A 45-year legal saga leaves the tribe fighting for their economic ambitions through water access.
Water
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water
How private interests benefit from tribal water settlements
When power players like mining and agriculture are involved, tribal nations, usually the senior-most water-rights holders, often must fight obstruction.
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water
Decades after the Colorado River flooded the Chemehuevi’s land, the tribe still doesn’t have its share
Nearly all of the tribe’s water remains in the river and ends up being used by Southern California cities.
Posted inArticles
The long road to access at Willamette Falls
The second largest falls in the U.S. have been inaccessible since industrialists dammed them and lined the river with paper mills 150 years ago. Four tribes are working with PGE to plan public access.
Posted inArticles
Supreme Court keeps the Navajo Nation waiting for water
The court case was the Nation’s bid to accelerate decades of fruitless negotiations and secure water for its reservation.
Posted inArticles
Colorado Supreme Court drowns public access to riverbeds
Roger Hill’s landmark lawsuit fizzled out in court. What happens now?
Posted inArticles
A dizzying look back from Phoenix’s future
A sci-fi scenario from 2008 offers insight into present day news.
Posted inJuly 1, 2023: Waiting for Water
How Arizona squeezes tribes for water
A High Country News/ProPublica investigation shows that Arizona goes to unusual lengths in water negotiations to extract restrictive concessions from tribes.
Posted inArticles
Hay – yes, hay – is sucking the Colorado River dry
Desert farming, wasteful irrigation and the profoundly thirsty crop is bringing the critical river to the brink.
Posted inArticles
The Supreme Court just made it easier to destroy wetlands and streams
The decision strips federal protections from the ephemeral streams that are crucial for life in the arid West.
Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen
In search of answers at the Salton Sea
To protect air and water quality, shoreline residents become community scientists.
Posted inArticles
Can retiring farmland make California’s Central Valley more equitable?
Planning for the future of groundwater also offers an opportunity to plan for climate justice.
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Supreme Court shrinks definition of the Clean Water Act
In a ruling siding with an Idaho couple, justices removed protections from waters they said were non-navigable, like wetlands.
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The breakdown on the Colorado River ‘breakthrough’ water deal
The agreement isn’t the sustainable, permanent one that’s necessary.
Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen
How the tiny brine shrimp can help protect the Great Salt Lake
A conversation with the sixth-grade activists behind Utah’s new state crustacean.
Posted inArticles
This year’s record-breaking snowpack is pouring into the dried-out Salt Lake
Snowmelt is replenishing depleted ecosystems and flooding communities.
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Can the Dolores River be saved?
A beleaguered Colorado waterway garners new attention.
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Fire retardant kills fish. Is it worth the risk?
A lawsuit could change how the Forest Service fights fires.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence
The artist and the harpooner
In Micah McCarty’s art, the past and future are one, and the whales never left.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence
The spirit of the Rillito
‘New animism’ seeks a connection to nature’s pulse.