A historic legal victory could give Alaska tribes more control over their fish, wildlife and homelands.
Rivers & Lakes
Posted inJuly 25, 2016: Salmon Power
Latest: EPA won’t regulate logging road runoff
EPA says the Clean Water Act is enough to ensure stream health.
Posted inJune 27, 2016: The New Advocates
The grand plan to save the Yellowstone River
Can one man’s pie-in-the-sky idea save one of the West’s most iconic and underloved rivers?
Posted inJune 13, 2016: Water to Dust
When water turns to dust
In Oregon, a cluster of lakes is drying up — with dire impacts for the millions of migrating birds that survive off them.
Posted inMay 30, 2016: Trial by Fire
Latest: Columbia River salmon recovery plan invalidated
It was the fifth to be struck down by the courts.
Posted inArticles
After years of drought and overuse, the San Luis Valley aquifer refills
How an over-taxed basin is getting its water use under control.
Posted inArticles
Will the feds change course on Columbia River management?
In May, a judge struck down a fifth plan — and demanded a new approach.
Posted inArticles
Note to politicians: Don’t mess with fishing access in Montana
A candidate for governor is drawing heat over revelations that he sued to close river access on the Gallatin River.
Posted inMay 16, 2016: Grizzly Face-Off
West Coast cities sue Monsanto to pay for chemical cleanup
Cities take a new tack to fight pollutants: targeting companies who make them.
Posted inArticles
Glacier National Park reshuffles native trout
The move will protect species at risk from climate change and invasive fish in new habitats.
Posted inArticles
As Lake Mead sinks, states agree to more drastic water cuts
California, Arizona and Nevada are back in negotiations about the dwindling Colorado River water supply.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
Silverton’s Gold King reckoning
How the Animas River disaster forced Silverton to face its pollution problem — and its destiny.
Posted inArticles
Thousands of fish die in Colorado, amid flood recovery projects
Concrete used to rebuild bridges on the Front Range appears to be the culprit for the deaths of 5,600 trout and other fish.
Posted inArticles
National Park Service chief expands sexual harassment probe
Upcoming survey to determine if misconduct at the Grand Canyon represents a widespread problem.
Posted inArticles
A new Klamath water deal emerges, but unease persists
Agreement picks up the pieces of the failed landmark accords.
Posted inArticles
Grand Canyon abolishes river district in response to sexual harassment allegations
The abrupt decision leaves the future of NPS river management up in the air.
Posted inArticles
It’s time to stop development and save the Rio Grande
The rattling trumpet call of sandhill cranes echoed throughout the Rio Grande Valley in central New Mexico this February. The flocks began to make their ascent into the sky, circling to gain altitude and then heading north. The cranes’ early departure — driven by climate change — reveals one of the many challenges of adapting […]
Posted inArticles
Western states struggle to reform recreational streambed mining
Recent bills to change suction dredging regulations faltered in Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
Posted inArticles
In Utah, a massive water project is gaining ground
The project could divert 86,000 acre-feet from Lake Powell to the retirement community of St. George.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Latest: Klamath dams to come down
A deal that would have supplied water to irrigators and tribes fell apart.