Law enforcement takes center stage in Siskiyou County’s fight over who can, and can’t, use land and water.
Agriculture
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
Russia’s war reverberates in the West
Putin’s military moves — and the globe’s response to them — have unexpected consequences for the region.
Posted inArticles
How marijuana, legal and not, is reshaping the West
A 4/20 roundup of the industry’s trials, triumphs and political conundrums.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
Cows, coal and climate change: A Q&A with the new BLM director
Tracy Stone-Manning discusses how the federal agency sees conservation, the climate crisis and the Indigenous history of public lands.
Posted inArticles
For cannabis farms, ecosystem science is scarce
An interview with an ecologist studying the West’s emerging, and rarely researched, industry.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
There are millions of acres of ‘failing’ rangelands, data shows
54 million acres of federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management aren’t meeting the agency’s own land-health standards.
Posted inArticles
What is California’s ‘War on Breakfast’ really about?
Years after animal cruelty legislation passes, the pork industry tries one last time to stop it.
Posted inArticles
A vision for more sustainable farmlands
Central California can’t continue to farm at its current industrial scale. As land is fallowed, what could take its place?
Posted inArticles
The first answer for food insecurity: data sovereignty
A new report shows tribal communities have adapted to meet the needs of their people in ways that state and federal governments can’t.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential
The beauty and complexity of farm work in Washington
Artwork created by farmworkers and their communities paints an authentic picture of farm labor in Washington.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential
A just transition for farmworkers
As agricultural laborers continue to bear the brunt of climate change, activists in Washington chart a new path for climate justice.
Posted inArticles
A history of pollution pervades a California neighborhood
As new soil tests reveal remaining lead contamination, the people in the Logan barrio continue their long struggle for justice.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
A shellfish company gets into the weeds
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community shows how eelgrass and aquaculture can coexist in Puget Sound.
Posted inArticles
At the Colorado River conference, ‘It’s really no longer a drill’
Water managers announce new measures to deal with dwindling water supply.
Posted inArticles
In California’s Central Valley, the water is contaminated and solutions are slow
The communities dealing with the carcinogenic water worry and aren’t kept well informed.
Posted inArticles
Corporations are consolidating water and land rights in the West
With farms, ranches and rural communities facing unprecedented threats, a worrying trend leads to a critical question: Who owns the water?
Posted inArticles
A federal drought relief program left southern Oregon parched
For two decades, the Bureau of Reclamation incentivized farmers to pump water faster than the resource could recover, despite warnings from its own scientists.
Posted inArticles
Utah has a water dilemma
Record-breaking drought along the Wasatch Front forces tough decisions about water supply.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Who should pay to fix California’s sunken canals?
Agribusiness and its proponents say repairs will benefit disadvantaged towns. Those residents disagree.