In our first issue of 2025, instead of taking you down a rabbit hole, we hung out at a prairie dog burrow, where researchers are learning about how this underappreciated species helps sustain an entire ecosystem. In Nevada, what seemed like a good idea went up in smoke after a few non-Native investors tried to start a cannabis farm on Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone territory. Tribes in the West face a multitude of challenges, judging by Project 2025 and the plans of the incoming Trump administration. How, exactly, did voting patterns in the West break down last November? Wind energy workers organize to keep each other safe in a perilous industry, and trained resource advisors help protect parks and cultural sites from wildfires. After years of negotiating, the Northern Arapaho Tribe rejoiced when over 200 priceless cultural items were returned to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. A writer welcomes a new year with something better than resolutions.
Why the West needs prairie dogs
They’re among the region’s most despised species, but some tribes, researchers and landowners are racing to save them.
Wind energy jobs are taking off, but so are risks
Workers are pushing for improved training and safety standards to help avoid falls, electrocution and equipment failure.
Who voted in the 2024 election?
Many Democrats stayed home, while independents swung to the right.
Fire crews do more than fight fires
Some protect habitats and cultural resources from smoke and flames.
Tribal objects returned to the Northern Arapaho Tribe
After years of negotiation with the Episcopal Church, over 200 cultural items finally come back home.
What an ancient saguaro can teach us
A ‘grandpa’ desert keystone species has seen more than you have.
Lo que un antiguo saguaro puede enseñarnos
Un ‘abuelo’ del desierto que ha visto mucho más que tú
The new year is what we make it
What will you do to help make things better?
Interpretation of signs
A poem by C. Dale Young.
‘I started to grass dance when I was just a little girl’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Leave it better than you found it
How to not let things deteriorate.
Felonious furries, bunches of bats, a coyote commune and pumpkin paddlers
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Can we find common ground?
Readers respond to a previous column.
Letters to the Editor, January 2025
Comments from readers.
Legal weed entrepreneurs promised a windfall from tribal lands. Then it fell apart.
The Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone are still picking up the pieces from the failed cannabis cultivation venture.
What Project 2025 has to say about Native communities
The initiative focuses heavily on resource extraction of tribal lands but lacks detail on other key issues.