An Inupiaq writer welcomes the nourishing glow of a seal oil lamp into her home.
Communities
Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential
Tribes call out Oregon’s reckless gaming regulation
Using horse-racing laws, a shadowy state agency and a billionaire push for a private casino that threatens tribes’ self-sufficiency.
Posted inArticles
‘The clinic, it’s going to be the heart of it all’
Members of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the newest federally recognized tribe, will have guaranteed access to health care when their new medical center opens.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Gold country: A precious metal, a mining mega-corp and a captive workforce
In 2019, two gold-mining giants joined forces, with huge consequences for the Northern Nevada community and economy.
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 inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Religious gatekeeping in red-rock country
A resort capitalizes on a nearby Yavapai-Apache religious site despite having no meaningful relationship with the tribe.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Arizona’s utility commission slashed just transition assistance for tribes
The Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe will receive significantly less funds to assist in economy after the end of coal.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Indian Country deserves better than Facebook
Social media has helped undo centuries of colonial disconnection, but Native communities need a much better platform.
Posted inArticles
How to cool one of the fastest-warming cities in the West
In Phoenix, a new heat office hopes to prevent more people from dying of extreme heat.
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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
Utah has a water dilemma
Record-breaking drought along the Wasatch Front forces tough decisions about water supply.
Posted inArticles
How to solve the rural-urban digital divide
The author of ‘Farm Fresh Broadband’ draws on history to chart a better future for rural internet access.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
What would a healthy Klamath River look like?
An illustration of a complex ecosystem that could exist again.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Wild horses, buffalo and the politics of belonging
On the Wind River Indian Reservation, two animals slip between the cracks of what is wild and what isn’t.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Wind turbines proposed near a Japanese American incarceration camp prompt outrage
The Lava Ridge Wind Farm in Idaho would more than double the state’s wind energy output, but at what cost?
Posted inArticles
The threat to Colorado’s acequias and the communities that depend on them
In the San Luis Valley, the communal and egalitarian resource offers a way of life.
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The hunt for critical minerals in Colorado raises critical questions
When Earth MRI began surveying, residents grew concerned about the prospect of mining.
Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door
Alaska Native villages band together to keep the Yukon River’s wild salmon afloat
‘As a unified voice, we are unstoppable — and we can manage the river better.’
Posted inArticles
150 years ago, 19 Chinese Angelenos were murdered in California
In October 1871, a frenzied mob was responsible for one of the largest lynching in Western U.S. history.
Posted inArticles
Coming out as trans in the rural West
A high schooler’s photo essay documents what it’s like to go through intense change in a place that never changes.