State trust lands generate millions of dollars for carceral facilities and programs every year, largely from extractive industries like oil and gas drilling.
Idaho
Posted inArticles
The American Climate Corps fades away
After just 8 months, Biden’s green jobs program shut down before Trump took office. What did it do?
Posted inArticles
2024’s biggest conservation wins for the West
There were glimmers of good news across the region, from restored habitats to growing wildlife populations.
Posted inArticles
Western voters reject ranked-choice voting
The alternative electoral system has many benefits, but public opinion remains mixed.
Posted inNovember 2024: The Once and Future Prairie
Your lawn could host an endangered ecosystem
In the effort to restore the Palouse Prairie, no project is too small.
Posted inArticles
Roads and wildlife don’t mix
Grizzly 399’s death sparks a broader conversation on how to live with wildlife.
Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods
A silicon revival in the West
Is the region ready to produce the world’s most advanced technology?
Posted inArticles
When the dams come down, what happens to barge traffic?
Farmers and transportation experts are figuring out how to transport goods if the lower Snake River dams are removed.
Posted inJuly 2024
How the Nez Perce are using an energy transition to save salmon
The tribe is working to replace the generating capacity of the Lower Snake River dams with solar power.
Posted inJuly 2024
Pollution knows no borders
A long-awaited agreement will address Canadian mine waste flowing downriver into Montana
and Idaho.
Posted inArticles
Deer 255 reaches the end of her journey
The ungulate migrated farther than any deer known to science.
Posted inJune 2024: The Idea of Wilderness
Elusive elephants, zany zebras and Idaho anti-anthropophagists
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
What’s next for the Owyhee Canyonlands?
Supporters call it ’the largest conservation opportunity in the West.’
Posted inArticles
A hot spot for avalanche deaths in Idaho reveals forecasting gaps
Without reliable information, snowmobilers are riding eastern Idaho’s enticing terrain — and dying.
Posted inArticles
Fund conservation as you drive
Colorado’s new wolf-themed specialty license plate joins a regional menagerie of critter-themed plates.
Posted inArticles
How grizzly bear poachers are getting away with it
Investigation finds that Department of Justice rarely prosecutes grizzly bear killers under the Endangered Species Act.
Posted inArticles
Meet the beetle threatening Washington’s cherries, hops and other crops
Invasive Japanese beetles are drawn to flowers and fruit. Washington officials are trying to eradicate them from the state.
Posted inArticles
People are shooting birds off power lines in the West
Gunshots outnumber electrocution as a cause of death, according to a new study.
Posted inAugust 1, 2023: In the Line of Fire
Oregon’s Greater Idaho movement echoes a long history of racism in the region
Instead of fixing Oregon, the Greater Idaho movement seeks to leave it. White supremacists are on board.
Posted inJune 1, 2023: Seen and Unseen
Geothermal: Hot or not?
This old, abundant, relatively clean energy source has barely been tapped.