Rural America

The Curious Case of Carter County: How a Small Town in Montana Stopped Shrinking

On the Great Plains, these days, rural towns tend to wither. But in remote eastern Montana, one community is bucking that trend. How?

Eric Dietrich

When Conservation Means Fencing Out Black Farmers

In southern Illinois, conservation groups see a chance to protect rare oak savannas. Black farmers and hunters see their way of life being bought out from under them.

Tony Briscoe

How Farmers Markets and Food Trucks Became a Beachhead for Gentrification

In gentrifying neighborhoods, developers use food options to lure in more affluent residents, and longtime residents find themselves forced to compete against the “urban food machine.”

Pascale Joassart-Marcelli

Mourn the Extinct, Fight like Hell for the Living — a Wildlife Reporter’s Plea

The 23 species declared extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show us how much we have to lose. They should also motivate us to fight to stop further loss.

John R. Platt

Rural Areas Struggle to Compete for Nurses as They Face Dire Shortages

Covid has overwhelmed hospitals, prompting many overburdened nurses to change careers or retire early. The shortages have hit rural areas particularly hard.

Aallyah Wright

Welcome to the Pyrocene

Our society’s appetite for one kind of burning—fossil fuel combustion—has thrust us into a new Fire Age that is reshaping the Earth.

Stephen Pyne

GDP: A Countdown to Doom

The numbers we use to measure the economy’s recovery from Covid also measure the rate at which we barrel into ecological catastrophe.

Joseph Bullington

Growing food sovereignty on the shores of Lake Superior

On a small Wisconsin island, members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and volunteers provide fresh food and restore ancestral connection through gardening.

Kip Dooley

The Time Has Come to Demolish Glen Canyon Dam

Amid a worsening drought in the Southwest, the controversial dam on the Colorado River is ceasing to serve its purpose. It’s time to tear it down.

Gary Wockner

In North Carolina’s Tobacco Fields, Guest Workers Battle the “Green Monster”

The state’s tobacco harvest increasingly relies on guest workers, who face nicotine poisoning and what advocates say are inadequate labor protections.

Da Yeon Eom

Tribal Court Case Against Line 3 Pipeline Is First to Invoke “Rights of Nature”

The suit by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe says Enbridge's pipeline would violate the rights of wild rice, which the tribe enshrined in law in 2018.

Alex Brown

Climate Change and Privatization Could End the Public Beach

Sea-level rise on one side and private development on the other threaten to squeeze beaches, and public access to them, out of existence.

Thomas Ankersen

Dear Congress: Say No to Water Privatization in the Infrastructure Bill

Water costs have soared in recent years as federal funding for water infrastructure has shrunk. Privatization is the last thing we need.

Rural America In These Times

While Meatpacking Companies Reap Big Profits, Cattle Ranchers Struggle

Grocery store beef prices are rising. The rancher’s share is falling. And the companies that dominate the highly-concentrated meatpacking industry are making a killing.

Mary Hennigan

The Unopen Range: How Fences Hurt Wild Animals

In the Western United States alone, 620,000 miles of fence carve up the land. These barriers threaten the migrations of pronghorn, mule deer and other species.

Tara Lohan

Yellowstone Is Losing Its Snow, with Repercussions for Everyone Downstream

A climate assessment found that snowfall is declining in Greater Yellowstone — and likely to keep declining. The problems trickle down to impact everyone from trout to grizzly bears to people.

Bryan Shuman

What Can the Biden Admin Do to Make Our Food System More Resilient? Make it More Local.

Our food supply chains are vulnerable because they’re highly concentrated, corporatized and unaccountable to the public.

Ben Lilliston

For Farmworkers, the Fight for the 8-Hour Day Isn’t Over

Federal labor laws exclude farmworkers from overtime pay and other protections. After years of advocacy by farm labor groups, lawmakers in Oregon, Washington and Colorado are working to change that.

Alex Brown