The toxic legacy of Cold War uranium mining and milling has shattered lives, destroyed homes and created a pollution problem for an entire region.
Tribes
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
‘Rights of nature’ laws take root in the West
Thanks to voters in Everett, Washington, the Snohomish River watershed now has legal standing.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
A renewable diesel plant may put the Columbia River at risk
Farmers, tribes and environmental advocates in rural Oregon raise alarms about the empty promises of biofuels.
Posted inArticles
Trump and Musk take aim at the rural West
Spending cuts hurt communities, economies and public lands.
Posted inArticles
Indigenous spaces all around new Arizona exhibit
Fine art, downtown markets and natural aesthetics bloom at the Heard Museum as Phoenix’s cultural institution springs forward with Native artists.
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
The true cost of the huckleberry industry
The Ḱamíłpa Band of the Yakama Nation has wanted an end to commercial picking of a critical cultural resource for years. Finally, the Forest Service is expected to make a decision.
Posted inArticles
In Montana, a new map flipped 12 red seats
A common thread runs through states where Democrats made largest gains: bipartisan maps.
Posted inIssues, March 2025: The Berry Pickers
The Indian education of Charles Sams
How the first Native director of the National Park Service drew from a legacy of federal boarding schools and Indigenous teachings.
Posted inArticles
These states use stolen Indigenous land to fund prisons
State trust lands generate millions of dollars for carceral facilities and programs every year, largely from extractive industries like oil and gas drilling.
Posted inFebruary 2025: Immigrant Stories
Bringing black abalone back from the brink
To save the species, researchers translocated the endangered California mollusk.
Posted inIssues
A writer finds freedom in being unapologetically Indigenous
On strengthening roots in a new place.
Posted inArticles
Uranium trucks on Arizona’s ‘Killer 89’ spark alarm in tribal communities
White Mesa residents say they’d be last to know about accidents despite being closest to danger.
Posted inArticles
We must protect our sacred lands
To meet the crisis of our time and help address past wrongs, we need bold action from decision makers.
Posted inArticles
Trump’s nominee for leading Interior attempted to rip up rules governing public lands
North Dakota sued the Interior Department at least five times under Gov. Doug Burgum. Now he’s set to run the agency.
Posted inIssues
What happens after Utah’s coal-fired power plants close?
Department of Energy grants are helping eastern Utah plan for the energy transition.
Posted inFebruary 2025: Immigrant Stories
‘This is about power’: Indigenous immigrants face a second Trump administration
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who was banned from nine tribal reservations, will oversee policies uniquely important to Indigenous people.
Posted inArticles
EPA takes unprecedented step to remove uranium waste from the Navajo Nation
The decision opens the door for new ways to manage uranium pollution on tribal land.
Posted inArticles
The EXPLORE Act is a blueprint for bipartisan conservation legislation
Bipartisan support for the act highlights the outdoor industry’s growing political clout, but questions remain about its cultural and environmental impact.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Fire crews do more than fight fires
Some protect habitats and cultural resources from smoke and flames.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Tribal objects returned to the Northern Arapaho Tribe
After years of negotiation with the Episcopal Church, over 200 cultural items finally come back home.