Convocation of crows, sea-lebrity sea lions and what is that nasty smell?
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
‛Nada ni nadie robará mi identidad’
Una solicitante de asilo venezolana transgénero relata sus 44 días en uno de los centros de detención más mortíferos del país.
The conversations we don’t have about safety outdoors
History instructs Black Americans to fear the outdoors. But creating new memories outside will inform our future.
In Inupiaq, when the weather talks, you listen
Sila is living with us and decides for us what to do with our days.
The Spokane burns show that not even suburbia is immune to wildfire
The Old Trails Fire burned through the city’s northwest corner — an area considered outside the highest risk zone.
Federal plan makes steep Colorado River water cuts to Arizona, California and Nevada
The Bureau of Reclamation’s final environmental review leaves the door open for states to reach an agreement on how to share the water — and for legal battles.
‘Everything is in dialogue’
Two editors have a conversation about our special conversations issue.
Deb Haaland’s vision for New Mexico comes from tradition
A Q&A with the state’s likely next governor about tribal sovereignty and politics.
Reporting on the West is a team effort
HCN gets a new team member and a first union contract.
A longtime donor gives back
Author and naturalist Audrey Benedict helps support science through good reporting.
Can the last casino in Primm, Nevada, save a desert community?
A last-minute deal is another bet on the town’s unlikely survival.
What’s destroying Utah’s monuments
The administration wants to open 3 million acres to mining claims and oil and gas leasing at the expense of the landscape.
Tribally contested Badger Mountain solar project canceled by developer
Avangrid withdrew its application from the Washington state permitting process following years of objections and delays.
A ban on chainsaws in wilderness is performative, not practical
An experienced trail crew leader argues that, in today’s forests, the rigidity of the regulation buries what it’s designed to protect.
Most Popular Stories
High Country News Classifieds
- High Country News is seeking a mission-driven, experienced, and ambitious teammate to serve as our Charitable Gifts Advisor. The ideal candidate will bring a deep interest and understanding of HCN's mission to inform and inspire people to act on behalf […]
In This Issue
August 2026: The Conversations Issue
Our August issue celebrates “Conversations” — exploring a variety of communication, from the unspoken interactions of flowers and fungi to the human need to discuss the complicated issues we face today. We also examine what happens when communication fails, and words are used to misinform…
Try HCN for free
Water
The clock is ticking for New Mexico to cut Rio Grande water use
Collapsing mountains in Alaska are causing massive tsunamis
Can restoration save the Delta smelt?
Wildlife
Feds transfer grizzly bear management to states
How a Utah Republican’s quiet battle for hunting access undercut LandBack hopes
The Klamath Tribes couldn’t get federal dollars for salmon. Then the Yurok stepped in
Public Lands
The conflict over permanent climbing anchors in wilderness
Pueblo leaders, New Mexico lawmakers speak out to protect Chaco Canyon
A new section of the billion-dollar border wall in Arizona is bent out of shape
Indigenous Affairs
Alaska Native communities prepare for man camps driven by new mining boom
Bears Ears cuts also end first-of-its-kind tribal land commission
Treat water like family, not profit
Communities
The Chinese immigrants trafficked on New Mexico’s weed farms
Let’s go in on the American dream, together
Meet the students graduating from Montana’s smallest classes
Books
On Mount Shasta, a photographic record outlasts living memory
What can we learn from salt lakes?
Badger signs: An essay from Terry Tempest Williams’ new book ‘The Glorians’
In the News
The West’s forever fire season
How climate change makes wildfire more likely to happen all year round.