After Miguel Ordeñana discovered mountain lion P-22 in urban LA, he became a key advocate for habitat connectivity, which is essential for the species’ survival in Southern California.
Scientific research
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‘This is what reconciliation work can look like’
A researcher explains why she’s using settler-colonial methods to interrogate settler-colonialism in national parks.
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National parks center colonizer histories through place names
A recent study analyzes the impacts of appropriated and derogatory place names in the nation’s national parks.
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Air quality report card flunks the West
Western states dominate lists of where short-term particulate and ozone pollution are the worst.
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Redlined neighborhoods have double the oil and gas wells
A new study shows how fossil fuels and structural racism collide.
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For cannabis farms, ecosystem science is scarce
An interview with an ecologist studying the West’s emerging, and rarely researched, industry.
Posted inApril 1, 2022: The Archives Issue
A mystery worm is threatening the future of Washington’s oysters
Clues from 1,000-year-old shells could reveal the parasite’s past —and portend the future.
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How one Wyoming mule deer won friends and influenced science
Jo the deer offered researchers a look into migrations and how long it takes deer to visit a forest after a fire.
Posted inApril 1, 2022: The Archives Issue
How the Earth stores records of the past
When human data doesn’t go back far enough, researchers turn to natural archives.
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Pacific Coast crabs are suffocating
Climate change has created dangerously low oxygen levels in the ocean, causing problems for creatures and the communities that rely on them.
Posted inMarch 1, 2022: The Cloning Conundrum
Should we clone the black-footed ferret?
From petri dish to prairie with North America’s most endangered species.
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Can a modified invasive trout save the cutthroat?
To eliminate invasive fish species, scientists have created a ‘Trojan’ brook trout that’s intended to help native fish in the West.
Posted inMarch 1, 2022: The Cloning Conundrum
A new tundra, engineered by beavers
Once nonexistent in northwest Alaska, beavers are both benefiting from and changing a warming tundra.
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Montana mice may hold the secret to how viruses spread
Researchers are studying how climate change and biodiversity affect viruses’ jump from animals to people.
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Wildfires’ unequal impacts on pregnant people
An interview with one researcher studying the effect of wildfire on pregnancy outcomes in the West.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential
Humble suckers: Pacific lamprey have survived 5 mass extinctions but are now under threat
Cooperative efforts between tribes and non-Native institutions are helping conserve the under-researched Devonian darlings.
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A history of pollution pervades a California neighborhood
As new soil tests reveal remaining lead contamination, the people in the Logan barrio continue their long struggle for justice.
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Offshore oil rigs are a surprising safe haven
Marine life finds a home on the artificial reefs. What happens when the platforms are decommissioned?
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Building equity into the renewable energy transition
Community and labor organizers shape New Mexico’s changing economy.
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Wyoming sage grouse numbers ‘alarming’
According to biologists, the decline is caused by habitat loss and drought.