Indigenous spaces all around new Arizona exhibit
Fine art, downtown markets and natural aesthetics bloom at the Heard Museum as Phoenix’s cultural institution springs forward with Native artists.
Life lessons from a coastal wolf pack
In Alaska, a biologist and her family learn how quickly these iconic predators can change the menu — and bend the rules.
Poll finds majority of Westerners support climate action and conservation
Colorado College’s annual survey included residents of 8 Western states, the majority of whom identified as politically conservative or moderate.
Finding beauty in a broken world
The work that needs to be done offers meaning.
People brace for impacts on land, water and wildlife after feds fire thousands over holiday weekend
Career employees told HCN they were unsettled by the termination email sent by HR, which cited ‘performance issues.’
ICE in your community? Here’s what to know.
Advocates say people who face less legal risk have an important role to play, from documenting raids to advocating for their neighbors.
Trump’s funding cuts leave the nation vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire
‘What do they want, more fires?’
Urban wildfires shouldn’t surprise us
Southern California is jolted into a new reality.
Los incendios urbanos no deberían sorprendernos
El sur de California se ve sacudido a una nueva realidad.
Days before Trump took office, Interior approved oil and gas leases for land bought during 2019 public auction
Company can begin to issue plans for drilling near Chaco Canyon buffer zone on Navajo Nation allotment.
The Indian education of Charles Sams
How the first Native director of the National Park Service drew from a legacy of federal boarding schools and Indigenous teachings.
The possibilities of climate grief
A journey through the heart of despair to find what’s on the other side.
These states use stolen Indigenous land to fund prisons
State trust lands generate millions of dollars for carceral facilities and programs every year, largely from extractive industries like oil and gas drilling.
Reenvisioning the image of immigration
Artist and refugee Papay Solomon juxtaposes European painting with African ancestry.
Most Popular Stories
High Country News Classifieds
- Restored 200 yr old traditional adobe home in No. New Mexico on 1+ acre site with very good irrigation water & separate large shop/studio.
In This Issue
February 2025: Immigrant Stories
These are challenging times for everybody who cares about the West, but High Country News sees reasons for hope in the region’s inspiring inhabitants — people like Papay Solomon, an Arizona artist whose breathtaking portraits celebrate his fellow African immigrants, and Alexander Lemons, a veteran…
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Water
EPA takes unprecedented step to remove uranium waste from the Navajo Nation
Wildfires are too much for municipal water systems. In Los Angeles, firefighters tried anyway.
The Biden administration weighs in on Colorado River management
Wildlife
A veteran transforms a legacy of violence into a campaign for restoration
Orcas à la mode, totally tubular sea pickles and bloodthirsty squirrels
The importance of ‘Being Caribou’
Public Lands
AI on public lands and Biden’s environmental legacy
We must protect our sacred lands
Trump’s nominee for leading Interior attempted to rip up rules governing public lands
Indigenous Affairs
‘This is about power’: Indigenous immigrants face a second Trump administration
‘Esto se trata de poder’: Los inmigrantes indígenas se enfrentan a una segunda administración de Trump
Tribal objects returned to the Northern Arapaho Tribe
Communities
A writer finds freedom in being unapologetically Indigenous
Many renters are struggling after fleeing LA County wildfires
What happens after Utah’s coal-fired power plants close?
Books
Who’s against wind development in ‘The Crazies’?
Culture that impacted our sense of the West
The radical act of sharing Native literature
In the News
The Forest Service is cutting its seasonal workforce and public lands will suffer
Temporary employees warn that important work will go undone all over the country.