A bill in the Oregon Legislature would tax tourists for conservation.

An illustrated timescale of Earth focuses on the region’s landscapes, flora and fauna.

“Whatever happens in the ocean, it really does affect our way of life.”

Two tribes are showing how saving sage grouse, and other iconic species of the West’s vast sagebrush steppe, will require are assessment of the widespread cattle grazing that has become an emblem of the landscape.

Learning from a reviled and inspiring weed.

📣📣📣 We’re hiring at High Country News! 2 full-time remote roles: 📌 Membership Development Manager 📌 Revenue Products Associate Join our team and help sustain independent journalism across the West. Apply here ➡️ buff.ly/sQkadny

Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.

Thanks to environmental groups’ efforts to protect and restore habitat in the Carrizo Plain, native species such as the giant kangaroo rat are recovering from near-extinction.

Our February issue travels from Black Portland’s musical history to sage grouse on the steppe, Colorado’s roaming wolves, LandBack victories, rising insurance costs, the giant kangaroo rat and a new film honoring photographer Frank Matsura. buff.ly/6UEz6ZL

Ansel Adams took one of his most famous nature photos while documenting the American citizens of Japanese ancestry who were imprisoned at Manzanar during World War II. Our country is both the darkness and the light. We are called to bear witness, and to respond.

Thank-yous, farewells and forthcoming welcomes to the people who keep the organization going.

Comments from readers.

House Democrats are demanding an ethics probe into the high-ranking Interior appointee over her financial ties to the massive Thacker Pass lithium mine.

The film adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella captures the beauty and pain of working in the woods. buff.ly/CLdCel7

The future has already happened.

This illustrated geologic timescale of Earth focuses on the landscapes, flora and fauna of the West, drilling into the region’s deep history.

The discovery that the continents are in continuous motion is fairly recent—dating back only to the late 1960s — and one woman was responsible for decoding what it meant for California and much of the West Coast.

As the data center buildup outpaces the energy transition, modern technology is ever more dependent on oil, gas and coal deposits that took millions of years to form.

Scientists say Grand Staircase-Escalante isn’t reaching its full research potential.

The agency’s plan would narrow water quality reviews and eliminate one of the few ways that tribes can their enforce treaty rights.

After 40 years of service, Andy Wiessner steps off HCN’s board of directors.

A bill in the Oregon Legislature would tax tourists for conservation.

House Democrats are demanding an ethics probe into the high-ranking Interior appointee over her financial ties to the massive Thacker Pass lithium mine, shares Public Domain.

An urban geologist goes to downtown Seattle and finds a rangeof rocks rivaling any assembled by plate tectonics.

Once known for its trees and community, Altadena is now a test of who — and what — gets to come back after disaster.

Government-issued maps offer a promise for safely exploring our public lands, but they no longer reflect the reality of what’s actually on the ground. buff.ly/pAN1smM

Learning how pronghorn survived the climate changes that ended the ice ages and drove so many other large mammals to extinction can help us adapt to our own changing climate.

The Senate passed an environmental spending package that rejects many of Trump's cuts but could still harm climate research. buff.ly/hyH2e9X

85% of the nation's trails are on public land. According according to a GAO report, only ~25% of these meet agency standards for maintenance and public & environmental safety. Story co-published w/ @republiclands.bsky.social

Mysterious driftwood high in Grand Canyon caves hints at the legacy of Arizona's iconic impact crater.

Each of these books can, in its own way, teach readers how to think about Earth's history, and how to apply lessons from the past to our future.

A geologist’s daughter reflects on deep time and her father’s influence.

‘Train Dreams’ received 4 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The movie is a tribute to the work of seasonal laborers.

The film adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella, Train Dreams, reflects the beauty, and heartache, of working in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Emily Benson, HCN's science & climate editor, shares how our stories in the Deep Time in the West series examine what this region was like thousands, millions and even billions of years ago. Collectively, they show how that history is still visible and consequential today. buff.ly/AFqzcdV

#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.

House Democrats are demanding an ethics probe into the high-ranking Interior appointee over her financial ties to the massive Thacker Pass lithium mine.

Government-issued maps offer a promise for safely exploring our public lands, but they no longer reflect the reality of what’s actually on the ground.

Thousands of workers, mostly Latino, carried out the dangerous work of clearing a million tons of debris and toxic ash from the Palisades Fire burn zone, paving the way for residents to sell or rebuild. buff.ly/5CIocot

In its first year, the second Trump administration has rolled back protections across a swath of high-profile public lands in Alaska.

Recent studies found that attitudes toward wolves became more polarized when people’s political identities were activated.

Rocks bear witness to countless earlier versions of the world — the Earth continuously remaking itself. Although we are able to interpret what rocks have to say, they can’t tell us the ultimate “meaning” of all their stories. We have to figure that out on our own.

In a corner of Alaska, American Samoans are facing prosecution for participating in democracy in the only country they’ve ever known.

An overused phrase goes under the microscope. buff.ly/Cl1xeBR

Learning how pronghorn survived the climate changes that ended the ice ages anddrove so many other large mammals to extinction can help us adapt to our ownchanging climate.

The Senate passed an environmental spending package that rejects many of Trump's cuts but could still harm climate research. www.hcn.org/articles/con...

Deep time and how geology shapes us all.

Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.

Subsidies prop up ranching, grazing degrades the land and politics underpin the system.

Portraits of the workers shoring up a broken world.