Works

Report
January 2016
Bruce E. Cain, Iris Hui

California’s traditional hydrological system assumes a heavy, reliable snowpack and the timely release of surface water...

Article
December 2015
Daniel Polk

Like other crises, the drought offers a view into the institutional and infrastructural relations that are normally not...

Article
October 2015
By Elana Leone and Quito Tsui

Summer 2015 research report, California Coastal Commission Project, Bill Lane Center for the American West

Book
October 2015
David M. Kennedy, David B. Danbom, Editor

The University of Utah Press has published Bridging the Distance, a book by the Rural West Initiative of the Bill Lane...

Paper
February 2015
Iris Hui, James G. Gimpel

We find that the same property will be evaluated more favorably by partisans when they learn that it is situated in a...

Paper
January 2015
Bruce Cain, Iris Hui

Paper Abstract

Water presents a complex challenge to western state governments. Water is scarcer in the West than in...

Data Visualization
August 2014
Geoff McGhee, Janny Choy, Leon Szeptycki

Our series explores groundwater management in California through new research into key groundwater issues, interactive...

Data Visualization
September 2013
Geoff McGhee, Maria J. Santos, Lauren Sommer, KQED

The Bay Area has a long history of preserving its open lands. Today, about one-third of the region is designated as open...

Data Visualization
September 2013
Geoff McGhee, Maria J. Santos, Lauren Sommer, KQED

As the climate continues to warm, scientists believe the Bay Area’s microclimates will shift. These maps show how the...

Video
May 2013

The Stanford historian Bertrand Patenaude, who served as editor for L.W. "Bill" Lane, Jr.'s memoir, The Sun Never Sets...

Video
April 2013
Geoff McGhee, John McChesney, Geoff McGhee, Ariana Reguzzoni

High energy prices have made advanced drilling technologies profitable, pushing drillbits into parts of the West once...

Video
April 2013

Most people think of dangerous levels of ozone gas occurring in traffic congested cities like Los Angeles, so it’s a...

Book
March 2013
L.W. "Bill" Lane, Jr. with Bertrand M. Patenaude, Introduction by Kevin Starr

"The Sun Never Sets" tells the extraordinary story of L.W. "Bill" Lane, Jr., longtime publisher of Sunset magazine...

Data Visualization
June 2012
Geoff McGhee, Kate Galbraith, Western Enterprise Journalism Fellow, Scott Murray

Higher prices have a way of grabbing attention, and many communities across Texas are raising rates to pay for new water...

Data Visualization
May 2012
Geoff McGhee, Geoff McGhee, Lauren Sommer, Alison Whipple

An interactive map of the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta comparing the historical habitat with the present day landscape...

Image Gallery
May 2012
Lisa M. Hamilton, Western Enterprise Journalism Fellow

"Real Rural" is the product of a collaboration between writer and photographer Lisa M. Hamilton, the nonprofit...

Report
October 2011
Andrea Acosta, Lucy Herrero
The phenomenon of attributing significance to a location, or creating a sense of place, figures prominently in studies on environmental behavior. Researchers define this sense of place as the cognitive, affective, values-based way of interacting with a specific site. This article explore commercial and non-commercial experience of the Grand Canyon, looking at the experience of the Native American tribes that call the canyon home and at our own group's trip down the Colorado River.
October 2011
Blake Montgomery, Jon Proctor, Anne Rempel
Climate change is expected to decrease the Colorado River’s flow by as much as 20 percent. As states scramble to secure sustainable water sources, experts and policymakers consider various water development and reclamation proposals. The Bureau of Reclamation recently tested one controversial option, the Yuma Desalination Plant (YDP).
Report
October 2011
Jenny Farman, Ben Lerman, Will Toaspern, Michelle Valentine
For nearly a century after the signing of the Colorado River Compact, Nevada’s water allotment of 300,000 acre-feet per year adequately served the population of Las Vegas. However, since the 1980s the city has experienced explosive population growth, forcing Las Vegas water officials to discuss new sources of water for the city. Our report explores historical, political, legal, and economic dimensions of Las Vegas' water use and the Southern Nevada Water Authority's role in the Colorado River Basin.