Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)

"The Interior Department on Wednesday announced an armistice in the battle over the Klamath River, unveiling an agreement between farmers reliant on the waterway for irrigation and tribal nations seeking to restore the region’s fisheries."

"The Fish and Wildlife Service has launched an in-depth study of whether a teensy-tiny snail that inhabits springs in a small slice of lithium-rich Nevada desert should enjoy federal protections under the Endangered Species Act."

"A coalition of environmental and animal protection groups said Wednesday that it will sue to overturn the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to remove Northern Rocky gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act."

"Gray wolves that inhabit the Northern Rocky Mountains will not receive protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced Friday."

"Lawmakers in Utah are advancing legislation aimed at stopping a growing “rights of nature” movement that has coalesced around efforts in the state to save the Great Salt Lake, which is drying up as a combination of climate change, development and agriculture drain on its freshwater sources."

"The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously ruled last week that the state can restrict new groundwater pumping if it will impact other users and wildlife, a decision that strikes a blow to the plan of a developer that at one time hoped to build a new city of 250,000 people in the Mojave Desert and could shift how groundwater is managed in the driest U.S. state."

"White attackers turned a lush, high desert oasis in eastern Nevada, with its bubbling springs and a rare stand of Rocky Mountain junipers, into killing fields. They massacred hundreds of Native people there in the 1800s — a horrific history once retold in hushed tones behind closed doors."

"A Colorado environmental group is asking a federal judge to strike down a $2 billion plan that would reroute river water to the state’s expanding northern communities."