The Wide Open

Explore the places where we come together and fall apart. Nuanced reporting on under-covered environmental issues — with plenty of adventure, wildlife and rich sound along the way.

The Endangered Species Act helped bring the Yellowstone-area grizzly population back from the brink of extinction. It also sparked controversy over a question that looms over more species than just grizzly bears: How do we balance the needs of endangered wildlife with the needs of humans?

The first great battle over the Endangered Species Act begins. Thanks to an eclectic group of activists, a tiny fish in Tennessee halts construction on a massive dam and ends up in front of the Supreme Court.

A gang of monkey-wrenching activists try a new approach in the fight to save threatened species and ecosystems: They put on suits and enter the courtroom. In doing so, they change conservation forever.

Wolves get trapped in the wild, loaded onto an airplane, and delivered to Montana and Idaho. When they scamper off into the wilderness, they test a question central to endangered species debates: What does it mean to recover a species?

From grizzlies to wolves, hunting plays a controversial role in many Endangered Species Act stories. This time, an African animal on Texas ranchland shows how hunting does — and doesn’t — serve conservation.

A fish killing mystery that starts with the Endangered Species Act shows how state and federal wildlife law went from a weapon used against tribes, to a tool for tribes to reclaim what was stripped away.

A scientist realizes if sea ice keeps melting, polar bears will go extinct. To help them, the Endangered Species Act takes on climate change — and in this battle, the law may have met its match.

A caterpillar crosses the road. It starts a conversation about the long view of conservation, across species and across generations.

This week we're sharing an episode of a podcast we think you'll love: "The Wild" with Chris Morgan, from our friends at KUOW in Seattle. On this episode, "The Wild" heads to the hottest place on earth: Death Valley National Park to learn about the Devil's Hole pupfish. This tiny creature, just an inch long, sparked one of the biggest water rights cases in U.S. History.