Government-issued maps offer a promise for safely exploring our public lands, but they no longer reflect the reality of what’s actually on the ground.
Features
Posted inJanuary 2026: Deep Time in the West
How pronghorn outran the ice age
Can they outrun an uncertain climate future?
Posted inJanuary 2026: Deep Time in the West
Meet the oldest rock in the West
Wyoming’s 3.5 billion-year-old geologic history reminds us that Earth is ever-changing.
Posted inArticles
These Americans were prosecuted for voting
In a corner of Alaska, American Samoans are facing prosecution for participating in democracy in the only country they’ve ever known.
Posted inJanuary 2026: Deep Time in the West
How plate tectonics revolutionized our understanding of Earth
And how scientist Tanya Atwater was at the center of it all.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
Inside California’s wild Christmas tree harvest
Each winter, migrant crews climb into the Sierra to cut wild silvertip firs, a fragile tradition now imperiled by wildfire, climate change, and tightening immigration laws.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
How ranchers accused of breaking the rules dodge oversight
Elected officials interfere with agency efforts to protect the land.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
Congress made it easier to ignore grazing’s harm to public lands
Federal law requires agencies to review the environmental impacts of grazing, but government employees allege the system is riddled with loopholes.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
The wealthy profit from public lands, and taxpayers pick up the tab
Roughly two-thirds of grazing on Bureau of Land Management land is controlled by just 10% of permit holders.
Posted inDecember 2025: Wild Harvest
How we reported Free Range, our grazing investigation
Data and analyses used in the stories.
Posted inNovember 2025: Precious Metalheads
Heavy metal is healing teens on the Blackfeet Nation
In response to youth suicides, teachers show students the power of headbanging at Fire in the Mountains festival.
Posted inNovember 2025: Precious Metalheads
For rural Californians, unreliable power has become the norm
Years ago, the state’s largest utility rolled out a power outage program designed to reduce wildfires. Customers now experience thousands of outages a year.
Posted inOctober 2025: Limits to Growth
Watching the Oregon ash vanish
The emerald ash borer is killing the native tree. How do we make the most of the time while it’s still here?
Posted inOctober 2025: Limits to Growth
The dried-out subdivisions of Phoenix
A groundwater crisis halted the construction of thousands of homes and pitted affordability against environmental concerns.
Posted inSeptember 2025: Who Controls Our Food?
What eating bitterness has to do with Chinese food
The Chinese immigrants who built the Transcontinental Railroad quietly endured racism and violence, fostering a complicated legacy for Chinese-Americans.
Posted inSeptember 2025: Who Controls Our Food?
The Rio Grande’s pecan problem
How Big Ag is threatening New Mexico’s water supply.
Posted inSeptember 2025: Who Controls Our Food?
How an immigration raid reshaped meatpacking — and America
In 2006, large-scale ICE raids in Greeley, Colorado, and elsewhere, triggered changes to the center of the country that fed today’s nativist politics.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
What the presence of sheep means to the Diné
How to look at Milton Snow’s historical images of a livestock genocide on the Navajo Nation.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
A hotshot’s search for belonging among the flames
A wildland firefighter reckons with the male-dominated culture found on the fireline.
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
Beneath the blazing sun, Black Phoenix sows community
Climate change is creating a mental health crisis in Phoenix. A budding movement in the desert might solve it.