Extreme weather, exacerbated by human-caused climate change, is a fact of life in the West today. This month, we look at how two Latino farm families fought to recover physically, economically and emotionally after record-breaking storms hit California in 2023. In Washington, the Yakama people are determined to restore ancestral lands polluted by nuclear weapons production at the Hanford Site. How do birds cope with wildfire smoke? Low-income, marginalized and unhoused urban residents are uniquely vulnerable to extreme heat. Eagle Mountain, Utah, tries to reconcile rapid development with wildlife migration, and the West says goodbye to a legendary mule deer. Is there enough water in the arid West to satisfy the microchip industry’s thirst? New Mexico takes a surprising lead in early childhood education. The remarkable Native leader who fought colonization and gave his name to the Little Shell Chippewa people is remembered. How do we find the right words to discuss climate change? Romance novels are for Indigenous readers, too, and blueberry-picking is an Alaska family tradition.

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This month, HCN goes bird-watching, checking up on the health of two fascinating birds. Can the Wilson’s phalarope help save Utah’s Great Salt Lake? And will the long-billed curlew find refuge on New Mexico’s ranchlands? In Idaho, the Nez Perce turn to solar power to replace hydroelectric dams and help salmon recover. The Yakama Nation supports renewable energy, but not if it’s going to destroy the tribe’s sacred sites. Who should pay when utilities are responsible for wildfire damage? Pollution is easy to create but hard to get rid of: Thousands of abandoned mines are contaminating Western rivers, and Canadian mine waste is flowing downriver into Montana and Idaho. Louis Carlos Bernal, the father of Chicano art photography, lives on through his work. California artists celebrate the beauty of the Pacific’s endangered kelp forests, while the short film Mirasol: Looking at the Sun examines how water scarcity is affecting a small Colorado farming community. In Wyoming, Nina McConigley discovers what a difference a good dog makes.

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As New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness Area — the nation’s first designated wilderness — turns 100, HCN considers how the nature — and concept — of wilderness have changed over the years. Political conflict, violence and bigotry have deep roots in the Western U.S., as the history of Centralia, Washington, reveals. A group of unhoused Californians […]

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The West is always in motion, a place of constant change and contradiction. Condos rise as dams fall: Latino immigrants journey thousands of miles to build houses for millionaires in Montana, while Northwest tribes take the lead on restoration as dams come down and the Klamath River is reborn. Throughout the West, some groups try […]

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Life is on the move in our April issue. Every spring, Wyoming’s mule deer navigate deserts, highways and oil and gas fields to reach their summer range, and now their travel corridors are in need of protection. Can drones help mitigate predator-livestock conflicts?  Native plant landscaping is increasingly popular, but unregulated harvesting has environmental impacts […]

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It’s easy to feel overwhelmed during difficult times, but HCN’s March issue finds good reason to hope. Our two feature stories highlight the resilience of both human relationships and damaged ecosystems, with a photo essay about the lessons learned from older lesbian couples, and a wide-ranging survey of “natural regeneration,” the way that native seeds can survive underground, sometimes for centuries, waiting for the right conditions to sprout and flourish. We rediscover the Japanese-language poetry written in the U.S. between the world wars and meet gay men who found new community in the desert. But challenges remain: The toxic levels of PFAS in drinking water are often hidden from consumers, our car culture is killing us and our communities, and first responders are scrambling to keep up as immigration patterns shift and the death toll rises. Meanwhile, activists work tirelessly to find homes for unhoused Indigenous people, while researchers track Pacific lamprey to ensure the survival of an ancient and elusive species.

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Can we learn to get along — not just with people, but with other species and cultures? In this issue, one of our feature stories looks into the contentious relationship the residents of Nome, Alaska have with musk oxen – photogenic animals with a tendency to trespass and attack people’s dogs. Wolves are being reintroduced to Colorado, but how do you compensate wolf-hating ranchers when their livestock gets eaten? In our investigative feature, we found that renewable energy projects in Washington are trampling tribal cultural resources. The Samish are rebuilding kelp beds in Puget Sound, while the Northern Shoshone restore ancestral lands, hoping to someday return water to Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Wild animals sometimes adapt, even to wildfires. A geoengineering company’s “just do it” approach clashes with tribal sovereignty. If new rivers open for salmon in Alaska and Canada, will extractive gold mines follow? A one-room rural schoolhouse in Montana thrives, while cannabis growers meet boom-and-bust. A chef’s hybrid world helps inspire hybrid recipes. An essayist suggests that humans don’t have to behave like invasive species.

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In this special issue, High Country News reminds Westerners that it’s not too late to create a better climate future. One feature story takes a deep dive into the Tijuana Estuary on the California-Mexico border, showing that restoration is an ongoing process that can succeed when human beings devote themselves to it, for a lifetime if necessary. Indigenous leaders bring their knowledge to the climate change discussion, and the Smokehouse Collective works to rebuild Native food networks across Alaska. An 80-year-old electric co-op commits to decarbonization, and there are steps we can take to decarbonize the grid. California’s former insurance commissioner believes insurance companies and homeowners can take a more proactive approach to dealing with risk, and a diehard proponent of cooking with gas finally changes her mind. Environmental activists and labor unions achieve solidarity, and overlooked genres of literature, including Chinese tales about kung-fu heroes, can help grow a reader’s climate consciousness.

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The Endangered Species Act turns 50 this year, so HCN devoted a special section to this landmark environmental law. These stories take a hard look at its history, successes and failures, its complicated legacy in Indian Country, and possible strategies to prevent extinction altogether. Our features tackle other challenging issues: Conservationists are fighting English holly in Northwestern forests where the beloved Christmas symbol is becoming a pesky invasive. Meanwhile, Denver’s Globeville Elyria-Swansea neighborhood was long divided by Interstate 70, but residents fear that a project designed to reconnect the community will spur gentrification. Montana’s new laws encourage development, but will locals be able to afford the new housing? Utah’s Great Salt Lake is dying, but that hasn’t stopped the nearby industries from continuing to exploit it. Elsewhere, an unexpected encounter and a piece of jewelry spark a poet’s career, and a New Mexico lizard becomes a gay icon.

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The climate crisis affects everything, from where we live to what we eat to how we deal with crime. In Washington, extreme weather and COVID-19 pushed over-strained prisons to the brink, leading some to ask: Why not let people out? In Kasigluk, Alaska, buildings are succumbing to rising sea levels and melting permafrost, but relocating entire communities isn’t easy. Eureka, California, wanted to build affordable housing in parking lots, but opponents are exploiting an environmental law to fight back. The danger’s not over when the wildfire ends: Debris flows can be deadly. Trucking young salmon past dams seemed like a great idea, but what happens if the adult fish can’t find their way home? Can Green River, Utah’s famous melons survive climate change? Montana ranchers come together to start their own meatpacking facilities. An Indigenous writer reflects on everything his mentors taught him. Though DACA failed Tony Valdovinos, he still pursues his dreams. Just walking through a beloved landscape can help ease the pain of grief.

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