California tunnel plan also introduces water uncertainties for farms and cities.
Rivers & Lakes
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
A plague on the Klamath River
The race to prevent a repeat of the West’s worst salmon-kill.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
Tribal fishing on the Klamath River
Photographs of sturgeon, steelhead, salmon and lamprey fishing.
Posted inArticles
Idaho’s Panther Creek comes back from the dead
Two decades after restoration began, life returns to a stream sterilized by mining.
Posted inArticles
Colorado’s snow is dust-free for the first time in a decade
But conditions are still prime for early snowmelt and summer drought.
Posted inArticles
Tribal water compact moving through Montana legislature
But the bill stirs up longstanding criticism of basic tribal sovereignty.
Posted inArticles
Should the Bureau of Reclamation be abolished?
Former Reclamation Commissioner Daniel Beard tells how defunct water policy, and the bureau itself, contribute to drought.
Posted inMarch 16, 2015: Wild Ride
The case of the snotty streams
A mysterious algae known as “rock snot” is smothering wild rivers — and may hold clues to their future.
Posted inMarch 16, 2015: Wild Ride
Latest: Oregon chub is no longer endangered
The species became the first fish to recover enough to be delisted.
Posted inArticles
A murky bill for national park waterways
A Yellowstone paddling bill raises hopes, suspicions.
Posted inMarch 2, 2015: Unite and Conquer
The water czar who reshaped Colorado River politics
Las Vegas’ Pat Mulroy initiated an era of deal-making that may buffer against catastrophic drought.
Posted inArticles
The technique that’s revolutionizing aquatic science
Looking for brook trout? Try environmental DNA.
Posted inFebruary 16, 2015: Chainsaw Diplomacy
The Latest: Update on the endangered Pallid Sturgeon
Scientists found that dams are indeed to blame for population declines.
Posted inArticles
A new film tells the story of the Klamath River agreements
Republican lawmaker-turned-filmmaker, Jason Atkinson on why conservation doesn’t have to be a partisan issue.
Posted inFebruary 2, 2015: This Land is Their Land
The Latest: Rio Grande water
A shortfall in water deliveries may lead to more fighting.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
The Latest: EPA released final cleanup order for Duwamish River
A million cubic yards of toxic sludge will be dredged from Seattle’s only river.
Posted inDecember 22, 2014: The Dust Detectives
Six decades of river exploration
Review of “Downstream Toward Home” by Oliver A. Houck.
Posted inArticles
A progress report on the Colorado River pulse
Researchers are sifting through the impacts of last spring’s release.
Posted inArticles
Cities look to farms for help in Colorado River drought
West’s biggest water agencies finalize a major agreement to boost Lake Mead levels.
Posted inDecember 8, 2014: The Great Salmon Compromise
The great salmon compromise
The Columbia Basin Fish Accords have funded $1 billion worth of habitat restoration projects, but can they replace free-flowing rivers?