‘Drought is the norm:’ California’s water crisis becomes perpetual
California residents are used to drought conditions, with shorter showers encouraged by teachers and conservationists, ads paid for by the state supporting abstaining from watering...
Growing Uncertainty in the Central Valley
One weekend in late June, I drove with friends to Yolo County, California, a rural area in the Sacramento Valley. It was the second day...
California’s disappearing salmon
The drought, along with man-made impediments, has placed the state’s wild Chinook population at grave risk.
When Hard Jobs Turn Hazardous
In early summer, a day laborer laying irrigation lines at a plant nursery just south of Portland, Ore., collapsed to the ground and died. His official...
One California City’s Creative Drought Fix
Take a drive through this picture-perfect wine country town and you’ll start to spot them, unsubtle symbols of our state’s extreme drought.
‘The Worst Thing I Can Ever Remember’: How Drought Is Crushing Ranchers
Darrell Rice stood in a field of corn he’d planted in early June, to be harvested in the fall and chopped up to feed the...
The incredible shrinking Colorado River
One of the most visible signs of the state of the West’s water supply is the big bathtub ring around the sandstone rim of Lake Powell,...
Western Drought Will Last Into Fall or Longer
The severe drought that has gripped much of the western half of the United States in spring and summer is likely to continue at least...