Conservation Beyond Boundaries
A veteran transforms a legacy of violence into a campaign for restoration
How a former Marine found a road to repair.
The Conservation Beyond Boundaries project spotlights efforts to protect, restore, and coexist with plant and animal species outside conventional parks and reserves.
What do the deadly Los Angeles fires mean for the city’s wildlife?
Wildlife biologist Miguel Ordeñana explains how blazes push animals into the unknown.
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.
Fire crews do more than fight fires
Some protect habitats and cultural resources from smoke and flames.
2024’s biggest conservation wins for the West
There were glimmers of good news across the region, from restored habitats to growing wildlife populations.
With support from the BAND Foundation, High Country News is telling the broader story of conservation in the Western U.S. — a story that crosses property lines, unites communities and connects humans with their fellow species.
Is your pension fund liquidating Oregon’s forests?
Lax state regulations create a timber bonanza for institutional investors.
Western monarch butterflies favor private land. Now what?
A new analysis of the butterflies’ migration routes shows the need for collaborative conservation.
Your lawn could host an endangered ecosystem
In the effort to restore the Palouse Prairie, no project is too small.
The future of New Mexico’s beloved bosque
In a warmer, drier climate, restoration has its limits.
Roads and wildlife don’t mix
Grizzly 399’s death sparks a broader conversation on how to live with wildlife.
Is a farm that hosts weddings still a farm?
Agritourism divides a rural Washington county.
A mixed report for Colorado’s wolves
Nine months after reintroduction, 13 wolves now reside in the state – with more to be released in 2025.
After half a century, the Apache trout swims off the threatened species list
Arizona’s state fish is doing well but faces a daunting future.
How do you protect wildlife from sprawl?
A fast-growing Utah exurb gets serious about migration corridors.
Will the Northwest Forest Plan finally respect tribal rights?
Tribal representatives are pushing the U.S. Forest Service to respect treaty rights and bring cultural fire back to the region’s forests.…
When grasshoppers attack
Is the cure for grasshopper outbreaks worse than the disease?
What happens to birds when it’s smoky outside?
A community science initiative along the West Coast is using volunteer observations to study the effect of wildfire smoke on birds.
Wilson’s phalarope to the rescue
A new Endangered Species Act petition could trigger major conservation actions to save the West’s saline lakes.
In search of the continent’s largest shorebird
The elusive long-billed curlew finds refuge in fragmented grasslands.
Pollution knows no borders
A long-awaited agreement will address Canadian mine waste flowing downriver into Montana and Idaho.
The theft of the commons
It’s time to turn away from land ownership and back to land relationship.
Deer 255 reaches the end of her journey
The ungulate migrated farther than any deer known to science.
The American Climate Corps take flight, with most jobs based in the West
Biden’s climate jobs program will put young people to work starting this summer.
As the Gila Wilderness turns 100, the Wilderness Act is still a living law
Wilderness areas are changing in profound ways — and so are our ideas about them.
The race to understand the risks of the energy transition for wildlife
Researchers are trying to understand how utility-scale solar affects New Mexico pronghorn.