In eastern Washington, a push to clean PCBs from its namesake river faces a dirty legacy and global pollution problem.
Rivers & Lakes
Posted inArticles
Update: New law makes it easier to kill salmon-eating sea lions
In the Columbia River, up to 920 sea lions can be removed each year to protect fish.
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Alone on the Green River
Writer Craig Childs goes boating in Utah and ponders the costs and payoff of solitude.
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New rules limiting clean water protections ignore stream science
What happens to part of a river network affects all of it.
Posted inDecember 10, 2018: Critical Mass
There’s no easy fix for our nuclear past
At Washington’s Hanford nuclear site, failing infrastructure and make-do plans as the West prepares for a new round of radioactivity.
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Update: Razorback sucker populations are increasing
The endangered fish seem to be recovering in the San Juan River.
Posted inNovember 26, 2018: Follow the fish
Critics skeptical of mining company’s plans for restoration
Midas Gold hopes to reopen and revitalize an abandoned gold mining site in Idaho.
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Arizona delays the Colorado River drought agreement
Interests of a few hundred farmers are contributing to postponements in basin-wide plan.
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Interior Department issues order to avoid settlements
Critics say the decree will slow down the implementation of enacted laws.
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Reckoning with History: When we overcame political division
50 years ago, a functional Congress enacted four important conservation bills.
Posted inOctober 15, 2018: Nature Retreat
See what the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act preserves
Over 50 years, the landmark law has protected more than 13,000 miles of American waterways.
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An Alaska ballot measure could kill Pebble Mine
In November, voters will decide how to balance resource development and salmon habitat protections.
Posted inNovember 26, 2018: Follow the fish
Tiny bits of plastic permeate our world
From alpine headwaters to city water supplies, the West is awash in microscopic pollutants.
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Paddling the Colorado’s headwaters reveals a wrung-out river
Shrinking snowpacks and low waterways will affect everyone from tourists to farmers.
Posted inDecember 10, 2018: Critical Mass
The arresting quiet of a crane migration in Washington
Sandhill cranes, cattle and the surprising benefits of their coexistence in the West.
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Mining protections lapse on one of Oregon’s wildest rivers
The Department of Interior’s failure to extend restrictions exposes the weaknesses of a key environmental law.
Posted inJuly 23, 2018: Pay for Prey
The Colorado, lifeblood and sculptor of an arid West
In a new book, a longtime river-runner invites readers to sit down by the Colorado’s riverside and listen to its stories.
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Supreme Court to states: Live up to your treaty obligations
Will future courts order states to take down fish-blocking dams?
Posted inJune 25, 2018: Little Weed, Big Problem
An inventory of loss on the Los Angeles River
The city weighs revitalization of an unruly river, since transformed into a concrete ditch.
Posted inArticles
Aspen may stockpile water under its golf course
As climate change looms, towns look to store water without dams.