Mountain West News Bureau

New data shows many cities in the Mountain West and beyond are experiencing warmer winters because of climate change. Experts say that trend raises concerns.

The Bureau of Land Management recently announced that it will no longer allow the use of “cyanide bombs” on its lands. The M-44 devices are often used to protect livestock from animals like foxes or coyotes.

The U.S. Department of Interior is spending another $51 million on water projects across the West. A majority of those funds – about $30 million – will flow to the Mountain West region.

Allison Burke has four mustangs at her place on the reservation of the Spokane Tribe of Indians in Northeastern Washington. All four are from Native American reservations in the Northwest.

I remember the first time my mustang, Boo, bucked me off. We were riding along through the sagebrush, following a cowboy friend of mine, Dave Johnston. I wouldn’t let Boo put his head down to munch the spring grass, so he threw a temper tantrum. I stayed on for maybe four or five good bucks, but then he dumped me.

Alex Jimenez, who goes by the name Alex!, created the Monsoon Sound Booth so that listeners can hear cicadas, wind chimes, heavy thunder, and rain. Her goal is to increase water activism through her work.

Leaders from the Indigenous Resilience Center shared at the One Water Summit about their efforts to work with tribal communities on water audits, filtration systems, and other solutions.

When water solutions are discussed, often utility and business leaders are in the room. But at the annual One Water Summit last week, Indigenous youth got a chance to weigh in.

For decades, Native Americans were sent off to boarding schools run by the federal government or religious groups. They were stripped of cultural ties and forced to assimilate into an American lifestyle.

As my wild horse paws at the snow and eats hay in my pasture, I look at him and wonder what I’ve done. I would sit with my Mustang, Boo, every day all winter into the spring. I was just hoping he’d start to trust me – and want to be around me. It had to be his choice to come to me. To choose me.