Nevada sues over Colorado River plans, aiming to protect Las Vegas
The state says federal plans to manage the drought-stricken basin would cut the city’s water supply by roughly 71%.
What the new rules for a shrinking Colorado River mean for tribal nations
‘None of us is in the exact same situation.’
Why I talk to animals
The creatures in our midst may have answers to life’s vexing questions.
Solar and wind continue to push coal off the West’s grid
Trump’s war on clean energy falters.
Arctic drilling in Alaska won’t get environmental review in new proposal
The Interior Department will soon publish a ‘categorical exclusion’ that will rubber stamp oil and gas development in Alaska’s remote National Petroleum Reserve.
Behind the cover: Drawing the ‘landscape of conversation’
Artist Armando Veve illuminates his process of world-building by pencil.
HCN farewells
A few staff departures and a HCN road trip.
New Mexico’s rising climate-disaster costs are being paid by oil and gas revenue
The state is in a double bind of fossil fuel extraction and the destructive results of burning it.
What Standing Rock’s propaganda war means today
Ten years after the standoff, exclusive documents reveal that digital mercenaries targeted local communities and stirred up anti-protest sentiment.
The BLM may stop notifying landowners about drilling under private land. Ranchers are alarmed
Western cattlemen are poised to lose almost all opportunity to comment on oil and gas development underneath their property.
Protect Sandia Mountain, our church
The Pueblo of Sandia urges lawmakers to transfer lands within the T’uf Shur Bien Preservation Area.
‘I have some very heartfelt conversations’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Mining execs bought big in company stock days before Bears Ears’ cuts
House Democrats have opened an investigation for insider trading.
It’s a make-or-break year for Hood River’s pear farmers
After a dismal 2025 season, the pears being picked right now could mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.
Most Popular Stories
High Country News Classifieds
- The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection is seeking an Executive Director. About the role The Executive Director provides strategic leadership and day-to-day management, ensuring CSDP advances its mission, remains financially sustainable, and operates effectively. As the leader of a small, […]
In This Issue
September 2026: On the Trail with Gary Paul Nabhan
This issue, we get to spend time with Gary Paul Nabhan as the legendary writer, activist and ethnobotanist wanders the Borderlands and discusses everything from books and borders and seed banks to the deep-rooted Indigenous cultures of a landscape he has loved and defended for…
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Water
Utah is killing the Great Salt Lake
Federal plan makes steep Colorado River water cuts to Arizona, California and Nevada
The clock is ticking for New Mexico to cut Rio Grande water use
Wildlife
In a warming world, wildflowers offer a warning
Does your dog make you safer in bear country?
Convocation of crows, sea-lebrity sea lions and what is that nasty smell?
Public Lands
The conversations we don’t have about safety outdoors
What’s destroying Utah’s monuments
A ban on chainsaws in wilderness is performative, not practical
Indigenous Affairs
‘Quite frustrating:’ what it’s like to have a treaty with the United States
Deb Haaland’s vision for New Mexico comes from tradition
Tribally contested Badger Mountain solar project canceled by developer
Communities
The Spokane burns show that not even suburbia is immune to wildfire
Alaska Native communities prepare for man camps driven by new mining boom
The Chinese immigrants trafficked on New Mexico’s weed farms
Books
On Mount Shasta, a photographic record outlasts living memory
Let’s go in on the American dream, together
What can we learn from salt lakes?
In the News
The West’s forever fire season
How climate change makes wildfire more likely to happen all year round.