& the West
Published since 2016, ‘& the West’ offers reporting, research, interviews, and analysis on the environmental future of California and western North America. It is produced by the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University. More about us »
Widely distributed but hard to disentangle, exotic elements are vital to green energy and military applications. For decades, China has dominated the dirty business of mining and processing rare earth ores. Two Mojave desert mines, one operating and one planned, may change that picture.
What we’re reading elsewhere.
Snowpack measurement around the West deemed “pitiful”; pruning the U.S. Forest Service; industrial logging poised to make a comeback in the Pacific Northwest; “toilet to tap” wastewater recycling comes closer to reality in Arizona, and more environmental news from the West.
The April 1 snowpack measurement has long been a harbinger of the West’s water future. It is the single most important number in western water management, considered a strong proxy for how much water the mountains are holding in reserve. This year’s measurement was pitiful around the West, enhancing the risk of dangerous wildfires. The exceptionally warm winter of 2025–26 across much of the western U.S. delivered a powerful preview of what the regional water cycle in a warmer climate may increasingly look like: less snow and a fundamental reshaping of the chart showing how much water flows through streams over the year. THE CONVERSATION
The U.S. Forest Service plans to relocate its national office to Salt Lake City and implement further budget cuts. This will close or repurpose nine regional offices, create 15 state offices and terminate research facilities in more than 30 states. When the Trump Administration first announced its intentions last summer, many tribal representatives, conservation groups and former Forest Service staffers voiced opposition. “Nobody is asking for this,” said the former Department of Agriculture undersecretary. “None of the farm groups want this. No one in conservation wants this. Nobody.” ALASKA BEACON LOS ANGELES TIMES
Unusually high threat of summertime wildfires across the West. Recent snow drought, rapid snowmelt and unprecedented heat waves suggest above-normal fire risk across the Southwest and into the Rockies, Pacific Northwest and northern California, according to the latest projections by the National Interagency Coordination Center. A wet spring, however, could decrease fire risk dramatically. GRIST
Industrial logging about to make a comeback in the Pacific Northwest. President Trump’s executive order of a year ago mandating a 25 percent increase in timber volume from federal lands, coupled with the subsequent effort to eliminate the 2001 roadless rule, means that the opening of 25.7 million acres of untouched landscape to logging is getting underway quickly. HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
The Trump Administration’s energy push runs roughshod over tribal consultations and safety concerns. An expedited process allowed construction of a uranium mine in San Juan County, Utah, a mine long opposed by the Ute Mountain Ute. The “emergency” declared to circumvent safety and public-comment regulations “is all predicated on something that isn’t true: We don’t have an energy emergency.” Tribal consultation requirements have been truncated to accomplish an ‘energy dominance’ agenda on ancestral tribal lands. HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, once set for the scrap heap, reauthorized for 20 years. The power plant, which provides roughly 9% of California’s electricity, had been scheduled to shut down by 2025 by PG&E. But extreme heat waves in 2020 and 2021 drove Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers to sign a state law directing PG&E to extend its license in 2022. This decision was approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on April 2, granting PG&E license to continue supporting California’s energy needs until 2044 and 2045. SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Disappearing snowpack in the West. Is the end of western mountain snowpacks in sight? San Francisco Chronicle Washington Post
Disappearing water in the West. Does groundwater have a future in California, or is its depletion inevitable? Stanford Earth Matters
Disappearing water, Part II. Water agencies serving 27 million Californians are on their own next year, getting nothing from state water projects. Los Angeles Times
Disappearing water, Part III. Small farmers in the Central Valley wonder: where is Kings County water going? SJV Water
Oregon’s proposed Jordan Cove liquified natural gas project abandoned. It was designed to include a liquified natural gas terminal and a 229-mile natural gas pipeline and send liquified natural gas to Asian markets. Oregon Public Broadcasting
Interior Secretary Haaland works to eliminate racist place names, like those using the word “squaw.” How names like “Chinaman Gulch” affected one Asian American. Grist KSUT
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Associate editor
Geoff McGhee specializes in interactive data visualization and multimedia storytelling. He is a veteran of the multimedia and infographics staffs at The New York Times, Le Monde and ABCNews.com. MORE »
Editorial Assistant
Xavier graduated from Stanford in 2023 with a degree in economics and is currently a master’s student in Stanford’s journalism program. He has written about the high phone call costs faced by U.S. inmates, temporary Mexican workers’ interactions with the labor market and the efficacy of government healthcare assistance programs. A lifelong lover of charts and maps, he enjoys combining data journalism with narrative-style reporting.
‘& the West’ is published by the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University, which is dedicated to research, teaching, and journalism about the past, present, and future of the North American West.
Faculty Director
Associate Director
