& 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 »
On the island’s less touristy and more arid West side, farmers try to clean up the messy footprint of colonial agriculture.
What we’re reading elsewhere.
Arizona joins Nevada’s legal fight over the Colorado River cuts; record floods sweep the Navajo Nation; Fresno County approves a town with shockingly little water; the Lower Kallam Tribe is set to regain land along a restored river; Hawaiian crows settle into Maui’s forests; AI leads hikers astray; and more environmental news from around the West.
Arizona joins Nevada in the fight over the Colorado River. After years of failed negotiations among the seven basin states, Arizona will join Nevada’s lawsuit against the federal government’s new 10-year plan for the river. The plan requires the Lower Basin states to cut 1.25 million acre-feet a year in 2027 and 2028, with Arizona bearing 760,000 acre-feet of that. The Upper Basin states face no mandated cuts. ARIZONA MIRROR
The San Juan River breaks a century-old flood record. Two days of storms flooded homes, stranded families, and forced rescues across the Navajo Nation. In Farmington, the river crested at 14.1 feet, topping a record set in 1909. Upstream, a flooded wastewater plant sent raw sewage down the river toward Navajo communities. NAVAJO TIMES
Fast-growing Arizona aghast over projected water bills. Queen Creek, one of America’s fastest-growing cities, shows the challenges facing communities around the Southwest as the Colorado River dwindles and the remaining water gets more expensive. WASHINGTON POST
Utahns would chip in to help the Great Salt Lake. In a Weber State University survey, 95% of residents said the lake mattered to them to some degree. Residents who felt reasonably confident their money would help said they’d pay up to $144 per household per year. This could pay farmers to leave more water in the lake. SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Maui fire survivors are still carrying traces of toxic metals. Researchers from the University of Hawaii tested 1,400 adults on Maui six to 18 months after the 2023 wildfires. They found higher levels of several metals than a national survey taken before the fires, with antimony nearly 40 times higher. GRIST
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
