The plan has lofty ambitions, but what’s happening on the ground tells a different story of how it might play out.
Recreation
Posted inArticles
The threat of wildfire in the West arrives alongside tourists
In Mammoth Lakes, California, residents are still anxious from the 2020 fire season.
Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution
Crowds swarm the public lands
Land managers and gateway communities struggle to keep up.
Posted inArticles
Why I changed my mind about Bears Ears
The benefits of a national monument in San Juan County outweigh the costs.
Posted inArticles
Petroglyph vandalism is not a victimless crime
Indigenous archaeologists say more protective measures and education are needed to prevent future vandalism.
Posted inArticles
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.’
Posted inArticles
What’s the value of tracking recreation in the West?
Fast-growing Western communities face a paradox of increased visitors.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Who should pay for conservation?
Traditional sources of funding are dwindling, and some believe park visitors should step up.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Idaho state lands could end up in private hands
How a developer’s proposed large land swap ignited a fight in small but growing McCall.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
This year’s deadly avalanche season
Low snowfall has led to catastrophic conditions around the West.
Posted inArticles
Put unemployed miners and drillers back to work in restoration
There’s economic development in reclaiming coal mines and plugging idled wells.
Posted inArticles
The benefits of outdoor education aren’t accessible to all
Interest in nature-based education has increased during the pandemic, but affordability is an issue.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2021: No Place Like Home
When COVID hit, a Colorado county kicked out second-home owners. They hit back.
How a group of nonresident homeowners tried to influence a rural Colorado election.
Posted inArticles
Ski communities are ‘getting crunched on all sides’
The pandemic has heightened cost-of-living issues in resort towns.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2021: No Place Like Home
A high school football team’s wartime resistance
In ‘The Eagles of Heart Mountain,’ Bradford Pearson renders the lives of incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II in three dimensions.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Invocation perseverance; prolific Griz 399; errant GPS
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
The dust-up over California’s off-road beach
COVID highlights conflicts over air pollution, crime and accidents on California’s Central Coast.
Posted inArticles
Wilderness rescuers brace for a busy winter
Snow is on the way — and amid COVID-19, recovery missions are on the rise.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
In the face of #MMIWG, Indigenous women fight back
On the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, girls and women box, march and continue searching for those lost.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Energy dominance or climate action: Trump, Biden and the fate of public lands
In Grand Junction, Colorado, the presidential election is a choice between two distinct energy futures.