Dredging the Columbia River at the expense of tribal and aquatic communities
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has transformed the estuary and robbed the river of sediment over the last century.
Making grazing great again?
The Trump administration looks to preserve ranching heritage, but it’s not clear it will work.
When the most aggressive-seeming greenery has a softer side
In Anchorage, a writer gets to know devil’s club and her other new botanical neighbors.
The Death Valley opera house that’s sinking back into the earth
The people trying to save a singular arts landmark face scarce funding, extreme flooding and aging adobe.
How wildfire smoke affects fertility
A growing body of research is examining the impact of wildfire smoke on the ability to conceive.
Treat water like family, not profit
Federal and state approaches to managing the Colorado River – as well as land and wildlife – reflect a lack of experience.
The climbers of HCN
Two staffers show tenacity on the wall and for our readers.
Get to know the Pacific newt
From Vancouver Island newts to California’s high country newts, the toxic Taricha genus includes some unique and deadly Western species.
The Continental Divide Trail is being militarized for the border wall
A new border wall has turned one end of the long-distance trail into a construction zone.
Migrating wildlife need lots of space between houses, research shows
Sometimes a mile or more. Clustered rather than scattered rural homes could help.
How Interior helped pushed bison off Montana’s federal lands
In an uncommon move, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum intervened in a case that involved the former legal clients of Karen Budd-Falen, one of his top deputies.
The Southwest’s superbloom was a beautiful nightmare
A writer experienced everything in spring: supernatural plants, chronic illness and a multi-generational curse called climate change.
The billionaires’ club at the center of America’s public lands fight
A controversial land swap orchestrated by the mega rich could be ‘a harbinger of what’s to come’ for public lands under Trump.
Ted Turner owned vast swaths of Western land. What happens to them now?
The media mogul had a lifelong commitment to endangered species, ecotourism and supporting rural agriculture.
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In This Issue
June 2026: River Revival
What happens when humans demand more from our rivers than those rivers can safely give? HCN dives into the problem, investigating the long, destructive story of how dredging turned the mighty Columbia — the great river of the Pacific Northwest — into a profitable shipping…
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Water
Colorado’s Arkansas Valley water confronts contamination, climate change and political drama
The dark legacy of the atomic age is still playing out in New Mexico
Nukes and AI require 1.4 million gallons of water a day at New Mexico lab
Wildlife
The resilience of the elusive vaquita
Sam the Toucan, capybaras over coffee, Vellela vellela and a mechanical rhino
The ramifications of record-shattering heat on the West’s ecosystems
Public Lands
As Roadless Rule rollback looms, grassroots hearings take root
Interior Department crafted talking points for public lands sell-off agenda
‘Energy dominance’ agenda sidelines tribes
Indigenous Affairs
The facade of the Red Wind commune
War, climate change and AI are at stake at the 2026 UN Indigenous forum
Tribal leaders reflect on a year of uncertainty — and possibility
Communities
Emergency plans for the Colorado River buy time, not solutions
‘Just noticing birds improves your health’
The public got one week to comment on Chaco Canyon drilling. It’s almost over
Books
What can we learn from salt lakes?
Badger signs: An essay from Terry Tempest Williams’ new book ‘The Glorians’
Three books explore deep time and help us look forward
In the News
Motorheads: The new, noisy, organized force in the West
‘Some of us are seeing it as the new nemesis, a new destructive force for habitat.’