In challenging times, it’s good to remember that many Westerners remain determined to create a better world. In this issue, we learn about the young Montanans who successfully sued for the right to a clean environment, and we meet four young Alaska Natives fighting for conservation in the northernmost state. Westerners have always argued about how to handle wild horses, but a few are trying to solve the problem one horse at a time, training and finding homes for wild mustangs. Good intentions aren’t always enough: In Utah, a small museum built to preserve a World War II prison camp wounded the Japanese American community’s trust by mishandling a rediscovered monument. A Boise neighborhood uses zoning laws to halt a homeless shelter’s expansion, and bird flu is infecting Western wildlife. Are we on the brink of a nuclear renaissance? Museums need more Indigenous curators. Author Rebecca Nagle discusses recent Indigenous Supreme Court victories, and Nina McConigley muses on the meaning of home.
The murder, the museum and the monument
How the discovery of a long-lost monument shattered the trust between a Japanese American community and the museum built to preserve their history.
Meet the people who train wild horses
Volunteers sacrifice time, energy and money to help mustangs removed from the range find homes. Can they convince people to take them?
Montana’s youth climate activists aren’t stopping at their landmark court win
As lawmakers push back, the kids aren’t giving up.
How Alaska Native youth are protecting the land for their future
With climate change threatening Indigenous lifeways in Alaska, these four young women are devoting their careers to their preservation.
Bird flu finds its way into Western wildlife
The deaths of two Washington cougars suggest the virus is more widespread than thought.
How a crucial homeless shelter in Boise was obstructed by neighbors
The Veterans Park Neighborhood Association sued to halt a shelter’s plans.
Is a nuclear renaissance coming?
Data center power demand is sparking interest in new reactors.
The importance of Indigenous curators
These caretakers can help ensure museum collections are handled, and expanded, appropriately.
In a house of spirits, learning to settle
Making a home is a journey across time and space.
There are no sidewalks here
A poem by Sarah Kruse.
‘We’re the stewards of the earth’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Bigfoot hits the bigtime, America’s Next Top Baby Zoo Animal, and the magic bus miracle
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Protest is another form of love
The patriotic duty of showing up for the land and its stewards.
Letters to the Editor, April 2025
Comments from readers.
The people supporting our work
Your help allows us to support you, and new editorial fellows have joined the team.
Rebecca Nagle considers Supreme Court wins and what’s at stake for tribes under Trump
The author of ‘By the Fire We Carry’ notes the nation’s power of empire while looking to history to frame our present.