As Southwest states were pummeled with rain, Southeast Alaska dries out.
Water
Posted inArticles
More waterways likely protected under new EPA rule
The controversial Clean Water Act rule protects tributaries with any sign of water, no matter the flow.
Posted inArticles
Rains bring incomplete drought relief to parts of Southwest
Snowpack is above normal in spots, but doesn’t make up for its lack earlier in the year.
Posted inMay 25, 2015: Monument Man
On New Mexico’s Gila River, a contentious diversion gets the go-ahead
Questions remain of how much water it will yield and whether local farmers can afford to buy it.
Posted inMay 25, 2015: Monument Man
The Latest: Lake Mead hits a record low of 1,078 feet
Water cutbacks would start if the reservoir reaches 1,075.
Posted inArticles
Wyoming trespass law is the latest in grazing battle
Questions remain over whether the bill prohibits certain data collection on federal land or just private and state.
Posted inMay 11, 2015: The Wetland Wars
Fisher-poets of the pale tide
A gathering of maritime minstrels on the Oregon coast.
Posted inMay 11, 2015: The Wetland Wars
The Los Angeles wetland wars
Environmentalists saved a wetland from developers a decade ago. Now they’re trying to save it from each other.
Posted inArticles
Utah vastly overstating future water shortages
State projections downplayed what conservation and agriculture can provide.
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Gov. Brown slashes Sacramento Delta environmental protection
California tunnel plan also introduces water uncertainties for farms and cities.
Posted inArticles
Hundreds of lapsed permits found on Forest Service land
Expired water permit for Nestlé draws attention to flawed federal supervision.
Posted inArticles
For rural Oregonians, protections from herbicides come up short
Aerial spray regs remain the West Coast’s weakest after the death of a key law.
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Huge new ‘communities’ planned for Tucson, Albuquerque
Sprawl rises from its slumber, but urban renaissance is still thriving.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
Refugees from a well-watered West
Review of “Relicts of a Beautiful Sea” by Christopher Norment.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
Tucson’s rain-catching revolution
In the Sonoran Desert, rainwater harvesting is finally going mainstream.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
Wyoming coal, Cliven Bundy and megadrought
HCN.org news in brief.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
A crystal ball for the Pacific Northwest’s climate
This year’s drought is as bad as scientists predict for mid-century.
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
Can our own ingenuity upend natural laws?
Reflections on the health of my heart and the making of Hoover Dam.