From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies.
Agriculture
Posted inArticles
Mass layoffs can move forward, with devastating impacts for conservation and science
‘Shortsighted’ cuts could eliminate bird banding program, federal bee research and much more.
Posted inArticles
Why isn’t agrivoltaics taking off in Arizona?
Logistical hurdles and a lack of solar incentives keep panels and plants apart.
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
The seeds remember
Reclaiming Chinese culture through cultivation.
Posted inArticles
When we harm wolves, we harm ourselves
Anger over these wild creatures shows a lack of perspective.
Posted inJune 2025: The Promised Land
Wolves return to the West
After being driven to near-extinction, these animals, and the politics around them, are back.
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
Searching for sparrows in the Sky Islands
Grassland restoration in Sonora, Mexico, helps to conserve North America’s bird life.
Posted inMay 2025: The Art of the Cruise
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.
Posted inArticles
The Eastern Shoshone are reclassifying buffalo as wildlife instead of livestock
The intent is to restore buffalo on the land and challenge the link between animal and product.
Posted inArticles
Farmers face frozen jobs and heavier workloads under DOGE ‘efficiency’ budget
Billions in halted or canceled grants, gutted local offices, market turmoil and broken trust are at stake across the West.
Posted inApril 2025: A Monumental Reckoning
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?
Posted inArticles
Trump’s funding freeze of Indigenous food programs may violate treaty law
According to legal experts, the cutoff erodes the little trust Indian Country has in the federal government.
Posted inArticles
As Colorado closes its coal plants, some schools neglect to prepare
The state’s closures can mean less funding for education and fewer jobs for graduates.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
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.
Posted inArticles
These states use stolen Indigenous land to fund prisons
State trust lands generate millions of dollars for carceral facilities and programs every year, largely from extractive industries like oil and gas drilling.
Posted inArticles
How luxury real estate benefits from Montana’s agricultural tax code
Key takeaways from our investigation revealing how expensive properties use a system meant to help farmers and ranchers.
Posted inArticles
Montana’s ag tax slashes bills for thousands of million-dollar homes
Properties classified ‘agricultural’ get a tax break despite no bona fide operations. Can lawmakers’ new proposals tighten qualifications?
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Why the West needs prairie dogs
They’re among the region’s most despised species, but some tribes, researchers and landowners are racing to save them.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Legal weed entrepreneurs promised a windfall from tribal lands. Then it fell apart.
The Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone are still picking up the pieces from the failed cannabis cultivation venture.
