Tribal scientists and community members are testing wells, solving plumbing problems and delivering clean water to their neighbors.
Agriculture
How yellowcake shaped the West
The ghosts of the uranium boom continue to haunt the land, water and people.
Living Water: Three generations of Apsáalooke revive a river
On the Crow Nation, scientists, students and community members come together to study and protect the Little Bighorn River.
The orchardist rescuing fruit trees in New Mexico
Once-diverse apple varieties are declining. Gordon Tooley wants to save them before they are gone.
The once-perennial Gila River ebbs to an uncertain future
‘We are in uncharted territory.’
Will history repeat in a dry Klamath Basin this summer?
This year’s drought is worse than in 2001, when political and environmental tensions exploded into the national spotlight.
Will a Native-led initiative spur an agricultural revolution in rural Alaska?
A grassroots project to build biomass-heated greenhouses aims to alleviate food insecurity in the communities most affected by it.
Ongoing fish kill on the Klamath River is an ‘absolute worst-case scenario’
Unprecedented drought in the Klamath Basin leaves communities wondering how they will make it through the summer.
The Central California town that keeps sinking
The very ground upon which Corcoran was built is steadily collapsing, a situation caused primarily by agriculture.
Farmworker organizing in Washington is undoing discriminatory labor policies
‘The pandemic elevated the fact that farmworkers are killing themselves to keep our food system intact.’
A parched West heads into fire season
Several types of drought are converging, and all are at or near record levels.
Where land use and landscape photography converge
A would-be museum exhibit, canceled due to COVID, is now collected in the book ‘American Geography: Photographs of Land Use from 1840 to the Present.’
The Gila River Indian Community innovates for a drought-ridden future
Through partnerships and exchanges, the community is ensuring that its members have long-term access to their own resources while helping solve broader water supply problems.
How ‘sustainable’ is California’s groundwater sustainability act?
Numerous issues around equity and the plan’s rollout loom.
The battle over Point Reyes’ tule elk
The needs of the ungulate and cattle supported by California’s Point Reyes National Seashore have different needs and created a years-long conflict.
On the Klamath River, agricultural interests are pitted against the needs of tribes and endangered species
Due to severe drought, irrigation allotments were decreased to lowest amounts in history.
A Colorado county provides a model for saving the West’s open spaces
A sales-tax funded program pays ranchers and farmers to not develop their land or sell their water rights.
Can cloud seeding help the West’s drought?
States consider weather modification to make it rain.
Megadrought: New Mexico farms face uncertain future
‘If they have an option to not farm, they should consider that option.’
Across generations, Dakota women grow resilience
Diane Wilson’s new novel explores the relationship between seeds and humans, and how our survival and abundance are intertwined.
