Leave it to Beaver

Leave it to Beaver

Returning to past practices for future water management

By Tesia Lin

In 2014, John Coffman arrived in Wyoming as The Nature Conservancy’s new steward for the Red Canyon Ranch and quickly encountered an unforgettable lesson.

Phragmites in water

Fighting Phragmites

Systematic landscape planning software improves the odds against a despised invasive reed

It’s a hot, sunny day in early April, and I’m out collecting GPS coordinates for stands of wetland vegetation in the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

Kelly Springs

Released to the Wild

Unwanted pets take a toll on ecosystems

Stepping through the tall grass, a family made their way to the edge of Kelly Warm Spring, a geothermal spring with a temperature that hovers around 77 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, in Grand Teton National Park.

Mussels

Cancer to the Rescue?

A potential solution to invasive mussels

One hundred thousand quagga mussels can live in a single square meter, and 450 trillion of them infest Lake Michigan alone.

Lost Seas: picture of dead tree in water

Lost Seas

Photo of blackened dead tree sticking out of water on a stormy dayWhen the Soviets started draining their inland sea
to grow cotton in the desert,
a Kremlin engineer said it is obvious to everyone

Collaborate or Litigate

Collaborate or Litigate

Local collaboration faces off against outsider litigation in the long, slow process to help a threatened species

From his Chevy Silverado, Phil Fine watched heavy rain fill up an irrigation ditch on his family farm in central Oregon.

Of Ranchers and Researchers

Of Ranchers and Researchers

Trespassing to collect data in Wyoming is a crime

As early as 2006, employees of the environmental group Western Watersheds Project allegedly trespassed onto Wyoming ranches to gather water samples.

Tribes Tackle Drought

Tribes Tackle Drought

New and old approaches help the Wind River Reservation prepare for a changing climate

During the record-setting hot and dry years of 2012 and 2013, severe water shortages on the Wind River Indian Reservation turned fields to dust and forced cattle ranchers to sell their herds.

The Forgotten River

The Forgotten River

A UW graduate student sees expedition potential in a neglected corner of the West

On May 31, 2015, a half dozen brightly colored rafts slipped past the Split Mountain take out at the bottom of Gates of Lodore

The West’s Water

The West’s Water

Photo Essay

Water, or perhaps the absence of water, defines the Wyoming landscape and shapes the species that live on it. Big sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata) is one species particularly well adapted to Wyoming’s arid climate.

The Great Water Transfer

The Great Water Transfer

Diverting Water from Basin to Basin

The Great Water Transfer

In the summer of 1860, farmers in central Colorado found Left Hand Creek dry.[1] They started looking for replacement water.