Los Angeles is a wake-up call for the West—especially Durango
After fierce winds whipped fire out of brush-covered hills on January 7, entire Los Angeles neighborhoods burned down. Within a…
MoreAn invitation to play the climate-change game
Let’s play a game, the climate-change game that every living thing on Earth has no choice but to play, starting…
Dead Horse State Park, Moab, Utah, Andres Haro, Unsplash
MorePepper Trail: There’s so much worth saving
For a long time, climate change was largely perceived as a distant threat. But Oregon biologist Pepper Trail, 70, who…
MoreA terrible dilemma faces the Great Basin
The long drive between Salt Lake City, Utah and Reno, Nevada on Interstate 80 feels endless, the landscape timeless. But…
Toquima Range from Monitor Valley, Nevada, Steve Trimble photo
MoreWhat did Westerners care about in 2023?
This past year, Writers on the Range, an independent opinion service based in western Colorado, sent out 52 weekly opinion…
Arches National Park, image courtesy Writers on the Range
MoreRequiem for the Joshua tree
Disheveled, gangly, the Joshua tree is surely one of the West’s strangest — and most recognizable — plants. Named by…
Conglomerate Mesa, Photo by Louis Medina, Friends of the Inyo
MoreJohn Fielder, the man who loved natural beauty
If you’ve ever bought a calendar or coffee table book featuring the grandeur of Colorado’s 14’ers, the stunning color photographs…
John Fielder, credit Gary Wockner/Save the Colorado
MoreWildland firefighters need our support
At any given moment during this smoky summer of 2023, hundreds of wildfires were blazing in the United States —…
Calwood fire, near Jamestown Colorado, by Malachi Brooks, via Unsplash
MoreTips for a new Westerner
Hurray, you’ve moved to the rural West from a crowded subdivision or city where the traffic has become an out-of-patience…
Reno Nevada Mutton bustin’ photo by Cornelius Photography
MoreA dogged reporter covers our roiling world
Usually seen with a camera slung around his neck, Allen Best edits a one-man online journalism shop he calls Big…
Allen Best at work
MoreComing soon, the Apocalypse, maybe
Just about every video game, young adult novel and buzz-worthy streaming series agree that we need to prepare for a…
Photo by Intricate Explorer, Via Unsplash
MoreWe need every tool to fight today’s fires
We know now that the largest recorded fire in New Mexico history was started by an escaped “prescribed burn,” or…
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