resources they need to fight wildfires, and recently fired Forest Service workers mourn the end of a hard but fulfilling lifestyle. Don’t give up: We can change our climate-destroying behavior. Westerners know how to have fun, ice fishing in Alaska and cruising Albuquerque’s streets in colorful lowriders. Is there anything on Earth more absurd than a Cybertruck?
The toll of Bozeman’s housing crisis
At the small city’s only emergency shelter, demand is higher and the work is harder than ever.
An intimate look at New Mexico’s lowrider culture
Photographer Gabriela Campos takes you on a ride showing the scene as poetry in motion.
The hidden costs of wolf conservation
‘Pay for presence’ aims to compensate ranchers for predator-related losses, but Western states might not be able to afford it.
Is sustainable tourism possible?
As Western mountain towns struggle with overtourism, Jackson Hole tries out a new plan to mitigate visitors’ impacts.
How the feds abandoned reservations to burn
Tribal wildfire programs are underfunded and overburdened.
See 60 days of DOGE chaos
Charting the mass culling of the federal workforce.
Colorado’s rural electric co-ops are determined to go green
The federal government promised to pay for upgrades to keep utility rates down. Now what?
Behavior change is society change
How leaders influence our ideas about climate.
El cambio de comportamiento es un cambio social
Cómo los líderes influyen en nuestras ideas sobre el cambio climático.
I wish I was ice fishing
On city life and a longing for the richness of the sun and the seasons.
Coyote
A poem by David Roderick.
‘It’s important to continue to find joy and live your life’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Whatever happened to caring about future generations?
Selling off public land and canceling climate research are crimes against our descendants.
Nutritious nutria, hammock headgear, famous fungi and a juvenile giraffe
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
The people who care about the West
Help us reach more.
Letters to the Editor, May 2025
Comments from readers.
The Cybertruck is all tricks and no truck, a musky Tesla fail
Tesla’s baking sheet on wheels rides fast in the recall lane toward a dead end where dysfunctional men gather.
The subversive power of Spanish-language radio
For decades, immigrant communities have used the airwaves to educate and protect themselves. Under Trump, they’re doing it again.
El poder subversivo de la radio en español
Durante décadas, las comunidades inmigrantes han usado las ondas para educarse y protegerse. Bajo la administración de Trump, lo están haciendo de nuevo.
Losing more than a Forest Service job
Trail work, though underappreciated, made for a life well-lived in the woods.