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Western states eye federal lands - again
The ultra-right ‘remedy’ for public lands.
How the West fared in the midterms
Summary: It's mighty red out there.
The Uintah Basin's tricky oil and gas ozone problem
Can officials greenlight booming development and clean up the air at the same time?
What’s Drier than David Sedaris?
The Ranter Defends Both Nevadans and Count Chocula.
Michael Branch
Essay
Nov 3, 2014
Web Exclusive
Mission Ready for Climate Change
Five things the West can learn from the military about climate adaptation.
Joshua Zaffos
Nov 1, 2014
Web Exclusive
Will California's Proposition 1 give rise to more dams?
While some environmental groups support the water bond on Tuesday's ballot, some call it "mystery meat."
Judith Lewis Mernit
Oct 30, 2014
Web Exclusive
Report warns of illegal drilling on federal land
Outdated rules and budget shortfalls make it hard to catch.
Sarah Tory
Oct 30, 2014
Web Exclusive
Defuse the West
Public-land employees are easy targets for a violent, government-hating fringe.
Ray Ring and Marshall Swearingen
Oct 27, 2014
From the
print edition
The Young and the reckless: Alaskan congressman’s offenses draw spotlight
Don Young might be the most volatile politician in America.
Making sure every Native voter has the opportunity to cast a ballot
Extraction taxes are on the ballot
North Dakota and Nevada voters might learn something from Wyoming.
Mapping threats on public land
Intimidation of federal officials is widespread across the West
Roots of rebellion: A forum
Four experts discuss threats to federal public-lands employees and where we go from here.
The lost navigator
Before Parkinson’s, my father never needed to consult a road map.
Reports from the front lines
Excerpts from official accounts of threats against U.S. Forest Service and BLM employees.
From saltwater to drinking water?
California considers desalination as a remedy for water woes
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Defuse the West
Mapping threats on public land
Reports from the front lines
Western states eye federal lands - again
The BLM fails to provide public records
Guy Durrant on Western states eye federal lands - again
Rusty Austin on Western states eye federal lands - again
Rusty Austin on Western states eye federal lands - again
Guy Durrant on Western states eye federal lands - again
Rusty Austin on Western states eye federal lands - again
Tar sands mining, up front and grotesque
James Blakely
The push is on to “take back” public lands
Brian Calvert
In small-town baseball, a wider world
Auden Schendler
Multimedia
How to snag a grizzly: Biologists search for carnivores in the North Cascades
Oct 27: Pronghorn were shot and left on the side of the road in Wyoming. ›
Climate
NASA finds methane hot spot over Four Corners
The culprit is the extensive fossil fuel industry infrastructure, not just fracking or coal mines.
The walrus detectives
What's behind the Alaska walrus haul-outs? Everyone's calling climate change, but the truth is, we don't know.
Climate change found to have spurred worldwide heatwaves
But floods and droughts have less certain links to planetary warming.
Wildlife
Offshore oil rigs can provide prime fish habitat
But will California's platforms stay in the ocean once the oil runs out?
Has the Obama administration hobbled the Endangered Species Act?
A new policy may set the law back half a century.
The Earth has half as many animals as it did in 1970
In the Western U.S., megafauna is on the rise — but amphibians are in trouble.
1996: Has big money doomed direct democracy?
Public Lands
National parks ponder fee increases
Entrance fees haven't gone up since 2008.
Obama declares new national monument in the mountains above Los Angeles
Trails, campgrounds and wildlands will qualify for federal funding for improvements.
Extreme Makeover, the BLM episode
How a gigantic federal bureaucracy is positioning itself to manage resources at a “landscape” level.
Energy & Industry
Regulators release report on viability of nuclear waste storage at Yucca
But it doesn't mean the Nevada site is safe — or even back on the docket.
Utilities experiment on the rural Northwest
Real-time response to demand could radically shift how the grid operates.
From the Tipi to the Tesla
Activist Winona LaDuke on environmental justice and foregoing unclean technology.
Water
Flash flood chaser
One man’s obsession improves forecasting in southern Utah.
Don’t drink the water
Portland’s fluoridation battle shows how tricky it is to integrate science into debates that have as much to do with values as policy.
Watershed moment
The U.S. and Canada prepare to renegotiate the 50-year-old Columbia River Treaty.
Politics
In campaign ads, emotion trumps fact and guns buy votes
What I learned from watching political ads on YouTube two weeks before the midterms.
Outside spending soars in the West’s key Senate races
Colorado and Alaska have the most expensive midterm battles in the region.
How to pass a wilderness bill in 2014
Lessons from southwest Colorado’s Hermosa Creek.
Books
In defense of the cattle industry
A new book flips an old debate on its head.
Review of “The Color of Being Born” by Michael Cadieux.
Paintings that depict the precarious relationship between humankind and the natural world.
The old ennui
Review of “Funny Once” by Antonya Nelson.