Heritage tourism offered a way out of economic doldrums. Why did it go wrong?
Drought
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
The tenuous revival of Mono Lake
Its defenders won a long fight over water with Los Angeles. Now, drought is raising new questions about its future.
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
Could Los Angeles design its way to water independence?
A pair of architects are reinvisioning the city’s relationship with water, starting with storm runoff.
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
Water hustle
Did one of Nevada’s top water regulators try to cash in on the drought?
Posted inArticles
Will a new state plan solve Colorado’s water troubles?
After years of growing scarcity and population pressure, Colorado finally has a plan of action.
Posted inArticles
Innovation amid drought in the Sacramento Delta
Checking in with a farmer who traded some of his water for long term survival.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: Spared from drought, for now, in New Mexico
Dry spells take a toll on landscapes and livestock, but are also hard on people.
Posted inArticles
To save Washington’s Yakima Basin fish, just add water
A drought plan in one of the West’s most forward-thinking watersheds reconciles salmon and agriculture.
Posted inArticles
Fresno, California, aims to recharge its dwindling groundwater
Surface water projects give groundwater a break, in the state’s fourth year of severe drought.
Posted inArticles
Does optimism have a place in Western water politics?
Writer John Fleck wants us to abandon our dried-up narratives of doom.
Posted inArticles
How to drought-proof California’s farms
Three years into its most severe drought in over a thousand years, it’s unclear how much longer California can continue growing half of the nation’s produce. The crisis confronting Big Ag and family farmers alike may signal the end of agriculture as it’s currently practiced. But it need not spell doom for farming altogether: On […]
Posted inArticles
Hopes high for a ‘Super’ El Niño
The weather phenomenon could bring rain but also mudslides and drought to the different regions of the West.
Posted inArticles
Dispatch from Valley Fire evacuation camp in California
State officials are calling the Lake County blaze one of the fastest-moving fires in memory.
Posted inArticles
Drought on the Pacific Crest Trail offers harsh lessons
We had barely covered the first 10 miles of trail, hiking north from the California-Mexico border, when my hiking partner, Flash, and I found the first Pacific Crest Trail casualty. A man in his 20s, face flushed red from heat, watched us approach with clear embarrassment. He sat in a small patch of shade next […]
Posted inArticles
Mapping fish die-offs in warming waters
Help High Country News identify trouble spots for West Coast fish runs.
Posted inArticles
What we’ve lost in the Methow Valley wildfires
Three firefighters have died as fires continue to rip through Washington.
Posted inArticles
Scientists strengthen link between climate change and drought
How much of California’s dry spell can be traced to climate change?
Posted inArticles
Wild Science: Migratory birds on the Great Salt Lake
Scientists explore how phalaropes respond to less water and increased salinity.
Posted inArticles
California drought renews push for water storage projects
A long-standing proposal to enlarge Shasta Dam gets a boost from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Posted inAugust 3, 2015: Outflanked
Wilderness vs. mining, Roundup research and Western prisons
Hcn.org news in brief.