The fire — the largest in New Mexico’s history — burned 341,725 acres, and it’s been a significant blow to the remote agricultural communities affected by it and an already precarious way of life.

As Exponent II became a leader in Mormon feminist thought, it posed an existential threat to a church where men are viewed as the heads of the household and holders of the priesthood. “What Exponent ...

In July 2014, a few hours south of Farmington, “Indian rolling” in Albuquerque left two dead. “Anti-Indianism in New Mexico has a particular flavor,” said Melanie Yazzie. In 1880, an intoxicated ...

I’ve often thought of jeans as “sky pants,” trousers woven from cotton clouds. Jeans are the wild blue yonder above the canyons, plains and crumbling escarpments of the West. Pants to die in, as Andy ...

This steep slope in Oregon’s Coast Range is littered with ruddy dead branches and freshly cut stumps, but at least it offers sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. Until recently, the view was blocked ...

The masked marauders are out in force! Batten down the hatches: An unidentified woman living in Poulsbo, Washington, had to call 911 after an army of around 100 raccoons surrounded her home. According ...

185,000 acres Combined extent of the Pack Trail and Elk fires in western and northern Wyoming as of Oct. 21, when Pack Trail was 62% contained and Elk only 48%. The blazes broke out in September, ...

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 ...

Carolina Hotchandani is the author of The Book Eaters, the 2023 Perugia Press Prize winner. She is an Assistant Professor of English in Omaha, Nebraska. Sign up to receive High Country News ’ email ...

Daniel O’Neil is a freelance journalist who reports on forestry and other environmental issues in Oregon and Washington through words and photos. He lives on the north Oregon coast. Sign up to receive ...

By the time you read this, a month will have passed since the 2024 election. We all watched as the electoral maps slowly filled up with red across the West, while blue flowed down the coast and pooled ...

Pacific brant breed along coastal Arctic and subarctic mudflats, but climate change and fossil fuel development are shrinking many of those areas. In 2023, U.S. officials estimated there were 108,000 ...