How the first Native director of the National Park Service drew from a legacy of federal boarding schools and Indigenous teachings.

The day after the OMB directive, the EPA complied, cutting off the disbursement of federal funds for all of its programs.

State trust lands generate millions of dollars for carceral facilities and programs every year, largely from extractive industries like oil and gas drilling.

ONE OF THE DIFFICULTIES of being alive on earth in the age of climate catastrophe is that we find ourselves in the peculiar position of mourning the future.

I GOT INTO the environmental restoration business by accident. After military tours at sea and in Iraq as a Marine grunt and sniper, I demobilized back to Salt Lake City, where my family had relocated ...

The book and the film used the limits of human bodies to cultivate empathy for the experience of other beings.

He reached into cracks and peered into crevices with a flashlight, hoping to find an endangered marine snail whose shell recently has become California’s state seashell: the black abalone. Seven ...

This article appeared in the February 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “Unapologetically Indigenous.” ...

The poet Rachel Richardson learns, through writing and motherhood, to defy fear. Sign up to receive High Country News ’ email newsletters and get on-the-ground reporting and investigations delivered ...

HCN has covered the lands, wildlife and communities of the Western U.S. for more than 50 years. Get to know the West better by signing up to receive HCN’s on-the-ground reporting and investigations in ...

Despite a hostile administration, local governments in the West recognize the need to continue the energy transition, and they have plans.

Securing any rental in Southern California’s notoriously tight housing market is a feat in the best of times. Staying in that housing long enough to create years of memories, as many families ...