Seems like Westerners always want more. Take the already shrinking wetlands of the endangered Great Salt Lake, which a quasi-governmental agency is determined to industrialize. Or southwestern Washington’s huckleberries, which have been carefully stewarded by an Indigenous nation despite constant federal mismanagement and an influx of commercial pickers. In Oregon, a proposed plant wants to use animal fat and cooking oil to produce low-carbon diesel fuel for jets and trucks, but local farmers and conservationists remain unconvinced. Suppose you reopened a Utah coal mine and nobody wanted to work there? Public-lands tourism is outpacing mining and drilling, and Everett, Washington, just gave legal standing to the Snohomish River’s watershed. Generations of boarding schools and Indigenous teaching shaped Charles Sams, first Native director of the National Park Service. In Los Angeles, Filipino American activists celebrate their participation in recent teachers’ strikes, and a speculative film and video game imagines a different future for the city. Meanwhile, a roadrunner inspires a Southwestern writer to undertake a cosmetic makeover.
As the Great Salt Lake recedes, industry rises
Utah’s Inland Port Authority works with local officials to boost development, but residents feel ignored.
‘Rights of nature’ laws take root in the West
Thanks to voters in Everett, Washington, the Snohomish River watershed now has legal standing.
A renewable diesel plant may put the Columbia River at risk
Farmers, tribes and environmental advocates in rural Oregon raise alarms about the empty promises of biofuels.
The rise of the recreation economy
Public-lands tourism outpaces mining and drilling in much of the West.
Filipinos that strike
An oral history archive gathers some of the voices behind the recent LA teacher strikes.
The video game that makes the climate apocalypse look good
In The Alluvials, artist Alice Bucknell reimagines the Los Angeles water system.
A legendary desert bird helped liberate me
A roadrunner inspired a writer to adorn himself with earthy pigments and strike a pose.
‘I was determined to solve this problem’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Sunday Morning in Woh Hei Yuen 和 喜 园
A poem by Jenny Qi.
Wild, wild turkeys, Tiptoe the Tortoise & one beary nice B&B
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Love fiercely despite the tidal wave of injustice
In the midst of a constitutional crisis, caring is more necessary than ever.
After 35 years, farewell to an indefatigable art director
Cindy Wehling leaves an unmatched legacy of art and design, writ large across hundreds of issues of High Country News.
Letters to the Editor, March 2025
Comments from readers.
The true cost of the huckleberry industry
The Ḱamíłpa Band of the Yakama Nation has wanted an end to commercial picking of a critical cultural resource for years. Finally, the Forest Service is expected to make a decision.
The Indian education of Charles Sams
How the first Native director of the National Park Service drew from a legacy of federal boarding schools and Indigenous teachings.
Utah’s coal mines can’t find enough workers
A mine just reopened in eastern Utah, but the industry has changed.