A heavy music festival in Blackfeet Nation this summer was abut more than just music – it was a protective ceremony to shelter Indigenous youth from suicidal distress. buff.ly/aQQC7EX

Leaving parks open during a government shutdown neglects the mandate of future enjoyment.

For one journalist, moving out of the U.S. offers a new perspective on how ICE raids and gun violence have devastated her former home in Colorado. buff.ly/Ij7UrN6

BLM lease sales planned for next summer land along migration paths. Public comments accepted through Nov. 17.

Jess Walter's humanity and "toxic optimism" infuses his 30 year writing career. buff.ly/4eIL4JL

This is not only a climate emergency. It is a cultural one.

Amy Bowers Cordalis’ new book, The Water Remembers, weaves together memoir, historical narrative nonfiction, legal battles and family to tell the story of the largest dam removal project in history. buff.ly/Ev5kjMH

Residents in wildfire-prone rural California endure thousands of unannounced power outages every year; regulators and utilities have done relatively little to ease the burden.

It’s a pretty unsettling time to be alive. And I’m not just speaking figuratively. buff.ly/L0lRPV1

When a large-scale restoration effort was halted by feds, history could not be forced back into the archives.

In her new book, Michelle Gurule reveals her experience as a sugar baby and just how little has changed about the industry in the last century.

Holding board meetings and meeting the challenges. buff.ly/D2zmoL5

Rural Californians living without power. Coho salmon finding new life. Indigenous youth finding joy in heavy metal. The November issue of High Country News captures a West in flux — and in motion. buff.ly/HYteQGv

I wanted my photographs to dive below the sheen of spectacle, the scintillating surface of America, but I was constantly taken myself by the glitter of it all.

A rare instance of bipartisan lawmaking and the biggest wildfire legislation in recent history. buff.ly/hwDdTUK

Across the West, lawmakers are skipping over the will of voters and yanking fluoride.

Trump’s energy dominance bid is failing.

The first crack in the area’s suspension on new housing that relies on groundwater appears.

BLM lease sales planned for next summer land along migration paths. Public comments accepted through Nov. 17, shares WyoFile.

Contamination incidents, work outages and declining infrastructure have plagued the site, but the lab remains the linchpin in an effort to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons, shares The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship. buff.ly/OmZQS20

This is not only a climate emergency. It is a cultural one, shares Anchorage Daily News. buff.ly/zUpOkHe

We’ve filled our time with gatherings and awards.

The first film ever shot in Idaho was lost for decades, and was headed back to the big screen for the first time in a century when DOGE cuts hit. Arts organizers, tribal members, composers, musicians, and editors rallied together to make sure it happened. buff.ly/l0MNH2v

A forgotten Chinese cemetery reveals how Missoula buries its past — and why the present is so familiar.

La reconciliación ecológica podría considerarse como extender una rama de olivo a la naturaleza, una disculpa por todo el dolor que le hemos causado. En Tucson, está trabajando en un tramo de un río.

This California county has some of the nation’s strictest protections for agricultural land, but developers are using a new exemption to house people who work the land.

The dancer seeks to preserve his legacy while educating others about his time on the biggest ballet stage.

Previous director and assistant director of the National Park Service denounce the current Interior Secretary’s decision to keep the parks open during the government shutdown, asserting that the parks will not be protected under his watch. #opinion buff.ly/uLCEhKu

Ecological reconciliation could be thought of as extending an olive branch to nature, an apology for all the pain we’ve caused her. In Tucson, it is working on a stretch of a river. buff.ly/rrdvcjd

The first crack in the area’s suspension on new housing that relies on groundwater appears.

The Border Lands Conservation Act gives the Department of Homeland Security the power to waive myriad federal laws, including the Wilderness Act, under the pretense of border security, shares Public Domain. buff.ly/S4kysfY

Research, wildlife and conservation are in the crosshairs.

For more than half a century, fluoride’s benefits on community health have been documented, but now, following the rise of the Make American Healthy Again movement, conservative lawmakers are getting rid of it. buff.ly/5D4UQGo

An exemption to decades-old protections for agricultural land is allowing developers in Ventura County to build affordable housing for farmworkers. buff.ly/FsH7UX3

An invasive beetle is poised to destroy Oregon ash forests across the Pacific Northwest. As people prepare for the coming loss, Jaclyn Moyer explores the roles this tree plays in ecosystems and communities around the region.

The forgotten Chinese graves reveal how America buries its violent history, even as it repeats this history the present. buff.ly/RO4voLJ

Don’t worry, the zombie plague isn’t upon us — well, not yet, anyway. For now, it’s just a few afflicted/affected bunnies doing their part to put the “rad” in Colorado. #HeardAroundTheWest buff.ly/Pfm6ehj

There’s nothing like gathering with family and friends and enjoying the fruits of the harvest. HCNers love get-togethers, so here’s a few recent ones. buff.ly/7Ixe7sa

The dancer seeks to preserve his legacy while educating others about his time on the biggest ballet stage.

National monuments across the West face unprecedented threats, making public voices and vigilance more crucial than ever.

Flavor from any food does not come out by accident. If you want the flavors to come out, you have to put them in first. #IAMTHEWEST buff.ly/SXSi9xp

At least so far, tribal governments have prevented the worst of the possible impacts from the government shutdown, through lobbying, prior appropriations and gaming revenues.

The arroyo looks dry but there’s water inside the bright-lipped cholla and yellow cactus, the belly of a fleeing rabbit, and the snake’s bright stripes of pale on black crossing the junction of the Camino Real... A poem by Laura Da’.

A Montana cattle rancher slows down and considers what it’s like to be one of her herd.

Portland bowyer and archery mentor Joshua Hood (Klamath-Modoc) is reclaiming traditional archery’s Indigenous roots through both his own craft and his classes for others.

Arizona’s groundwater law has stopped thousands more proposed homes in the Phoenix area than publicly acknowledged.

Joseph Rushmore attended events in memory of Charlie Kirk, in Phoenix. As one who has been documenting right wing extremism and christian nationalism for more than a decade, he felt that Kirk’s death marks an important moment for this nation and he wanted to better understand it.

The federal government shutdown is halting Forest Service proactive wildfire preparedness measures and furloughing wildland firefighters to work without pay.

Tribal college and university presidents discuss how they’re navigating the fluctuating budget changes to higher education and its impacts on tribal communities.

Under the federal government shutdown, public lands agencies say they’ll keep parks open and continue oil and gas permitting — even as they furlough tens of thousands of employees. Advocates warn the approach will do lasting ecological damage.