“You don’t miss your water till your well runs dry,” an old blues song mourns, and ambitious developers and would-be homebuyers in Phoenix, Arizona, would probably agree, now that planned subdivisions have been curtailed owing to the region’s lack of groundwater. Elsewhere, affordable housing is being built in Ventura County, California, where farmworkers have long struggled to find decent housing. Like mourners at a bedside vigil, tree-lovers watch as the Oregon ash succumbs to invasive insects. Dedicated researchers are working to restore Colorado’s high-altitude peatlands. In Arctic Alaska, scientists are studying the soundscape of the ocean underneath the ice, where the songs of bowhead whales compete with the increasing noise of sea-going traffic. In such a rapidly changing world, how do we hold on to the things that shaped us? A curious rancher ponders what the world looks like through the eyes of her cattle. Westerners hoping to reconnect with nature should begin by accepting their local landscape despite its imperfections.
Inventing habitats
Reconciliation means meeting a landscape on its own terms.
Inventando hábitats
La reconciliación significa encontrarse con un paisaje en sus propios términos
Letters to the Editor, October 2025
Comments from readers.
Ventura County is turning former farmland into affordable housing for farmworkers
This California county has some of the nation’s strictest protections for agricultural land, but developers are using a new exemption to house people who work the land.
Watching the Oregon ash vanish
The emerald ash borer is killing the native tree. How do we make the most of the time while it’s still here?
Loopy lagomorphs, warning off wolves, the best of Buddys and diminutive dinosaurs
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
A season of grizzlies and get-togethers
We’ve filled our time with gatherings and awards.
On not letting go of the past
How do we embrace the new and still hold on to the things that shaped us?
‘I was lucky when I came to this country’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
What’s it like to be a cow?
A cattle rancher reflects on her occupation and the growing movement to understand how other animals see the world.
The dried-out subdivisions of Phoenix
A groundwater crisis halted the construction of thousands of homes and pitted affordability against environmental concerns.
The ‘bear’ necessities of good sign design
Researchers study the principles that promote bear-safety behavior.
In a changing Arctic, how much noise is too much?
Alaska’s bowhead whales can hear the climate changing. Scientists are listening in, too.
The High Roads
A poem by Laura Da’.
Give yourself a break
On the necessity of recharging the spirit in order to keep fighting.
What do fens do? Make peat, store water and help combat climate change
Meet the researchers restoring these unique wetlands high in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains.