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High Country News

High Country News

A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.

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Drought

Posted inArticles

Wolverines may return to Colorado

by Christine Peterson August 9, 2024August 12, 2024

But can they survive in the warming southern Rockies?

Posted inArticles

When grasshoppers attack

by Christine Peterson July 10, 2024August 8, 2024

Is the cure for grasshopper outbreaks worse than the disease?

Posted inArticles

Fireworks trigger wildfires. Climate change may increase the risk.

by Kiley Price July 4, 2024August 8, 2024

Research found that twice as many wildfires were recorded on July 4 as almost any other day in the West. 

Wilson’s phalaropes eating brine flies at the Great Salt Lake.
Posted inJuly 2024

Wilson’s phalarope to the rescue

by Caroline Tracey July 1, 2024July 5, 2024

A new Endangered Species Act petition could trigger major conservation actions to save the West’s saline lakes.

The Bessemer ditch near Pueblo, Colorado.
Posted inJuly 2024

A new documentary confronts water scarcity in the West

by Natalia Mesa July 1, 2024July 1, 2024

In Mirasol: Looking at the Sun, Colorado farmers fight to save their communities.

An unhoused community lives along a flood-control channel that runs under Interstate 10 in Ontario, California.
Posted inJune 2024: The Idea of Wilderness

California’s homelessness and climate crises leave unhoused communities vulnerable to floods

by Erin Rode June 1, 2024May 31, 2024

Seeking shelter, people are living in flood control channels and other flood-prone places.

Posted inArticles

Lake Mead’s illegal road network is growing

by Amy Alonzo May 21, 2024August 8, 2024

People have created hundreds of miles of unofficial roads trying to reach the water as levels decline. Federal officials want funds to address the issue.

Posted inArticles

Caminos ilegales alrededor del Lago Mead plantean nuevo peligro para el medio ambiente

by Amy Alonzo May 21, 2024August 8, 2024

La gente ha creado caminos no oficiales para llegar al agua a medida que los niveles disminuyen. Funcionarios quieren fondos para atender el problema.

Posted inArticles

Cattle are drinking the Colorado River dry

by Jonathan Thompson March 28, 2024March 28, 2024

Balancing Western water demand and supply will alter the region’s landscape.

Posted inArticles

Disaster disparities in the West

by Natalia Mesa March 4, 2024March 1, 2024

The risk of climate catastrophe is complex, but people of color often face ‘unnatural hazards.’

Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst

The Northwestern Shoshone are restoring the Bear River Massacre site

by Brooke Larsen January 29, 2024May 8, 2024

The tribe is reclaiming their gathering place and returning water to the Great Salt Lake.

Huachuca water umbel at the Phoenix Zoo.
Posted inArticles

Tending the shoots of possibility

by Olivia Davis December 21, 2023May 8, 2024

On the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, a researcher contemplates the future of species we’ve tried to protect.

Posted inDecember 1, 2023: December 2023

Take a toxic tour of the Great Salt Lake

by Brooke Larsen December 1, 2023January 31, 2024

Utah grapples with its future of industry around its dying inland sea.

Posted inNovember 1, 2023: November 1, 2023

California’s Central Valley chinook are getting lost on their way home

by Kori Suzuki November 1, 2023January 24, 2024

The culprit is a tactic designed to save them – one that could decrease the species’ resilience in the long run.

A home with a swimming pool abuts the desert on the edge of the Las Vegas valley on July 20, 2022, in Henderson, Nevada.
Posted inArticles

What the fed’s new proposal for management of Colorado River reservoirs means

by Brooke Larsen October 31, 2023January 24, 2024

Lake Powell and Lake Mead remain historically low, but modeling shows risk of crisis levels has lessened over the next three years.

Posted inNovember 1, 2023: November 1, 2023

How Green River celebrates its melon farmers

by Brooke Larsen October 27, 2023January 24, 2024

Thousands turn out for Melon Days, but the future looks uncertain.

Posted inArticles

The National Park Service’s efforts to protect Quitobaquito Springs almost destroyed it

by Maria Parazo Rose and Daniel Penner October 16, 2023January 24, 2024

‘Indigenous presence is vital to the stewardship of the land.’

Posted inArticles

Public lands had a roller coaster month

by Jonathan Thompson August 31, 2023January 24, 2024

Rounding up the Biden administration’s ups and downs on land policy.

The glow of the Golden Fire burning on Bly Mountain, Oregon. The fire destroyed over 43 homes.
Posted inArticles

People are starting a lot of fires in the Pacific Northwest

by Kylie Mohr August 8, 2023January 24, 2024

The Forest Service reports 197 human-caused or undetermined starts since the beginning of June.

The Dixie Red Hills golf course was the first to arrive in St. George in 1965. Now, there are 14 in this remote corner of southwest Utah, drinking up 13% of the municipal water supply.
Posted inAugust 1, 2023: In the Line of Fire

In the Utah desert, can golf justify itself?

by Samuel Shaw July 31, 2023January 24, 2024

The struggle for water is straining St. George, Utah, where golf – and grass – are sacred cows.

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