Despite recovery, warm temperatures still threaten salmon spawning.
Rivers & Lakes
Posted inArticles
Gold King Mine water was headed for the Animas, anyway
The nuts and bolts of acid mine drainage.
Posted inArticles
Five Western waterways worse than the orange Animas
Colorado’s Animas River has gotten the most attention — but it’s hardly alone.
Posted inArticles
Animas dispatch: Hundreds celebrate the river’s reopening
Durango may be moving on, but wider fears about the toxic spill still reverberate.
Posted inArticles
Animas River spill: only the latest in 150 years of pollution
Mapping the other threats to the Animas and San Juan Rivers.
Posted inArticles
Wild Science: Migratory birds on the Great Salt Lake
Scientists explore how phalaropes respond to less water and increased salinity.
Posted inAugust 17, 2015: Little Big Bird
Sea lions feast on Columbia salmon
Fishermen, tribes and environmentalists flummoxed as predator numbers swell below Bonneville Dam.
Posted inArticles
Why is bad science protecting the Lower Snake River dams?
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the country’s dam-building agency, sounded like it knew what it was talking about in 2002. After spending six years and $30 million, the agency confidently recommended not breaching four fish-killing dams on the Lower Snake River. But now, backed by 15 years of data primarily from the Corps itself, […]
Posted inArticles
When our river turned orange
Nine things you need to know about the Animas River mine waste spill.
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
Does the fate of the silvery minnow foretell the Rio Grande’s future?
Biologists go to great lengths to keep the fish alive, but it’s nearly extinct in the wild.
Posted inAugust 3, 2015: Outflanked
Tracing the Yampa River where it flows free
Review of “Colorado’s Yampa River” by John Fielder.
Posted inArticles
Colorado’s water plan: an end to mega projects?
The latest draft of the plan sets strict guidelines for approving new diversions over the Rocky Mountains.
Posted inArticles
Whitewater parks: an unlikely drought bailout
Expensive artificial wave features can ease dry times for river economies.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Misadventures in packrafting
Is the new sport just an expensive way to get into trouble on the river?
Posted inArticles
Old mines still plague Montana’s Clark Fork
Why one of the nation’s largest Superfund river sites can’t address pollution from abandoned mines.
Posted inJune 8, 2015: Tree of Life
A bull trout reintroduction in Oregon proves what’s possible
The ambitious effort brings a threatened predator back to the Clackamas watershed.
Posted inJune 8, 2015: Tree of Life
New perspective from Edward Abbey on the river
Review of ‘The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey’ by John Blaustein
Posted inArticles
More waterways likely protected under new EPA rule
The controversial Clean Water Act rule protects tributaries with any sign of water, no matter the flow.
Posted inMay 25, 2015: Monument Man
On New Mexico’s Gila River, a contentious diversion gets the go-ahead
Questions remain of how much water it will yield and whether local farmers can afford to buy it.