• Your Dashboard
  • Features
  • Public Lands
  • Indigenous Affairs
  • Water
  • Climate Change
  • Arts & Culture
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Donate Now
  • The Magazine
  • Jobs & Classifieds
    • Jobs & Classifieds
    • Place a Classified Ad
    • Display Ad Info
  • Your Dashboard
  • Features
  • Public Lands
  • Indigenous Affairs
  • Water
  • Climate Change
  • Arts & Culture
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Donate Now
  • The Magazine
  • Jobs & Classifieds
    • Jobs & Classifieds
    • Place a Classified Ad
    • Display Ad Info
Skip to content
High Country News

High Country News

A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.

Support

Read more Western reporting

Sign up to receive High Country News’ email newsletters and get on-the-ground reporting and investigations delivered to your inbox each week.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Welcome to High Country News

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 your inbox.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Wildfire

A wildland firefighter observes a prescribed burn in Everglades National Park in 2023. Uncertainty over funding and other interruptions related to President Donald Trump’s executive orders have delayed work to reduce flammable vegetation and other preparations for wildfire season.
Posted inArticles

Trump’s funding cuts leave the nation vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire

by Mark Olalde February 17, 2025February 16, 2025

‘What do they want, more fires?’

Posted inArticles

Urban wildfires shouldn’t surprise us

by Ruxandra Guidi February 14, 2025February 13, 2025

Southern California is jolted into a new reality.

Posted inArticles

Los incendios urbanos no deberían sorprendernos

by Ruxandra Guidi February 14, 2025February 13, 2025

El sur de California se ve sacudido a una nueva realidad.

Small patches of fire slowly merge during a prescribed burn in northeastern Washington.
Posted inFebruary 2025: Immigrant Stories

The power of prescribed fire

by Kylie Mohr February 1, 2025January 31, 2025

A wildfire journalist steps behind the drip torch.

Posted inFebruary 2025: Immigrant Stories

How do we raise our children in a time of wildfire?

by Erin X. Wong February 1, 2025February 5, 2025

The poet Rachel Richardson learns, through writing and motherhood, to defy fear.

Posted inArticles

Many renters are struggling after fleeing LA County wildfires

by Erin Rode January 31, 2025January 30, 2025

For many in the county, recovery requires a new lease, a new landlord, new schools and possibly a new state.

Posted inArticles

Pay wildland firefighters a living wage

by Riley Yuan January 24, 2025January 24, 2025

To reimagine our relationship with wildfire, we must recognize the real value of federal wildland firefighters — and compensate them accordingly.

Posted inArticles

With so many displaced by fires, Los Angeles County can’t accurately measure homelessness

by Erin Rode January 22, 2025January 30, 2025

The county was supposed to conduct an annual tally of people experiencing homelessness this month. Then disaster struck.

Posted inArticles

Wildfires are too much for municipal water systems. In Los Angeles, firefighters tried anyway.

by Kylie Mohr January 14, 2025January 16, 2025

Water systems aren’t designed for unlimited demands during wildland-urban interface fires.

Posted inArticles

What it’s like to be an incarcerated firefighter 

by Natalia Mesa January 14, 2025January 13, 2025

Eddie Herrera, a formerly incarcerated firefighter, talks about the job and how he sees what’s happening in Los Angeles.

A family of deer gather around burned trees from the Palisades Fire at Will Rogers State Park on January 9, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
Posted inArticles

What do the deadly Los Angeles fires mean for the city’s wildlife?

by Kylie Mohr January 10, 2025January 13, 2025

Wildlife biologist Miguel Ordeñana explains how blazes push animals into the unknown.

Posted inArticles

How to understand the West’s ‘forever wildfire season’

by Shaun Griswold January 10, 2025January 10, 2025

Amid California’s deadly fires, here are 10 High Country News stories to help you bring context to wildland blazes.

At Sequoia National Park in California, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees cover trees in structure wrap to protect them from fires in late September, 2021.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted

Fire crews do more than fight fires

by Cameron Walker January 1, 2025December 31, 2024

Some protect habitats and cultural resources from smoke and flames.

Posted inArticles

What we learned about wildfire smoke in 2024

by Kylie Mohr December 27, 2024December 26, 2024

The list of wildfire smoke’s long-term health risks continues to grow.

Posted inArticles

Wildfire … in winter?

by Kylie Mohr December 12, 2024January 9, 2025

Expect more fires like the fast-moving one in Malibu, scientists say.

Remnants of the forest after the 2022 Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in northern New Mexico.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations

The aftermath of the Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon Fires

by Emily Withnall December 1, 2024November 26, 2024

Devastation is hard to face, but
turning away is harder.

People wading in Lake Manly at Badwater Basin after a wet winter, Death Valley National Park, California.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations

2024 was a year of wacky Western weather

by Jonathan Thompson December 1, 2024December 2, 2024

When assessing the region, not much was normal but climate change.

Posted inArticles

Audio: How nature can thrive despite human impact

by Ruxandra Guidi November 27, 2024November 27, 2024

What disturbance-loving plants teach.

Powerlines stretch over a Southern California neighborhood.
Posted inNovember 2024: The Once and Future Prairie

How the climate is changing your energy bill 

by Erin X. Wong November 1, 2024December 4, 2024

Wildfires and winter storms are costing utilities and families.

Kate Scowsmith, who lost her home in the Camp Fire and is now a trained ecotherapist, poses for a portrait in Paradise, California.
Posted inIssues

Forest therapy for wildfire survivors

by Rebecca Randall November 1, 2024October 31, 2024

Spending time in the woods can help wildfire survivors recover.

Posts pagination

1 2 3 … 18 Older posts

Support nonprofit news

High Country News relies on donations as well as subscription fees to produce independent reporting on the West. Help continue the legacy of reader-supported journalism by making a tax-deductible contribution today.

Make a contribution

Find out more about how we use your contributions in our annual reports and filings.

Subscribe to High Country News

Get access to on-the-ground reporting from across the West and support continued coverage of our region.

Read more Western reporting

Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from High Country News for the best on-the-ground reporting from across the region.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Most popular stories

  • People brace for impacts on land, water and wildlife after feds fire thousands over holiday weekend
  • Trump’s funding cuts leave the nation vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire
  • ICE in your community? Here’s what to know.
  • Bringing black abalone back from the brink
  • The Forest Service is cutting its seasonal workforce and public lands will suffer

Featured Stories

People brace for impacts on land, water and wildlife after feds fire thousands over holiday weekend

People brace for impacts on land, water and wildlife after feds fire thousands over holiday weekend

ICE in your community? Here’s what to know.

ICE in your community? Here’s what to know.

Trump’s funding cuts leave the nation vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire

Trump’s funding cuts leave the nation vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire

The West in Perspective

AI on public lands and Biden’s environmental legacy

by Jonathan Thompson

We must protect our sacred lands

by Clark Tenakhongva

Pay wildland firefighters a living wage

by Riley Yuan

About High Country News

  • Our history
  • How to support HCN
  • Submissions

Know the West.

Get 2 free issues ↓

119 Grand Avenue
PO Box 1090
Paonia, CO 81428
(970) 527-4898

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS Feed
  • Contact Us
  • About us
  • Careers
  • Pitch us a story
  • Fellowships
  • Education
  • Get email newsletters
  • Support our work
  • Advertise
  • Syndication
  • Subscriber services
Get 2 free issues ↓
Magazine cover: January 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst

Sign up for a free trial of High Country News. Learn what’s happening across the West today and see if becoming a subscriber is for you.

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

© 2025 High Country News. All rights reserved Powered by Newspack