A man dives into a clear mountain lake from a rocky cliff. The lake is ringed with pine trees.

In “Water Bodies,” Western writers tap into intimate connections to their local waterways

In the arid West, water verbs are often bureaucratic. Rivers, streams and lakes are allocated, decreed, diverted, divided and used. Droplets are distributed to...

Why atmospheric rivers can be both harmful and helpful

These "rivers in the sky" can cause catastrophic flooding but are also critical for the West's snowpack

Video: Five years after the Gold King Mine spill

Environmental correspondent Laura Paskus revisits the Gold King Mine spill and the destructive impact of the toxic orange plume that went flowing down the Animas and San Juan rivers five years ago.

Photos: Agriculture in Pinal County, Arizona

This page features photos of agriculture in Pinal County, Arizona. Located in the central part of southern Arizona, Pinal County is one of the most...

Less federal pressure, worsening drought, and more interstate tension loom over Colorado River talks

The Colorado River Basin is in crisis.  Climate change is reducing its flow and its biggest reservoirs are shrinking. The seven U.S. states that use...

Zebra mussels threaten infrastructure and native ecosystems. Colorado is ramping up efforts to detect...

On a bluebird day at West and East Lake in Grand Junction, Maddie Baker throws a plankton tow net into the water, and drags...

Crisis on the Colorado Part I: The West’s Great River Hits Its Limits– Will...

As the Southwest faces rapid growth and unrelenting drought, the Colorado River is in crisis, with too many demands on its diminishing flow. Now those who depend on the river must confront the hard reality that their supply of Colorado water may be cut off.
Roaring Fork photo 1

Roaring Fork on its way to 100 more acre-feet of flows

Pitkin County took the final step in a years-long effort to get more water into the often water-short upper Roaring Fork River.

As flames scorch western forests, Flagstaff area offers roadmap for post-wildfire flood prevention

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – In July 2022, for the second time in a month, the landscape above the Wupatki Trails neighborhood took a beating.  The first...