The Magazine

A BLM junkie explores little-known lands; a sea kayaker paddles the Inside Passage; and other tales of travel and adventure from around the West.

Mammoth Lakes, California and the rest of the ski industry face climate change. Also, Obama nominates a recreation industry magnate as Secretary of the Interior, the information age renders remote archeological sites increasingly accessible, Lake Mead reveals a long-sunken ghost town, scientists track the surprising and increasingly urban movement of mountain lions, and more.

San Luis Valley irrigators search for new ways to live within the limits of their water-short world. Also, the Sierra Club opts for civil disobedience against Keystone XL, tribes tangle over how to disperse settlement money, the BLM takes a stand over a southwestern river, and more.

The Oglala Lakota may soon manage the first tribal national park, but transforming the bombed-out landscape won’t be easy. Also, the West debates gun control, cleaning up hardrock mine pollution isn’t easy, a letterpress newspaper alive in well in rural Colorado, restoring rivers, and more.

Education in the oil and gas fields, teaching students about public lands, the re-emergence of Outward Bound, teaching Los Angeles teenagers to water sample, Great Old Broads for wilderness laugh and learn, Round River teaches through places, and much more in our special education issue.

A mining rush promises to transform Canada’s backcountry and threatens Alaska’s salmon; BLM plans for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; fighting for floodplains; an underwater forest holds keys to historic drought; Custer reenactments, and more.

We’re learning a lot by tracking millions of animals, but are we losing some of the heart of wildlife biology? Also, more energy means more water use, ocean acidification threatens oysters, a development conflict in the Grand Canyon, and more.

A timber company tries to do the right thing as a tribe fights for its ancestral lands. Also, enviros buy out oil and gas leases in forests, unusual bedfellows support state-run banks, genetically modified seeds take the next step forward, a climate artist, and more.

Is there a way through the Wests’s bitter wild horse wars? Also, learning from the Gila wildfire, the “war” on coal, deformed frogs, finding hipsters in Green River, Utah, and more.

Utah’s powerful economic engine hinges on a potent combination of capitalism and collectivism. Also, political coverage, including looks at money in Western races, redistricting, Nevada politics, the Latino vote, and important races you’ve never heard of.

Issue Summary: Our annual Books and Essays issue features essays about finding our place in the West by Craig Childs, Hannah Nordhaus and Sarah Gilman, author profiles, and many reviews of new books.

On the overworked Missouri River, searching for signs that pallid sturgeon haven’t reached the end of their line. Also, superhero scientists unleash new weapons in the fight against invasive cheatgrass, the politics of public health, fire scientists duke it out over what the West’s forests should look like, and more.

Is Senate candidate Denny Rehberg of Montana really who he says he is? Also, looking into refinery safety, air pollution around gas fields, a closer examination of federal land swaps, and more.

A New Mexican town known for its art scene is home to a fractured community where distrust of Anglo newcomers plays out in a fight over whether Hispano old timers have a right to land. Also, examining Jerry Brown’s California water plan, an interview with Alaska’s lieutenant governor, and saving threatened Utah prairie dogs.

Piecing together a 50-year restoration in San Francisco’s South Bay, one species at a time. Also, why defensible space around homes still burns, finding and growing edible camas, a Native American staple, the Bakken water boom, and more.

Black Diamond CEO Peter Metcalf built a climbing-gear business when nobody thought it could be done. But his dream of turning the outdoor industry into a conservation champion remains tantalizingly elusive. Also, exporting coal to Asia incites a motley opposition, saving chimneys and swifts, Utah tar sands, Oregon logging pollution, and more.

Land art in the West, Twilight and the Quileute tribe; three days in New Mexico, Montana, and Reno; Las Vegas gun tourism; Craig Childs on travel to the deep past.

Utah and Arizona fail to crack down on abusive polygamous sects which persist even after Warren Jeffs’ conviction; abalone poachers versus wildlife officials; nuclear regulator Gregory Jaczko’s sharp eye will be missed; scientists enlist help for spider surveys and more.

Gila Bend, Arizona: Crumbling remnant of the Old West or the perfect place for utility-scale solar to finally take off?; also, selenium’s problems, hunter-run Super PACS, do conservation-minded subdivisions work?; voluntary endangered species conservation agreements, and more

When Camron Stone realized that a nearby riparian forest was about to be bulldozed by the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, he tried to fight back. Also, the skinny on land grabs by state lawmakers, turning diesel into fertilizer, new science of beetle kill and wildfires, and more